Paul's Lake Project Begins To Pay Dividends
Ky Leorge bundborg
The Territory’s first major
investment in fishway con
struction has produced sal
mon from waters which had
been barren from the beginn
ing of time.
Now biologists of the A
laska Department of fisheries
are watching to see if their
brood stock of red salmon will
produce a run of commercial
value.
The departments watershed
management project which
has been in progress on Afog
nak Island for two years is
encouraging.
The fish, in various stages
of developement, are the re
sult of plantings of eyed eggs
in the waters of Paul’s Lake
and its tributaries.
“The fish have followed
their urge of migration to the
sea,” Clint Stockley, biologist
who has been in charge of the
project, said. “If they will
later return to ascend the
stream and fishways as mature
salmon, to spawn and propa
gate their kind, they will have
completed their share of the
bargain.”
Man’s share was the con
struction of five sets of fish
ladders to surmount obstruc
tions in the Paul’s Lake water
shed.
The constrcction work was
done during the summer of
1952 at a cost of $47,000.
If the gamble pays off - and
Territorial Director of Fish
eries Clarence L. Anderson
and his assistants are optimis
tic the cost will be returned
many times over
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Before and after views of on* of the barrier falls between Pauls Lake end Laura lake. At left, during spring freshet stage.
Is shown the b'A-fool falls as it existed before work commenced. At right the same section of stream is shewn with
the fishway completed. A concrete dike has drowned out half the height of the falls, providing two IVi-foot falls with
a broad resting pool between.
Barriers which were cleared
by blasting and the fashioning
1 of “steps” or ladders of con
crete range from a six-foot
i cataract to a 12-foot waterfall.
[Observations have proved that
spawning salmon are able to
go down it to the sea.
Paul’s Basin cradles three
lakes in its valley. The first is
Paul’s Lake covering 81 acres,
the two lakes above it have !
now been opened by the fish- J
way project. ]
Laura Lake, covering 555 ]
«*. JUWml
Map snows the area in the Kodiak dis
trict where the Territorial Department
off Fisheries has completed ffishways
in the most ambitious watershed man
agement project ever undertaken in
Alaska.
acres and Gretchen Lake, 53
acres, were cut off by the cata
ract and falls. [
In 1951 some 213,000 green i
and eyed salmon eggs were|
planted in the gravel of Gret
chen creek. Last year whenl
fry were seined from the'i
mouth of the creek, this first1!
artifical introduction of sal- !
mon to the area was found to !
have been a success.
Within a few weeks of the ]
time the fishways were com- |
pleted silver salmon were ob- |
served ascending to spawn |
where no salmon had ever !
spawned before.
Anderson says the depart
ment has its eye on other po
tential non-productive waters
which might be made to yield
salmon if the Afognak venture
proves successful. Frazer
Lake on Kodiak Island is one
such place.
Mayor Jack Hinckel was
elected one of the trustees of
the League of Alaska Cities
recently at the annual meet
ing at Cordova.
Mayor Ralph Rivers of
Fairbanks was elected presi
dent of the organization. He
succeds Mayor M. L. Taylor
Jr., of Anchorage.
1
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