Restoring and Improving Natural Freshwater Systems

For thousands of years, the Yukon and Kuskokwim watersheds have sustained people, fish, birds, and other wildlife, supporting strong and resilient communities and ways of life. Traditional foods including salmon, caribou, moose, and migratory birds are vital to food security and Indigenous cultures for the more than 100 Tribes who have stewarded the regions’ lands. In recent years, these communities and the ecosystems they depend on have suffered as climate change has impacted the Arctic. The rate of warming in the Arctic is up to four times faster than other parts of North America. One example of these impacts is the decline of Pacific salmon populations, leading to subsistence salmon fishing closures and empty smokehouses for people who have relied on salmon for more than 10,000 years.

Restoring and improving natural freshwater systems is one of five topic areas of projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These projects restore damaged and degraded freshwater systems (streams, wetlands, riparian areas) to increase biodiversity, improve fish passage, protect tribally important and sacred sites, and contribute to healthy communities in both rural and urban disadvantaged areas by providing clean water, reducing flooding, and allowing for recreational activities and access.

Gravel to Gravel: A Department of the Interior Keystone Initiative

Gravel to Gravel is a Keystone Initiative of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-Ecosystem Restoration to support the goal of resilient freshwater ecosystems and projects that assess, monitor, and restore physical and biological processes in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim basins. It benefits salmon habitat through a collaborative and inclusive process across DOI agencies and Tribes. The restoration and resilience framework is intended to leverage this historic investment in climate and conservation to achieve landscape-level outcomes. The National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management are partnering with Tribes, state agencies, and community partners to launch Gravel to Gravel, designed to enhance the resilience of Alaska’s ecosystems and communities through transformational federal, philanthropic, and other investments.

About the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes critical investments in the resilience and restoration of America’s lands, skies, and waters, and enhances conservation and recreation opportunities. Visitors will see tangible results such as repaired and upgraded trails and campgrounds, removal of invasive species, as well as healthy wetlands, grasslands, and forests. 

Also see:
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Ecosystem Restoration
Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative, Bureau of Land Management
Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative for People, Salmon, and the Land, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service