Listed below is a selection of literature, resources, and links that are valuable to anyone currently conducting, or interested in conducting, research or management on the Kenai Peninsula.
Links & Databases
Dena’ina Language and History
The Kenaitze Indian Tribe, I.R.A and the Kenai Peninsula College created this site as an introduction to the Outer Inlet dialect of the Dena’ina language of Alaska with emphasis on the Kenai Peoples Language.
Kenai Peninsula Borough GIS Database
The Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) maintains an up-to-date database of GIS resources covering things such as land cover use, anadromous waters, parcel ownership, and much more.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) Interactive Mapper
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) maintains a GIS database of ongoing projects on the state of salmon habitat across the Kenai Peninsula and state of Alaska including things such as fish passage barriers and documented anadromous waterways.
Kenai Watershed Forum Paperpile Database
Paperpile is a document organization platform that allows for scientific literature to be shared (when papers are publicly available). The Kenai Watershed Forum maintains an up-to-date Paperpile database with links to dozens of publications that are used for a variety of research purposes.
Kenai Peninsula Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (KP-CISMA)
The Kenai Peninsula Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (KP-CISMA) is a broad scale approach to managing invasive species across the landscape, waterbodies, and high-risk pathways of a large geographic area.
ADFG Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat Publications Search
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has a public, searchable database to access outreach materials, data, and other literature from past and current projects run by their organization.
Publications & Reports
Climate Science of Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Peninsula
This publication produced by the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve summarizes some of the challenges facing coastal communities that are related to a changing climate and landscape.
Kenai Peninsula Wetlands A Guide for Everyone: Get to know your wetlands including their function and value
This publication produced by the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District (HSWCD) in 2014 provides insight into reports that include landscape level of assessments of wetland functions on the Kenai Peninsula.
Turbidity Monitoring on the Lower Kenai River, 2008-2010
This report characterizes seasonal, summer turbidity levels for the lower 23 miles of the Kenai River from 2008 through 2010. The purpose of this report is two fold: 1) to characterize the natural range of variability for turbidity in the nearshore environment of the lower river and; 2) to identify and quantify variation in turbidity levels from anthropogenic sources during the same summer season.
Martin, M., Charbonnet, J., Jones, E., Czarnezki, and Ruffner, R. 2011. Turbidity Monitoring on the Lower Kenai River, 2008-2010.
Road condition survey for the forest road system in the Kenai Peninsula Borough
This project was designed to assess the condition of the non-federal forest roads in the Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB), with respect to water quality and fish habitat. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry (DOF) inventoried and evaluated the non-federal forest road system in the KPB.
Nudelman, Joel. 2015. Road condition survey for the forest road system in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Effects of Boatwakes on Streambank Erosion Kenai River, Alaska
This USGS study was prepared with the help of ADFG to study the effect that frequent boatwakes from recreational traffic had on streamside habitat for chinook salmon.
Dorova, J.M., and Moore, G.W. 1997. Effects of Boatwakes on Streambank Erosion Kenai River, Alaska. US Geological Survey.
Boat-Wave-Induced Erosion on the Kenai River, Alaska
This study by the US Army Corps of Engineers was an update to the 1997 USGS study to determine relative contribution of boat-wake-induced bank erosion to total bank erosion on the Kenai River.
Maynord, S.T., Biedenharn, D.S., Fischenich, C.J., and Zufelt, J.E. 2008. Boat-Wave-Induced Erosion on the Kenai River, Alaska. Engineer Research and Deployment Center.
Scientific Literature
Wetlands of Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska: Classifications and Contributions to Streamflow
Former Kenai Watershed Forum employee Mike Gracz created a GIS database and written report of wetlands by type of the Kenai Peninsula as a PhD Dissertation for the University of Minnesota.
Gracz, M.B., Moffett, M.F., Siegel, D.I., and Glaser P.H., 2015. Analyzing peatland discharge to streams in an Alaska watershed: An integration of end-member mixing analysis and a water balance approach. Journal of Hydrology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.072
Future of Pacific Salmon in the Face of Environmental Change: Lessons from One of the World’s Remaining Productive Salmon Regions
Pacific salmon face serious challenges from climate and landscape change. This paper focuses on the Kenai River and the decrease of Chinook Salmon in response to climatic threats as well as increased human development.
Schoen, E.R., Wipfli, M.S., Trammell, E.J., Rinella D.J., Floyd, A.L., Grunblatt, J., McCarthy, M.D., Meyer, B.E., Morton, J.M., Powell, J.E.,
Prakash, A., Reimer, M.N., Stuefer, S.L., Toniolo, H., Wells, B.M., and Witmer, F.D.W. 2017 Future of Pacific Salmon in the Face of Environmental Change: Lessons from One of the World’s Remaining Productive Salmon Regions, Fisheries, 42:10, 538-553
The history of land use on Alaska’s Kenai River and its implications for sustaining salmon
This study is a PhD dissertation by Susan F. Loshbaugh and looks at the stresses to salmon and their habitat from increased urbanization along low river drainages along the Kenai River.
Loshbaugh, Susan. 2014. The history of land use on Alaska’s Kenai River and its implications for sustaining salmon [doctoral dissertation]. University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Summer temperature regimes in southcentral Alaska streams: watershed drivers of variation and potential implications for Pacific salmon
As climate change effects are ever present in high latitude areas, this study focuses on understanding rates and drivers of change changing temperature in southcentral Alaska and the impacts these could have on Pacific salmon.
Mauger, S., Shaftel, R., Leppi, J.C., and Rinella, D.J. 2016. Summer temperature regimes in southcentral Alaska streams: watershed drivers of variation and potential implications for Pacific salmon. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 74:702-712
Spatiotemporal remote sensing of ecosystem change and causation across Alaska
Contemporary climate change in Alaska has resulted in amplified rates of press and pulse disturbances that drive ecosystem change with significant consequences for socio-environmental systems. Despite the vulnerability of Arctic and boreal landscapes to change, little has been done to characterize landscape change and associated driver across northern high-latitude ecosystems. Here researchers characterize the historical sensitivity of Alaska’s ecosystems to environmental change and anthropogenic disturbance using expert knowledge, remote sensing data, and spatiotemporal analyses and modeling.
Pastick, N.J., Torre Jorgensen, T., Goetz, S.J., Jones, B.M., Wylie, B.K., Minsley, B.J, Genet, H., Knight, J.F., Swanson, D.K., and Jorgensen, J.C. 2018. Spatiotemporal remote sensing of ecosystem change and causation across Alaska. Global Change Biology 25:1171-1189.
Role of lake regulation on glacier-fed rivers in enhancing salmon productivity: the Cook Inlet watershed, southcentral Alaska, USA
This paper examines the ways in which the regulation of glacier-fed rivers by proglacial lakes affects salmon productivity, with particular reference to the Kenai River. Salmon escapement per unit channel
length on the Kenai River is between two and ten times that found for rain-and-snowmelt dominated rivers and glacier-fed rivers lacking lake regulation.
Dorova, J.M., and Milner, A.M. 2000. Role of lake regulation on glacier-fed rivers in enhancing salmon productivity: the Cook Inlet watershed, southcentral Alaska, USA. Hydrological Processes 14:3149-3159.
Conferences & Materials
2022 Design, Review, and Construction of Stream Crossings for Ecological Function
In March 2022, the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership (SEAKHP) hosted a three day, virtual workshop focusing on resilient and ecologically functioning stream crossings in Alaska. Accompanying material are provided here.