Getting Around in Alaska: "Alaska is Different" Part 1: Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve

Every time you turn around here, someone is telling you authoritatively that "Alaska is different." The statement is easy to shrug off when working at the Regional Office in downtown Anchorage, across the street from the mall. However, Paul Schrooten, the Transportation Coordinator for the Alaska Region and my supervisor here, took me to take a preliminary look at a potential transportation project at Coal Creek near the Yukon River.

As is common in the more remote Parks, Yukon Charley has very little developed infrastructure within the Preserve itself. Its headquarters are in Fairbanks, over 3 hours away by car, and much of its operations are conducted from Eagle, a small Alaska town near the border of Canada. Most visitors to this Park unit float through on one of the rivers.

So how is Alaska different? Well, just getting from administrative headquarters to Coal Creek, the Preserve's most developed area, took about 10 hours. We started in Fairbanks first thing in the morning, hauling the river boat behind the truck. The slick dirt road and strong winds made for a longer-than-usual 4-hour commute to the put-in at Circle. Then a two-hour boat ride up the river in the freezing rain gave us plenty of time to enjoy the fall colors. We waited at the river for the camp manager, Randy, to finish shuttling some researchers to the helicopter at the airstrip, and then shuttle the two batches of us up to the camp in the 4-seater ORV. After the long hours, wind and freezing rain, the wood burning stoves found in the mess hall and the cabins were very welcome!

The transportation issue that we had come to look at is unique to Alaska as well. Coal Creek had been developed as a moving gold mine camp that followed a dredge up and down the bed of the creek. The current stream has been moved repeatedly through the mining process, and increasingly shares the same space as the "road" bed used to bring supplies from the river to the camp by ATV. While some supplies can be brought by small plane or helicopter, this would be impractical for transporting large loads and vehicles. Preserve staff want to explore the feasibility of providing a more stable administrative dirt road connecting the camp with the river.

The dredge floated like a houseboat up and down Coal Creek from 1935- 1957

Park housing at Coal Creek- restored mining camp cabins (the 2-log foundation allowed it to be transported up and down the river with the dredge)

The piles of dredge materials have drastically altered the stream bed. The dredge material is now considered historic. What does the park preserve, the original hydrology of the area or the historic dredge piles with its accompanying erosion issues?

Currently, the "lower road" is used by four wheelers. This road crosses the Creek several times in water several feet deep. At one point the creek looks like it will likely breach its banks within the year, flooding a much longer section of the lower road. An old mining road exists higher on the embankment, but it has not been maintained for years, required costly yearly upkeep when it was maintained, and crossed permafrost areas which are very sensitive to built infrastructure.

The "lower road" is currently sharing the same space as Coal Creek

Yukon Charley's Jobe Chakuchin at the wheel. Recent fire damage adds to erosion issues at the "upper road"

For some reason, everyone at camp was surprised that we made it

through the upper road at all

With the park considering moving some of its law enforcement operations to Coal Creek, staff consider safe, reliable access from the camp to the river for park staff a priority. However, road vehicles are unable to navigate the flooded lower road, and the upper road would require a great deal of yearly upkeep and would have considerable impacts on the land. Not an easy answer to this transportation issue.