Colter Creek Fish Habitat Restoration Funded

The NOAA Restoration Center and The Nature Conservancy recently committed $63,538 to restore juvenile fish passage, improve stream function, and enhance fish habitat on Colter Creek in south-central Alaska.

NOAA funding will help replace two undersized culverts that impede stream flow and fish passage in the second largest tributary to the Little Susitna River, which drains into upper Cook Inlet and supports populations of coho, Chinook, chum, pink, and sockeye salmon as well as resident fish. Colter Creek drains an area of approximately five square miles and supports rearing and spawning coho as well as Chinook salmon.

“The Little Susitna boasts one of the largest harvests of coho salmon in Alaska” said NOAA’s Alaska Region Administrator, Jim Balsiger. “We need to sustain the viability of streams like Colter Creek.”

”NOAA’s national partnership with The Nature Conservancy is a good example of joint public-private efforts to restore and protect habitats that support Alaska’s abundant fisheries,” he added.

During a flood in August 2006, flow constriction on Colter Creek eroded stream banks above and below the culverts and forced overflow onto roads and driveways, washing additional sediment into the creek. Project designers plan to restore the stream channel and plan for the clear span of the new pipes to withstand expected flows and to stabilize the stream banks. Some initial work has been completed, including design of one of the new culverts by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The on-the-ground work should be performed in 2008.

NOAA funded this project through a national partnership with The Nature Conservancy that includes non-federal matching funds and supports restoration of degraded fish habitats. NOAA’s Restoration Center, which is part of NOAA Fisheries, provides funding and technical assistance to restore degraded habitats and advance the science of coastal habitat restoration. The Colter Creek project is being carried out as part of NOAA’s contribution to the Matanuska-Susitna Basin Salmon Conservation Partnership, which is a cooperative venture of the National Fish Habitat Initiative.

NOAA’s habitat restoration website is at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our websites at: alaskafisheries.noaa.gov or at: www.afsc.noaa.gov.