Damage done to the original fishing boardwalk by winter ice.

River ice damage winter 2007.

The Kenai River is one of Alaska's premier fishing destinations.  Much of the river bank  near Soldotna is in private ownership, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides  two public access fishing boardwalks (built around 1999 with Exxon Valdez settlement money) that were severely damaged by the ice in January 2007.  The damage included ice damming followed by flooding and scouring of the riverbanks. The Refuge used station funds to hire a local contractor to clear the debris (for safety reasons) and to repair one of the boardwalks.  Significant cost savings were realized by working through the 8A contracting process and by cannibalizing the beams from one boardwalk to repair the other.  As a result, the lower 400-foot section was repaired in time to open it for the busy summer fishing season in 2007.  The total cost for that contract was about $13,000.  Local property owners were pleased. The potential of tourists trespassing on private lands to access the river is greatly reduced by having the public access open. 

However the job was only half completed by Jan 2008 because at that time the upper boardwalk still needed repair and many of its serviceable components were used to repair the lower section.  Estimates put the repair dollar figure at around $60,000.  In May 2008, $60,000 in emergency funds were provide by the Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office in Anchorage to repair the upper boardwalk.  A contractor was hired and the second section of boardwalk was repaired by the July 1st 2008 opening date, in time for the Kenai’s famous sockeye salmon run.  Facilities Manager Art Tovar provided leadership on the project.