Project Description
This project was implemented to improve connectivity within the Buskin River watershed by removing or replacing barriers to the movement of fish including salmonids, trout and other native species. Project partners included the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Kodiak Soil and Water Conservation District worked with landowners, US Coast Guard, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and Natives of Kodiak in the Buskin River watershed, Kodiak Island.
Partners completed restoration projects at 21 undersized culverts and removed historical debris in the Buskin River watershed. These projects restored upstream access to 6.65 miles of stream habitat and 95 acres of lakes that are important to Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma), two Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS)-affected fish species.
Increased habitat quantity and quality is expected to increase abundance of Pacific Salmon in the Buskin River and will also benefit other EVOS affected species in the area that utilize salmon as a direct source of food and nutrients. This project also helped restore EVOS-affected services, specifically the important subsistence salmon fishery at the mouth of the Buskin River, recreation throughout the watershed, and the commercial fishery in Chiniak Bay, Alaska.
Restoration Land Ownership
County or Municipal; State; Tribal; United States Coast Guard
Parties Implementing Restoration
Alaska Department of Fish and Game; Kodiak Soil and Water Conservation District; national oceanic and atmospheric administration; US Fish and Wildlife Service
DOI Project Representatives
Fish and Wildlife Service