The Chena is one of the most well-known and heavily used rivers in interior Alaska, because the lower river flows through the city of Fairbanks, and because much of the upper river is accessible by road in the Chena River State Recreation Area. The Chena begins in the Yukon-Tanana highlands northeast of Fairbanks, and its waters flow through town down into the Tanana River, the Yukon River, and eventually the Bering Sea.
The upper river is closed to salmon fishing, but it is well-known for outstanding catch & release fishing for large Arctic grayling. It is also popular for hiking, rafting, and hunting. These benefits are not lost on off-duty members of our project team.
The lower Chena (downstream from the flood control project) supports a sport fishery for adult Chinook salmon, although it does not approach the quality or popularity of big-name coastal fisheries like the Kenai. Chena Chinook are more important to humans as a component of the commercial and subsistence harvest lower in the Yukon drainage. One telemetry study (Eiler et al. 2006) found that Chena Chinook salmon accounted for about 4% of the total Yukon run.
The importance of the Chena extends beyond the immediate use of its fish. Its proximity to Fairbanks makes it the best place to study the effects of human development on an interior Alaskan river system. That proximity also provides us more flexibility in our study methods and schedule than would be possible in a more remote site, so it’s an ideal place to study the ecology of juvenile Chinook salmon.
References
Eiler, J. H., Spencer, T. R., & Masuda, M. M. (2006). Stock Composition, Run Timing, and Movement Patterns of Chinook Salmon Returning to the Yukon River Basin in 2004. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-AFSC-165.