| A Settlement Agreement for relicensing of the Cooper Lake Hydroelectric Project, located near Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula, was reached in August 2005. The Agreement is a win-win because Cooper Creek fish habitat will be restored and power generation will be increased by approximately 10 percent. Relicensing this project is controversial because it is located in the Kenai River watershed, the most heavily utilized recreational river in Alaska. The Kenai River, world-renowned for trophy salmon and trout, supports significant commercial, sport, and personal-use fisheries.
The Service, in cooperation with partners Chugach Electric Association, Forest Service, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Departments of Fish and Game (ADF&G) and Natural Resources (DNR), Alaska Fly Fishers, Cooper Creek Coalition, Kenaitze Native Tribe, Alaska Center for the Environment, and American Rivers, agreed to a plan to divert Stetson Creek, into Cooper Lake, where water can be naturally warmed, and then released to Cooper Creek. One-half of the diverted water will be available for stream restoration and one-half will be available for additional power generation.
The original Cooper Lake project was completed in 1959, resulting in dewatering a portion of a 0.2 mile portion of Cooper Creek and making another 4.3 miles of stream uninhabitable for anadromous fish and resident rainbow trout because of cold water temperatures. The proposed settlement is expected to raise water temperatures and restore 4.5 miles of Cooper Creek by making habitat conditions suitable for spawning and rearing of Chinook, coho, sockeye, and pink salmon, and rainbow trout. In addition, Chugach Electric will fund some recreational and cultural enhancements, and has agreed to maintainthe transmission line nance in a way that protects nesting migratory birds and wetlands.
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