• Fish Habitat Permit Information
• Fish Habitat Permit Application
• North Slope Gravel Pit Performance Guidelines(PDF 5.5MB)
• Catalog of Waters Important for the Spawning Rearing or Migration of Anadromous Fishes
• DNR Material Sales Fact Sheet

• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
• Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining Land and Water
• Special Areas
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• U.S. Forest Service Land
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Kenai Peninsula Multi Agency Permitting
• Salix Applied Earthcare
• ADF&G Streambank Restoration Guide
• International Erosion Control Association
• River Corridor and Wetlands Restoration
• River Management Society
• NOAA Habitat Restoration

These activities may require a Fish Habitat Permit.

Gravel bars and streambeds are often easily located and utilized sources of gravel for construction needs. However, gravel removal and disturbances to streambeds from material extraction can also be a direct risk to successful salmon spawning. All salmon species and many resident fish species deposit their eggs in gravel nests called redds. When gravel is mined from below ordinary high water, it may kill or smother eggs already buried in the gravel or make the area unusable for returning salmon to spawn in. Since salmon populations return to ancestral areas to spawn, damage to a spawning area may result in the loss of an entire generation. There may also be impacts to fish habitat and passage resulting from associated changes in river hydrology and riparian vegetation.

This risk does not mean that gravel mining operations cannot be conducted, but it is important to have an understanding of the location of the project and whether or not fish populations will be affected.

Material sources above ordinary high water or in uplands areas will not need a Fish Habitat Permit from the Division of Habitat but may need a permit from another agency or office within the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR). If you are unsure, feel free to bring your project plans by one of our area offices where Habitat staff will be able to help you determine the scope of your work. Gravel extracted from state-owned lands, including the beds of navigable waterways, may require a contract for material sales from the DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water.

If your project does occur below ordinary high water in a fish bearing waterbody, the following stipulations may be written into your permit:

• Except for the designated ingress and egress points, the streambanks shall not be altered or disturbed in any way. If stream banks are inadvertently disturbed, they shall be immediately stabilized to prevent erosion.
• Fueling equipment while it is on river ice is prohibited.
• There shall be no equipment or vehicles operated, or materials removed from within the wetted perimeter (flowing waters) of the stream. Gravel shall be removed only from dewatered bars.
• There shall be no gravel washing operations performed within the bed of the stream.
• There shall be no diverting or obstructing the flow of any channel of the stream to facilitate gravel mining operations or access to gravel mining operations.
• Gravel shall be removed in shallow, even lifts to avoid the creation of fish entrapment basins. All depressions and potholes created by the gravel removal shall maintain positive drainage to surface flowing waters or shall be leveled to avoid fish entrapment.
• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation water quality standards shall be maintained in the stream at all times.