Small streams in Southeast Alaska provide diverse and well-distributed habitat for anadromous fish, which support subsistence, commercial, and sport fisheries across the region. The ability of anadromous fish to migrate freely in small rivers and streams is critical for them to be able to complete their life cycle of migrating, spawning, and rearing. Primary impediments to fish passage on these small systems across federal, state, municipal, corporate, and private roads exist at crossings where culverts and other structure have been undersized, improperly installed, or damaged, negatively affecting channel morphology and fish passage.
The inability of a road crossing structure to pass juvenile or adult fish can have impacts on population and/or fish community structure over time. In 2008, the Takshanuk Watershed Council (TWC) completed a limited fish passage inventory and assessment in the Haines Borough with in-kind and funding support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ACWA Program. The goal
of this project was to initiate a Borough-wide inventory of road crossings of anadromous fish streams with existing protocols adapted from the USFS and ADFG. With this inventory, TWC can begin to realize its long-term goal to develop a prioritized database of all crossings in need of remediation based on fish passage needs and quality and quantity of upstream habitat. This report serves as the first part of the Haines Borough Fish Passage Inventory and Assessment and TWC expects it will be expanded in geographic scope and complexity as time and funds allow. Overall this report provides an overview of number, distribution, and condition of culvert crossings in the Haines Borough. It is TWC’s intent that this information and associated maps will inform future culvert restoration, rehabilitation, and mitigation planning.
