Recent Changes

For a comprehensive study of the Mendenhall Watershed by Juneau High School Students, take this link.
Watersheds in the Mendenhall Valley drain populated areas that limit space for stream corridors and produce pollutants from roads, sewage systems, and litter. Salmon that journey up the Mendenhall River may find areas where their access is restricted by road crossings or find spawning gravel that is covered by sand and litter that enters the stream during winter road maintenance. Scientists are doing research in the watershed to determine the best ways to allow salmon to reach spawning areas and to clean up polluted runoff before it reaches streams.The health of the Mendenhall River estuary is also being studied by mapping the fish habitat there and watching for changes over time.
Mitch Lorenz

{montana.jpg} {montana.jpg} {confluence.jpg}
Watch Out! A bear swiped its claw through the now-fresh water, missing Sylvie by inches but getting another unlucky fish. Sylvie was in the riparian zone with lots to pay attention to. There were lots of trees, overhanging banks and vegetation around her. Sylvie kept swimming through the riparian zone but what used to be easy for her--even swimming--began to be a struggle. At one point her tail got caght on a piece of vegetation. She struggled and got free. No longer was she interested in food. She was preoccupied with swimming against the current, feeling her belly swell, and her scales cling to her skin. Strangely, she seemed to lose her love of strong flowing water and the exciting bouldery rapids she soared through just days ago. She had an eye now for gravel, fine gravel that she could arrange as she wanted to in the slow current, Lucy found a nice place and -- without really knowing why -- began to make a little hole with her tail as she swished against the endless current. She made a redd.
Not long after the redd was finished, she became aware of other fish shadowing her. There was X, and old friend from her ocean feading ground who hovered uncomfortably close. And always, Dolly Varden and Cuthroat, who used to fear her, lurking close behind her. But she could pay attention to none of them as her stomach began to swell. Suddenly, whe she felt it could get no fuller, that she might explode, she began to feel relief. She realized, as she saw the trout disappear while gulping orange berries, that she had laid her egges. After she laid her eggs she stayed for four days to hover over them and protect them from those nasty little trout.

{montana.jpg} {confluence.jpg}
Watch Out! A bear swiped its claw through the now-fresh water, missing Sylvie by inches but getting another unlucky fish. Sylvie was in the riparian zone with lots to pay attention to. There were lots of trees, overhanging banks and vegetation around her. Sylvie kept swimming through the riparian zone but what used to be easy for her--even swimming--began to be a struggle. At one point her tail got caght on a piece of vegetation. She struggled and got free. No longer was she interested in food. She was preoccupied with swimming against the current, feeling her belly swell, and her scales cling to her skin. Strangely, she seemed to lose her love of strong flowing water and the exciting bouldery rapids she soared through just days ago. She had an eye now for gravel, fine gravel that she could arrange as she wanted to in the slow current, Lucy found a nice place and -- without really knowing why -- began to make a little hole with her tail as she swished against the endless current. She made a redd.
Not long after the redd was finished, she became aware of other fish shadowing her. There was X, and old friend from her ocean feading ground who hovered uncomfortably close. And always, Dolly Varden and Cuthroat, who used to fear her, lurking close behind her. But she could pay attention to none of them as her stomach began to swell. Suddenly, whe she felt it could get no fuller, that she might explode, she began to feel relief. She realized, as she saw the trout disappear while gulping orange berries, that she had laid her egges. After she laid her eggs she stayed for four days to hover over them and protect them from those nasty little trout.