UAF photo by Eric Engman.
Dakota Keller wades through the water while taking depth measurements, checking fish
traps and recording bank levels in Cripple Creek on June 13, 2024.
By Amy Loeffler
Clad in waders, Dakota Keller, a graduate student with the UAF Department of Biology and Wildlife, slips into waist-high creek water.
It色视频下载檚 early June, and she色视频下载檚 looking for a temperature logger that she and her research partner, high school student Lily Ann Reece, placed in Cripple Creek earlier in the week. Once retrieved, the device will offer a better picture of water temperature fluctuations.
That data is just one puzzle piece among many that the pair are compiling over the summer to flesh out how the waterway could better sustain wildlife as the habitat is restored there.
Dakota Keller, front, and Lily Ann Reece, a Hutchison High School student, return to the creek's shore after checking a temperature logger.
The access point for the creek is just west of the Tesoro gas station at the intersection of Chena Ridge and Chena Pump roads, close to a dense residential area in western Fairbanks. But to reach their research site, Keller and Reece navigate thick stands of spruce, traverse spongy ground laden with moose poop and combat the onslaught of summer mosquitoes. At the water色视频下载檚 edge, there is also mud the consistency of Ben and Jerry色视频下载檚 New York Super Fudge Chunk enveloping their Xtratuf rubber boots in a gooey stranglehold.
Their work is to meticulously track water chemistry, fish populations and insects 色视频下载 barometers for the health of the stream. These efforts aid a more ambitious goal: to remake the creek into habitat for numerous species of fish, bugs and other wildlife, perhaps even rearing grounds for juvenile salmon.
A drain-damaged creek
Eighty-nine years ago, a drainage project for a gold-mining dredge upstream near Ester bypassed Cripple Creek, shunting its water into a straight ditch that didn色视频下载檛 foster use by fish, according to Jeff Muehlbauer, an assistant professor of fisheries and ecology at UAF.
The dredge shut down in 1964, but the drain remained.
色视频下载淭he drain is incised, it has this canyon aspect to it and so it色视频下载檚 narrow and deep, and the water just really rips right through there, and that doesn色视频下载檛 provide any habitat for salmon,色视频下载 said Muehlbauer, who leads the U.S. Geological Survey色视频下载檚 色视频下载 Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit through the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology.
However, restoration efforts during the past decade have now returned water to Cripple Creek色视频下载檚 original, meandering channel, he said.
色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 water that色视频下载檚 moving a little more slowly, deposition is happening,色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 hopefully food for salmon and also habitat for them to hide in.色视频下载
Hoping to help salmon
Jeff Muehlbauer, assistant professor of fisheries ecology at UAF, stands near the confluence of Cripple and Happy creeks in May 2024.
Researchers hope to gather data about the newly restored creek色视频下载檚 ability to protect numerous fish species. Chinook, or king, salmon are of special interest. The fish, known for their fatty and buttery flesh, have recently suffered declines so severe that even subsistence harvests were closed in many parts of the state in 2024.
The Chena River is the second-largest producer of Chinook in the U.S. portion of the Yukon River drainage, which makes restoration of Cripple Creek a potentially important contributor to the health of the overall population.
Cripple Creek flows into the lower Chena River near The Pump House, a restaurant built inside the original facility that drew water from the river to supply the dredging operation in Ester.
The creek offers the last opportunity for salmon born in the upper Chena River watershed to seek refuge in the aqueous nurseries of a small tributary before they head for the Bering Sea. Muehlbauer said the Tanana and Yukon rivers downstream of the Chena are big, tumultuous and turbid.
色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 a totally different world for a fish,色视频下载 he said.
While Chinook are among the most charismatic and newsworthy of the fish that could use Cripple Creek, a healthy waterway would also help other species, including grayling, longnose sucker and burbot, which are popular as ice-fishing catch.
Back at the traps, Keller and Reece find a sucker, which is measured and sent on its way to continue meandering through the silt-laden water.
色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 really fun to find fish,色视频下载 said Reece, a Hutchison High School rising senior who received the American Fisheries Society色视频下载檚 Hutton . 色视频下载淎t the start of the season when there weren色视频下载檛 any, it was sort of a bummer, but now it色视频下载檚 something to look forward to when we check traps.色视频下载
A community effort
Keller, the UAF graduate student, said research at Cripple Creek isn色视频下载檛 just yielding data; it色视频下载檚 also galvanizing community support.
色视频下载淵ou色视频下载檙e right next to elementary school, you're right next to UAF,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淓ven though it色视频下载檚 an urban stream, you色视频下载檝e got a lot of opportunities to engage the public with this project and raise awareness of how stream restoration can provide community connection.色视频下载
Numerous partnerships have advanced the habitat restoration work.
Lily Ann Reece prepares to weigh a sucker fish caught in one of the research team's traps on June 13, 2024.
Christi Buffington serves dual roles on the project as a staff education and research scientist at the UAF International Arctic Research Center. She co-leads citizen science projects through an international science and education program called Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment.
色视频下载淧eople working here in Fairbanks 色视频下载 the Tanana Valley Watershed Association, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Interior 色视频下载 Land Trust and other partners 色视频下载 looked at a watershed restoration action plan and asked, 色视频下载榃here do we need salmon restoration?色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪 she said. 色视频下载淚n the whole Yukon River watershed, Chena is number two. Well, if you色视频下载檙e putting in a culvert, Cripple Creek is an obvious choice.色视频下载
From 2017 to 2020, the 色视频下载 Department of Transportation and Public Facilities replaced the culverts that allow Cripple Creek water to pass under the several roads that access neighborhoods on Chena Ridge. Advocacy from the Interior 色视频下载 Land Trust and other entities led to culvert reconfigurations and a streamflow redirection that restored water to the old meandering creek channel. Under one road, the new culverts even have squiggly passages made just for salmon.
In addition to meandering channels, young salmon like shade. Last September, in an effort to provide shelter from the sun for future juvenile salmon and other fish species, Buffington色视频下载檚 students planted 130 birch seedlings at the confluence of Cripple and Happy creeks; all were grown in her neighbor's bathtub.
Owen Guthrie, president of the Interior 色视频下载 Land Trust and the vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management at UAF, said the project has been an important community-building effort.
The land trust is developing a 90-acre parcel, which contains the confluence of the historic channel and the drain, into the Chinook Conservation Park. It features a trail for residents of the neighborhood to explore.
色视频下载淐ripple Creek has deep roots in the community, and it色视频下载檚 an obvious opportunity for the university,色视频下载 Guthrie said. 色视频下载淭hat redirect [of the channel] is on university property, which was given as part of its original land grant in the 1920s. It just makes so much sense to get students involved.色视频下载
And while researchers are watching Chinook salmon intensively at Cripple Creek, 色视频下载渋t色视频下载檚 not about the granularity of one species,色视频下载 Guthrie said. 色视频下载淭his is a whole ecosystem approach.色视频下载
Dakota Keller and Lily Ann Reece check bank levels near a footbridge being built over Cripple Creek on June 13, 2024. The Interior 色视频下载 Land Trust is one of numerous partners involved in restoring Cripple Creek. The restoration effort is part of a larger reclamation and development project, which includes footbridges and multiuse trails.