Restoration of the Caribou Creek Watershed

Past mining activities in the Kantishna Hills area of Denali National Park and Preserve have resulted in a variety of disturbances to the ecosystem. Intensity of disturbance varies from bladed scrapes or wheeled tracks through the tundra to the disruption of the entire system of physical, hydrologic, and biologic relationships in a watershed. Placer-mined streams in the area are characterized by unstable or excessively confined streambeds, with little or no riparian vegetation. Increased sediment loading from such unstable streams results in additional problems downstream, such as cementing of substrates and clogging of benthic invertebrate habitat. Evidence indicates that the value of riparian habitat for wildlife in mined drainages of the Kantishna Hills is severely reduced where a large amount of riparian vegetation and soils are absent. caribou Creek has the most extensive placer mining related impact of any drainage in the Kantishna Hills. It was dredged in the 1930's and then aggressively reworked over most of its length in the 1970's and 1980's with heavy equipment. Approximately 146 ha comprising 21 km of aquatic and riparian habitat have been disturbed by mining activities. Due to recent land acquisitions, the National Park Service is conducting a comprehensive three-year watershed-based restoration project of the entire Caribou Creek drainage. Restoration of the Caribou Creek watershed will provide a significant increase in critical winter habitat for moose, which rely heavily on browse in the few remaining undisturbed floodplains in the Kantishna Hills. Restoration methods and techniques are desperately needed to alleviate disturbances in subarctic latitudes. Due to unique hydrological conditions, permafrost, short growing seasons, wildlife populations, and other northern characteristics, restoration planners need to modify restoration technology designed for warmer climates. This paper briefly describes previous stream and floodplain reclamation projects in Denali, and outlines the watershed-based approach for restoration of the Caribou Creek watershed.