The spring installation of the newest fish friendly culvert on the Copper River Highway was completed on April 27, making it the eighth culvert the Copper River Watershed Project has helped replace in the Copper River watershed.
For every two miles of road in the Copper River watershed, there is one culvert and many of those culverts pass fish streams under road crossings.
Data collected by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in 2002 indicated that more than 50 percent of those culverts restricted fish passage.
According to the ADF&G Anadromous Waters Catalog, the replacement of the Mile 17 culvert opened up one mile of upstream habitat for all life stages of Coho salmon at all creek flow levels.
Click here to watch the video of the installation.
