The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

black bear with salmon on Prince of Wales Island Bridget Besaw/TNC

The Klawock River originally met the sea via two channels, which
provided a healthy flow of seawater through the lagoon. Under these
conditions, expansive beds of saltwater-loving eelgrass offered a
protective nursery for young salmon in the lagoon.
After the causeway sealed off the lagoon’s north channel, salinity
levels declined and the size of the eelgrass beds dwindled.
A new causeway allows for salmon passage once again, and offers
the long-term benefit of restoring the tidal flows.

It’s the first time in nearly 50 years: high tides bring migrating salmon through the north channel to Klawock Lagoon. The homecoming is possible thanks to a Nature Conservancy–led project to install a specially designed culvert that allows high tides to flow through the lagoon’s north channel as it did before road crews built an impermeable causeway here in 1964.

Spawning salmon are returning across this isthmus again—and biologists expect these same cameras to capture salmon smolt migrating to the ocean.

“Now that tidal flow is restored across the causeway, we could very well see improved growth of native eelgrass in the lagoon,” says Rob Bosworth, the Conservancy biologist who leads our restoration projects in Southeast Alaska. “This is great news for salmon because beds of eelgrass serve as nurseries for young fish. By installing an 18-foot-wide fish-friendly culvert, we have not only restored another salmon migration route for the lagoon—we’ve restored the flow that can bring habitat back to its full potential. We expect to see results within five to six years, and we will be monitoring for changes during this time.”

The Klawock River system supports pink, chum, coho, and sockeye salmon, as well as steelhead, cutthroat trout, and Dolly Varden char. All of these contribute to sport, commercial, and subsistence fisheries, but they are decreasing in abundance.

Klawock Lagoon Salmon Passage Partners

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Alaska Department of Transportation
Klawock Watershed Council
Klawock Heenya Corp.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Ketchikan Ready-Mix
Channel Excavators
U.S. Forest Service
Natural Resources Conservation Service
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Klawock Cooperative Association
Craig Community Association
City of Klawock
Ducks Unlimited
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Alaska Trollers Association
National Forest Foundation