Alaska will receive $44 million in federal aid to replace fish culverts

Alaska will receive $44 million in federal aid to replace fish culverts

By Jeff McMurray,

Associated Press

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Aug. 16 announced nearly $200 million in federal grants to upgrade culverts — the tunnels that carry streams beneath roads but can be deadly to fish that get stuck trying to pass through.

More than $44 million of the money will go to Alaska projects, including replacement culverts under roadways on Prince of Wales Island and in Metlakatla and Yakutat. About one-quarter of the money is going to tribal projects in Alaska, with the rest designated for state Department of Transportation projects.

Many of the culverts, often made from metal or concrete, were built in the 1950s and are blamed in part for declining populations of salmon and other fish that live in the ocean but return to freshwater streams to spawn. Fisheries, including tribal-run operations in the Pacific Northwest, have experienced losses they blame in part on such barriers.

“We inherited a lot of structures that were built in a way that just did not properly contemplate the effect they were having on fish,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You don’t have to be a fish enthusiast or ecologist to care about this. It’s very important for the livelihoods, economies and way of life in many parts of the country.”

Some of the 169 projects that make up the first batch of a $1 billion five-year initiative under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will upgrade the culverts or replace them with bridges to allow water — and fish — to flow more freely.

The most-expensive project announced Aug. 16 is $20 million for Alaska to replace a dozen culvert sites on the highway connecting Fairbanks and Anchorage.

The Alaska work list includes $4.5 million to replace culverts on the Craig-Klawock-Hollis Highway on Prince of Wales; $3.8 million for a Yakutat project; and $1.75 million for work on Annette Island.

Washington state, which has been working for years under a court order to improve fish crossings under state roads, is receiving $58 million in federal grant money — the most for any state in the first round of the program.

Tribal governments in Washington won an injunction in 2013 prohibiting the construction of new culverts deemed to harm fish habitats and requiring state officials to accelerate the removal of existing ones. The U.S. Supreme Court later deadlocked on the case, 4-4, allowing the lower court order to stand.

As of June, Washington had removed 114 culvert barriers and helped clear 502 miles of blocked salmon and steelhead habitat, according to that state’s Department of Transportation.

While half of the $200 million went to Washington and Alaska, Maine was next with $35 million. Other Western states to receive money are California, Oregon and Idaho.

The Wrangell Sentinel contributed reporting to this story.