Recovery Begins For King Salmon River And Painter Creek Lodge

Article Date: February 2010

Recovery from natural disaster has begun for the King Salmon River drainage and Painter Creek Lodge on the Alaska Peninsula, 400 miles southwest of Anchorage. In early 2005, Chiginagak, the local volcano which last erupted in 1971, suddenly woke up. While the volcano didn't erupt, rising ground temperatures melted the snow that had accumulated in the crater, creating a lake nearly 1,300 feet wide by 350 feet deep. In the spring of 2005, a breach in the crater spilled 3.8 million cubic meters (over a billion gallons) of highly acidic water into Indecision Creek, which runs eventually into Mother Goose Lake and the King Salmon River.

The pH in the upper reaches of the King Salmon River dropped from a normal of around 7.0 to as low as 2.9 ("as acidic as lemon juice"). Fish which would normally have ascended the King Salmon River turned instead and went up Pumice Creek and Old Creek, two lower tributaries that remained untainted.

In the blink of an eye, a river system that had hosted millions of anadromous Pacific salmon and char was nearly devoid of fish. (Editor Note: For a brief scientific summary of the Chiginagak "event" and its effect on water quality in Mother Goose Lake and the King Salmon drainage see www.avo.alaska.edu/news.php?item=67.) Not only were fish, bears, birds and other wildlife affected, this natural acid spill also had an enormous impact on Jon and Patty Kent who own and operate Painter Creek Lodge located on a remote and beautiful bench above Painter Creek, which flows into the King Salmon River below Mother Goose Lake. The Lodge looks out on the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, a paradise of over 2 million acres of mountains, streams and forests.

From 1984 through 2004, Painter Creek Lodge was widely known for king, chum and sil........(continued)

CONTACT DETAILS FOR COMPANIES/INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN ARTICLE (if any)

Jon Kent, Painter Creek Lodge. PO BOX 190109. Anchorage, AK, 99519. Tel. 907-248-1303. E-mail: PATTYKENT@GCI.NET, Web: www.paintercreeklodge.com