The Kenai Peninsula Borough covers approximately 25,000 square miles with over 20,000 miles of in-stream habitat and 350,000 acres of wetland habitat in southcentral Alaska. The Peninsula sustains populations of coho, sockeye, chinook, pink, and chum salmon, as well as rainbow and steelhead trout that make it a premier destination for Alaskans, Americans, and people from all over the world. The Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership helps foster responsible stewardship to combat threats such as increased development, a warming climate, and invasive species as well as increase awareness for the species' that have deep cultural roots in this area.
Salmon have sustained people on the Kenai Peninsula for longer than recorded history, and are a key part of the area ecologically, culturally, and economically. As human reach and development have increased in the past decades, the habitat of salmon, as well as the other aquatic species that call the peninsula home, have come under threat. Threats such as climate change alter temperature and precipitation patterns which change habitat conditions through things such as increased glacial melt and loss of groundwater recharge. Other threats include the loss of anadromous connectivity through human development that can block salmon from valuable spawning and rearing habitat. The Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership (KPFHP) prides itself as a diverse and dynamic organization that brings together agencies, nonprofits, and tribal groups to help combat these threats. We have leveraged millions of dollars worth of funds into on-the-ground projects that reconnect habitat, educate the public, and fund research. Our purpose is to create and foster effective collaborations to maintain healthy fish, healthy people, healthy habitats, and healthy economies on the Kenai Peninsula.
Melissa Smith Coordinator
Email: fishhabitat@kenaiwatershed.org
http://www.kenaifishpartnership.org/