In a recent interview with KSRM, the Kenai Watershed Forum provided an update on its steam mapping program. The program inventories streams and lakes, so they are eligible for protection under Alaska Statute 16.05.871, “Protection of Fish and Game.”
According to the Kenai Watershed Forum website, it is estimated that less than half of Alaska’s freshwater salmon habitat is officially documented by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Additionally, often, the actual locations of the streams in this database are inaccurate at the scale used for making decisions on individual parcels.
“For a number of years, Kenai Watershed Forum has been doing work to expand what’s called the Anadromous Waters Catalog,” said Watershed Forum Environmental Scientist and Water Quality Coordinator Benjamin Meyer. “This is the map that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game uses to inventory where we know all the anadromous habitats, and by anadromous, I mean mostly salmon habitat, but that could also include things like lamprey or steelhead. But there’s a lot more of these rivers and streams and lakes out there and right under our nose than we know about. So we’ve been doing work on the ground and on the computer to improve those maps.”
KWF has taken advantage of newer technology available to more accurately map streams using GPS, satellite image interpretation, and field observations. The stream mapping project helps to preserve salmon habitats through regulatory protection and directs attention to new stream crossings that often pose potential barriers to salmon migration.
“When we understand what we have right under our own noses, we can do a better job of being neighbors with the fish that live in our backyard,” said Meyer. “These water bodies, we know where are the most important places to do things like fix culverts. This information gets used by both habitat biologists and researchers.”
For more information on the Kenai Watershed Forum Stream Mapping Program, visit the Forum’s website.
