Surveying Anadromous Waters on Road Systems in Southeast Alaska

Between May 2021 and October 2023, this project completed field surveys of 793 water bodies in the Southeast Alaska communities of Hoonah and Kake and the remote areas of Katlian Bay, West Port Frederick, Neka Bay, Corner Bay, and False Island. Effort associated with a single drainage survey ranged from a few minutes to several days depending on fish habitat present, which ranged from high gradient conveyance seeps with no potential fish habitat to a complex low gradient system with multiple tributaries and ponds created by beaver activity. Extreme dry or wet conditions resulted in the need to revisit streams or document a recommendation for future investigation prior to land management decisions. Project stream surveys resulted in 274 nominations submitted to the AWC resulting in 111.92 km of stream added, 110.16 km of streams corrected, 2.66 km deleted, and 0.06 km2 of polygons added. We surveyed 25 culverts that had potential fish passage problems and issued trips reports documenting our observations and recommendations for the managing agencies and landowners.

This project will survey up to 767 uncataloged streams for the presence of anadromous fish in order to increase the coverage of the AWC. Once listed, the streams will receive long-term protection from development and other uses outlined in the Anadromous Fish Act and other legislation.