When the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities contractors dug gravel from a forested area for a new highway project, they only had to enlarge the hole to tap into ground water and create an 8.5-acre fish pond. Using a backhoe excavator, a team of biologists and contractors connected the pond to nearby Quartz Creek (a tributary of the Kenai River). They made the outlet stream look "natural" with features such as meanders, boulders, tree trunks, and root wads. Within months, five species of salmon and trout were spawning and rearing there, and hundreds of juvenile char and salmon had found their way into the pond. Today, the site is home not just to fish but also to coyotes, brown bears, waterfowl, and shorebirds.
--Apr 25, 2003
|Alaska Department of Transportation and photo|
|Aerial view of Quartz Creek Pond|