Off of Upper Skilak Lake Road on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kyle Graham gives a tour of an active fish passage replacement construction site. It’s the first sunny day all week, and workers clad in hardhats and neon-colored vests pour concrete into the outer edge of a 5-foot-tall culvert.
The goal of this particular project site is to better connect Skilak Lake to an unnamed stream known to be salmon habitat. The site is one of six on the refuge to improve existing fish passage culverts.
Funded by the Department of Transportation and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Graham says each of the six sites scattered throughout the refuge have seen barriers to juvenile salmon movement in recent years.
“Generally, what we’ve learned is that the smaller fish, they move a lot more than maybe we’ve thought before," Graham said. "They are moving frequently to find cold water, warm water, certain feeding areas to escape predators, and the culverts play a really big role in the fish’s ability to move from one habitat to another.”
Graham says each of the culverts needed a replacement for different reasons. While one was too small for fish to pass through, another channeled water at too high a velocity. Some were also in poor condition. Construction for the project began in May.
Before excavation can begin, construction workers must first place erosion control devices at the site to allow fish movement without obstruction. The culverts are then placed at an angle where water flow isn’t too fast or too slow for natural fish movement. The inside of the culvert is filled with material similar to what can be found along a stream channel. Graham says this helps slow the flow of water that might be too swift for fish to pass through.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service has developed fish passage standards," he said. The thought was that this was on a national wildlife refuge, and we feel that these culverts should reflect and represent the current fish passage standard for Alaska, so we’re hoping to have culverts that are really the model for this region in providing fish passage.”
The project was contracted by STG Pacific, an Anchorage-based construction company. Robert Bear is a quality control manager with the group. He says the company’s goal with the project is to create a fish passage that emulates a natural stream.
“It’s all about the fish," Bear said. "It’s all about allowing fish through, it’s all about creating a quality product and something that our family can come out here. As a local here, and our company is local, something you can leave and be proud of.”
“Culverts are a familiar part of our landscape and our roads," Graham said. "It’s where the human world and the salmon world intersect, we both need to move. Whatever we can do and whatever considerations we can make to ensure that salmon have the ability to move upstream, downstream, I think that’s a big part of ensuring healthy salmon for the future.”
The multimillion-dollar project is expected to be complete in September. The Fish and Wildlife Service does not anticipate follow-up work on the project in the near future.
