text

King Makers: Homeowners association launches 3-phase plan to protect salmon

Originally published in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman on May 9, 2015

vickilee

PALMER — What can a group of homeowners and volunteers do to protect and restore salmon habitat on their property?

As it turns out, a lot.

Mountain View Estates is an older development built back in the 1980s. The subdivision is within walking distance of Palmer, filled with modest family homes. Many residents have lived there for 20 years or more. The neighborhood offers epic views of Pioneer Peak and borders general state land along the Matanuska River.

A unique aspect of this subdivision is that the homeowners association owns a 48-acre parcel of land in the center of their community. The property includes the entire shoreline of Jukes Lake, the outflow of Jukes Lake and portions of a few unnamed clear-water creeks. In the late summer and fall, the creeks are filled with spawning chum, sockeye and coho salmon. Baby salmon utilize the lake and creek habitat all year long.

Pacific salmon spawn in a variety of habitats, including large rivers, small streams, ponds, sloughs, and lakes. On large, braided, glacial river systems like the Matanuska, Knik and Susitna, the main channel and side channels can move. When the channels shift, the abandoned channel can fill with clear water from tributary streams. This creates exceptional spawning and rearing habitat.

In the Matanuska watershed, almost all of the clear-water side channels that flank the main stem of the river support salmon in various life stages.

The U.S. Geological Survey completed a study in 2008 of salmon spawning and rearing activity in the Matanuska River. They found that migration of chum, coho, and sockeye salmon into the Matanuska River lasted from July 22 to Sept. 20. Ninety percent of chum, 98 percent of the sockeye and 45 percent of coho salmon spawned in clear-water side channels.

As the area has become more developed, the homeowners association has struggled with non-residents trespassing on their community-owned land.

“Over the years, more and more people were coming into our neighborhood dumping trash and driving their ATVs through our property without permission,” said Vickie Lee Fenster, vice president of the homeowners association. “It’s not that we were against motorized vehicles, but what people don’t realize is that they are on private land and their activities are damaging the sensitive salmon habitat.”

Over time residents began to notice fewer and fewer salmon spawning in the nearby creeks. They worried that the salmons’ habitat was being adversely affected. In an effort to bring back the salmon — with help from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Mat-Su Borough Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program — the homeowners association launched a three-phase protection, restoration and education project aimed at limiting all-terrain vehicle traffic, restoring the damaged habitat and teaching the public about how to recreate responsibly on their community-owned lands.

Habitat protection

After six years of planning, Fenster said, the first phase of the project began in 2013 with a permitting process to create a non-motorized area on the homeowners’ lands. During the summer of 2014, the homeowners association collected donated materials for a guardrail and gate to block ATV access to the homeowners association lands. With the materials in hand, more than 20 community members worked over a series of weekends to install the gates and guardrail to protect the lakeshore and the clear-water side channels where salmon spawn. Pedestrian access is still open.

“As a community we wanted the homeowners association lands to become a sanctuary for fish, wildlife, and migratory birds that everyone could enjoy,” Fenster said. “For that to happen, we needed to block certain types of access.”

vickilee2

Habitat restoration

Phase two will take place this summer. The homeowners association plans to focus on restoring the damaged shoreline habitat along the clear-water side channels and lake shoreline by replanting willows and other native vegetation. They also plan to install a bridge over the outflow of Jukes Lake with help from Fish and Game. The bridge, located on association property, will link two social trails and provide a hardened crossing to keep all users out of the very sensitive spawning grounds.

Community education and outreach

The third and final phase will commence once the restoration activities are complete and will focus on sharing Jukes Lake and the homeowners association lands with the community.

“We envision an educational trail where community members and visitors can observe the salmon and see other wildlife,” Fenster said.

Great Land Trust crowned Lee and the homeowners association as King Makers for their voluntary actions to protect and restore salmon habitat on their community lands. Salmon are shared community resources and these private landowners have helped and are helping protect Alaska’s wild salmon runs for the future.

After all, little actions make big fish.

“It really is a piece of paradise down there, and we are trying to be good stewards,” Fenster said.