Tanana Valley Watershed Association

The Fairbanks Storm Water Advisory Committee (FSWAC) and Tanana Valley Watershed Association (TVWA) work together to implement the Adopt-a-Stream program, community based with a variety of volunteer water-quality monitoring and stream restoration activities which provide residents and other stakeholders with the opportunity to actively participate as stewards of their watershed. Elements of the programs include water-quality monitoring, bio-assessment studies, litter pick-up, stream bank restoration and maintenance, and management of flow restrictions. Through implementation of these programs, the FSWAC and TVWA raise community awareness of water-quality issues, improve local water quality and develop a strong volunteer base by providing members of the community a sense of ownership in local water quality issues. A total of 16 families and individuals signed up to participate in water quality sampling. Of these participants, all completed at least one sampling event during the 2012 sampling season. A total of 19 locations were sampled on water bodies within the Tanana Valley Watershed: the Chena River, Chena Slough, Goldstream Creek, Piledriver Slough, and the Chatanika River To broaden the experience for the citizen scientists, habitat surveys based on the EPA Habitat Walk method were undertaken during the season to record changes in riparian habitat over time. The Annual River Clean Up Day was held on June 9th last year, with about 40 volunteers in attendance.

Mapping Aquatic Priorities – Chena. TVWA is partnering with ESCAPE and gathering public input to identify  and prioritize streams and wetlands in the Chena watershed important to Chinook salmon.

The goal of WRAP MAP is used to: Identify and prioritize specific areas for preservation and restoration. Identify key areas within the watershed where strategically selected compensatory mitigation. Identify sites that could be developed to restore, establish, enhance and preserve Chinook salmon and other aquatic resources. Gather and review existing plans, reports and analysis, analyze historic loss, current conditions, threats and future trends. Map these areas in a comprehensive GIS map.

TVWA is coordinating with stakeholders to develop and implement and educational campaign aimed at the residents, businesses and users that addresses GI applications and actions they can do to reduce run-off pollution in the Chena River watershed. This campaign includes a public event, community workshops and development of hands-on educational materials focusing on the benefits of these actions for fish and wildlife, especially Chinook Salmon.

The Tanana River produces over 20% of the Chinook salmon in the entire Yukon River (including Canada). Two of the tributaries to the Tanana River, the Chena and Salcha Rivers, are among the top Chinook salmon producing streams for the Yukon River, and another three Tanana River tributaries are also large producers of Chinook salmon: many Chena tributaries are currently being used by juvenile Chinook and are not on the State of Alaska Anadromous Waters Catalog and so are not provided protection. TVWA is sampling those waters to see which are currently being used as rearing habitat.