August 26, 2021 โ This particular pocket of Beaver Creek is not far from the road, just a short and muddy tromp away from a gravel parking lot between Kenai and Soldotna. But itโs home to several cold water inputs that could be crucially important for young salmon as they swim from the Kenai River to Cook Inlet.
Cook Inletkeeper Executive Director Sue Mauger said the inputs are like cold water faucets.
โTheyโre a little place where thereโs a constant pump of colder water,โ she said. โAnd that really can help buffer when we have those really warm, sunny days to actually have some cold water coming into the creek.โ
Inletkeeper is working with the Kenai Watershed Forum and the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust to diagram those cold water spots in four peninsula creeks. The goal is to keep those creeks, and the salmon that use them, protected.
Hereโs the catch โ the inputs fall over a mosaic of private and city land. The nonprofits are reaching out to landowners to let them know they have something special in their backyards.
โEveryone who owns riverfront property knows they have really special habitat,โ Mauger said. โLike, they know that thatโs important; thatโs why they bought the property, probably, is to be on the river. But to then be told, โYou have extra special property. You have something really unique on your propertyโ is very exciting for someone.โ