Chuitna River (Alaska)
Encyclopedia
The Chuitna River, sometimes called the Chuit, emerges from a broad expanse of forest and wetlands west of Anchorage
and drains into Cook Inlet
. The river and its tributaries support all five species of Pacific salmon, Dolly Varden and trout, and the region is home to abundant wildlife, including moose, wolves, and bears. The area attracts sports fishing and hunting enthusiasts, and supports subsistence hunting and fishing activities. River fish stocks enhance Cook Inlet salmon populations.
to its mouth at Cook Inlet between the remote Alaska villages of Tyonek
and Beluga
on the west shore of upper Cook Inlet. The waterway and its tributaries are vital to the subsistence lifestyles of local residents whose villages are not connected to Alaska's road system. Though marked on some maps as "highways," the only roads in the area are primitive structures left behind from past oil and gas exploration and logging activities. The piedmont lowlands are covered in birch, poplar, and spruce forests and muskeg. Toward the northwest, the topography rises to a treeless plateau that extends to the Alaska Range. The local climate varies between maritime and continental, with annual rainfall measuring about 100 cm in the Chuitna River basin.
-aged sedimentary rocks. Plateaus between drainages release their water poorly and are prone to extensive bogs and marshes, ponds and lakes, but alluvial corridors along stream courses are free draining.
. If granted those permits, PacRim proposes to excavate as much as 1 billion metric tons of coal from the lease territory over several decades. PacRim officials have said the mine would create 300 to 350 jobs and a tax revenue stream to local and state government coffers.
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
and drains into Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage....
. The river and its tributaries support all five species of Pacific salmon, Dolly Varden and trout, and the region is home to abundant wildlife, including moose, wolves, and bears. The area attracts sports fishing and hunting enthusiasts, and supports subsistence hunting and fishing activities. River fish stocks enhance Cook Inlet salmon populations.
Description
The Chuitna's 25 miles (40.2 km) length courses from its headwaters at the base of the Alaska RangeAlaska Range
The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 650-km-long mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest end to the White River in Canada's Yukon Territory in the southeast...
to its mouth at Cook Inlet between the remote Alaska villages of Tyonek
Tyonek, Alaska
Tyonek is a census-designated place in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census the population was 193. In 1973, Tyonek formed Tyonek Native Corporation under ANCSA and is federally recognized.- History :...
and Beluga
Beluga, Alaska
Beluga is a census-designated place in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 32 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Beluga is located at ....
on the west shore of upper Cook Inlet. The waterway and its tributaries are vital to the subsistence lifestyles of local residents whose villages are not connected to Alaska's road system. Though marked on some maps as "highways," the only roads in the area are primitive structures left behind from past oil and gas exploration and logging activities. The piedmont lowlands are covered in birch, poplar, and spruce forests and muskeg. Toward the northwest, the topography rises to a treeless plateau that extends to the Alaska Range. The local climate varies between maritime and continental, with annual rainfall measuring about 100 cm in the Chuitna River basin.
Geology
The river cuts through glacial deposits overlain by TertiaryTertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
-aged sedimentary rocks. Plateaus between drainages release their water poorly and are prone to extensive bogs and marshes, ponds and lakes, but alluvial corridors along stream courses are free draining.
Development
The area through which the Chuitna and its tributaries flow is rich in coal and is known as the Beluga Coal Fields. PacRim Coal LP, a Delaware Corporation, holds a lease on 20571 acres (83.2 km²) of land within the coal fields. The corporation is pursuing state and federal permits for a massive surface strip mine called the Chuitna Coal ProjectChuitna Coal Project
The Chuitna Coal Project is a proposed coal strip mine that, if granted state and federal permits, would be built about southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, in an area known as the Beluga Coal Fields near the Chuitna River and the small communities of Tyonek and Beluga in upper Cook Inlet.-Proposal:The...
. If granted those permits, PacRim proposes to excavate as much as 1 billion metric tons of coal from the lease territory over several decades. PacRim officials have said the mine would create 300 to 350 jobs and a tax revenue stream to local and state government coffers.