Project Description
Located on the western edge of the lower Kenai Peninsula is the community of Port Graham, the ancestral inhabitants of the Kenai Fjords and a thriving coastal culture. The Port Graham area boasts abundant marine mammals, fish, shellfish, birds and plants that remain vital to the residents of Port Graham and the surrounding villages. The focus of this project is an extensive road network that was constructed in the Port Graham, Windy, and Rocky River watersheds as part of logging projects from the 1960’s to 2004. Many of the stream crossings were constructed with log stringer bridges that have failed and resulted in degraded habitat or with undersized culverts that have become barriers to EVOS-injured resident and anadromous fish species. This project will improve fish passage, restore degraded stream crossings and permanently protect stream crossings from future degradation.
In this project, partners including Port Graham Corporation, Native Village of Port Graham Chugachmiut, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed to address 24 stream crossings that impeded fish passage or have resulted in degraded spawning and rearing habitat for EVOS-injured fish species. Additionally, repairing impassable stream crossings will provide critical access to subsistence resources in Windy and Rocky Bay for the residents of Port Graham, provide access to road maintenance equipment to conduct regular road maintenance, protect the commercial fisheries in Rocky, Windy, and Port Graham River watersheds, and provide access to recreational opportunities in the area such as sport fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing.
Parties Implementing Restoration
Chugachmiut; Native Village of Port Graham; Port Graham Native Corporation
DOI Project Representatives
Fish and Wildlife Service