The Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, in collaboration with other agencies and the local community, is working to restore fish passage and improve habitat on Moose Creek for anadromous fish, particularly salmon. The restoration activities will focus on realigning a section of stream from its current man-made waterfall channel to its original, low gradient channel. This restoration will reopen fish access to more than five miles of high quality spawning and rearing habitats. The project will also restore habitat complexity to a half a mile of stream channel and enhance an additional eight and a half acres of adjacent riparian vegetation in the redesigned flood plain. This project will benefit several anadromous species, including culturally significant coho and chinook salmon, dolly varden and trout.
For centuries Moose Creek was a flourishing salmon stream. Fed from glaciers and springs within the Talkeetna Mountains, Moose Creek was filled with an abundance of salmon.
Moose Creek circa 1926
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However, more than 80 years ago this essential fish habitat was drastically changed. In 1923, a railroad spur was constructed up Moose Creek for the coal mining industry. This construction rerouted much of the creek as a means to increase the space available for railroad operations and resulted in the creation of several waterfalls. The largest fall is completely impassable to spawning salmon, and the others are challenging barriers that only the strongest salmon can overcome. From the 1920’s to the 1980’s there were nearly continuous physical changes made to Moose Creek. Moose Creek has been rerouted multiple times for railroad and coal mining development. Originally the creek was a winding salmon stream, however after the coal mining and railroad development the creek is now straighter and steeper, causing faster water velocity and challenges for fish.
