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Restoring Stream and Riparian Areas Improves Gandlaay Haanaa
Waterbody Improved Logging activities in an Alaskan sub-basin previously
known as Fubar Creek left upland areas prone to erosion.
In 1993, heavy rains caused landslides that blocked the creek channel with sediment
and prevented passage by anadromous fish. As a result, in 1996 the Alaska Department
of Environmental Conservation (DEC) added Fubar Creek to its list of impaired waters
(in Category 4b: "other pollution control requirements are expected to attain water
quality standards in a reasonable amount of time") for sediment. Beginning in 2006, the
U.S. Forest Service (USFS) partnered with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to remove
excess sediment and restore the stream channel and riparian areas. Fish have returned
to the restored channel, and sediment levels are within normal ranges. Therefore, in
Alaska's 2012 Integrated Report, DEC proposes to move Fubar Creek from Category 4b
to Category 2 (includes waterbodies that have been previously identified as impaired but
which are now attaining a water quality standard for that impairment).
Problem
Fubar Creek is in the Tongass National Forest on
Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska
(Figure 1). One of three sub-basins of the Harris
River Basin, the 2,560-acre Fubar Creek sub-basin
historically provided high-quality spawning and/or
rearing habitat for salmon, trout and char. The
creek is one of a number of Prince of Wales Island
waterbodies in which ecosystem function has been
impaired as a result of forest management activities.
Between 1960 and 1987, loggers harvested approxi-
mately 20 percent of the Fubar Creek sub-basin—
clear-cutting nearly the entire floodplain and thereby
damaging riparian function and contributing to
erosion and sedimentation. In 1993, a large storm
event triggered 11 landslides in the sub-basin. Four
of the landslides reached Fubar Creek and depos-
ited debris containing high volumes of gravel and
sediment directly into the stream and floodplain.
A "bulge" of materia! in the stream channel caused
Fubar Creek to abandon its historic channel and cre-
ate a deep side channel around the landslide area.
This large influx of sediment negatively affected the
creek's ability to sustain anadromous fish popula-
tions. In 1996 DEC added 2.0 miles of Fubar Creek
to Category 4b of the state's list of impaired waters
for sediment (impaired waters for which "other
Figure 1. The Gandlaay Haanaa (Fubar Creek)
sub-basin is on Alaska's Prince of Wales Island.
pollution control requirements are expected to attain
water quality standards in a reasonable amount of
time"). The water qualified as Category 4b because
the USFS documented in a 1995 letter to DEC that
timber harvesting would be deferred and watershed
improvement projects would be accelerated.
Alaska
Southeast
Alaska
Gandlaay Haanaa
(Fubar Creek)
Tongass
National Forest

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Project Highlights
In 1995, as recommended
by DEC, the USFS stopped
commercial timber harvesting
activity in the Fubar Creek
sub-basin. In 2003, USFS'
Craig Ranger District conduct-
ed a comprehensive hydro-
logic condition assessment
of the Harns River Basin The
USFS also monitored channel
conditions to assess trends
in geomorphic indicators to
determine progress toward
channel equilibrium as restora-
tion occurred. The watershed-
based assessment, along with
channel condition monitoring,
helped the USFS to guide and
prioritize restoration activities
in the Fubar Creek sub-basin.
In 2006, the USFS decom-
missioned 1.2 miles of old
logging road in the sub-basin.
In addition, the USFS and TNC
began the first of three phases
of in-stream restoration work
in Fubar Creek, reconstruct-
ing 2,500 linear feet of the
historic channel and adjoining
floodplain, creating pools, and
adding more than 200 logs
and other natural materials
to the channel to create the
complexity required for high-quality fish habitat.
In 2006, as a result of this in-stream work, the first
perennial flows since the 1993 landslides occurred
in the historic channel (Figure 2).
In 2007, partners launched Phase II of the project,
restoring another 2,900 linear feet farther down-
stream to the confluence with the Harris River. This
stream segment had been considered disconnect-
ed from the floodplain due to channel degradation.
In Phase II, the USFS and TNC focused on in-stream
habitat improvement by stabilizing banks and add-
ing large woody debris in both the channel and the
floodplain.
In 2008, the USFS completed Phase lil of active
restoration, replacing floodplain overflow culverts
along a highway that crosses Fubar Creek. In
2009, the USFS and TNC completed supplemental
off-channel habitat improvements and log jam
construction.
Figure 2. After landslides filled
Fubar Creek's original channel
with sediment (top), USFS
excavated the sediment (middle
and returned the creek to its
former channel (bottom).
Results
Fish counts show that the restored creek once
again supports a fishery. By 2009, the peak aduit
pink salmon returning to spawn in the Phase I reach
was 4,046, with a total of 8,630 adult pink salmon
counted in both the Phase I and II reaches.
Data show that sediment and turbidity levels have
declined. Staff from the USFS' Tongass National
Forest Watershed Program collected water quality
data between July and December 2010 on Fubar
Creek and on Rio Roberts Creek, a nearby reference
watershed. On the basis of analyses of the data col-
lected by USFS, DEC determined that Fubar Creek
met state turbidity standards and that sediment
continues to move through the Fubar Creek sys-
tem, but It does so in a pattern consistent with the
unmanaged watersheds in the region. As a result,
in Alaska's 2012 Integrated Report, DEC proposes
to move Fubar Creek to Category 2 (includes
waterbodies that have been previously identified as
impaired but which are now attaining a water qual-
ity standard for that impairment).
in August 2011, local, state, federal and tribal
stakeholders gathered to celebrate the success
of the restoration efforts in Fubar Creek and the
larger Harris River Basin. The day's events included
a ceremony to change the name of Fubar Creek to
one suggested by the Hydaburg Tribal Council —
Gand/aay Haanaa, which means "beautiful stream"
in the Haida language.
Partners and Funding
Key partners in the Fubar Creek restoration effort
included the USFS and TNC, with support from
Trout Unlimited and other local tribal and conser-
vation partners. A total of $3.5 million has been
spent on restoration in the Harris River Basin, of
which $950,000 was spent on Fubar Creek proj-
ects. Funding support for the greater Harris River
Restoration Project was provided by the USFS, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
the National Forest Foundation, the Gordon and
Betty Moore Foundation, and the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-12-001LL
August 2012
For additional information contact:
Drew Grant, Alaska Department of Environmental
Conser vation, Division of Water
907-465-5304 • drew.grant@alaska.gov
Sheila Jacobson, U.S. Forest Service,
Tongass National Forest
907-826-1629 • sajacobson@fs.fed.us

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