Recent and Upcoming USFWS Restoration Activities in the Yukon River Drainage
USFWS has collaborated with many agencies and entities to conduct a variety of habitat restoration activities recently within the Yukon River drainage, with more great work planned in 2025. Below is a summary of goings-on:
Recent work:
- Stream restoration workshops (see below photo)
- Fairbanks-area private landowner riparian restoration projects
- Youth for Habitat program
- Culvert surveys on the Ruby Poorman Road and other areas in collaboration with Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association
- Identification of a culvert on a tributary of Emmonak Slough that is an impediment to fish passage
2025 Activities:
- Streambank restoration workshops
- Two new Fairbanks-area private landowner riparian restoration projects
- Monitor and evaluate previously constructed projects
- Culvert survey and fish passage evaluation along the Elliot, Dalton, and Steese Highways
- Three sessions of Youth for Habitat program. Each session includes fish monitoring at Cripple Creek, on-the-ground restoration work, and education
- Prepare a watershed ecosystem action plan (WEAP) for the Yukon River with Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association
- Road crossing and water quality data collection and evaluation near Wiseman, Saint Marys, and Yukon Flats
- Assess additional culverts in Emmonak Slough and its tributaries, remove the culvert previously identified as a barrier (see photo below), and work with tribal partners to prioritize restoration action for other fish passage barriers.
For more information on these projects, contact chandra_mcgee@fws.gov
Arctic Beringia Fish Ecology 