Valley volunteers rebuild Jim Creek portage

BODENBURG BUTTE - There was no easy way around it. Two dump-truck loads of gravel had to be hauled across Jim Lake by bucket and boat.

Nancy Moore said engineer friends laughed at her plan.

Youre going to do what with what? they teased her.

But last week, Moore stood on the banks of Jim Creek and felt it had been worth the countless hours of backbreaking work the portage between the creek and lake had been repaired.

Fortunately, we had a lot of strong backs, Moore said.

Butte residents Charlie and Bob Sartor were among those who lent their muscles to the effort.

You knew you had done something at the end of the day, Charlie Sartor said. She said she and her husband got involved with the project because they had paddled canoes in the area for more than a decade.

Its an area we love, she said. We had really seen it erode over the years.

During the past several weeks, Moore and Joe Blaustein coordinated the repair work with the assistance of more than two dozen volunteers from the Bodenburg Butte and Palmer area.

This was no simple beautification project; it was a matter of saving two lakes. If the erosion had continued, the portage would have eventually washed out and caused Jim Lake to at least partially drain. Mud Lake, which is connected to the system, would be left to become an isolated swamp.

The headwaters of Jim Creek provide important rearing grounds for salmon as well as habitat for loons, grebes, river otter and a host of other wildlife.

The idea for the project came to Moore after she had canoed in the area with a friend. Because of her job with the states Plant Materials Center and other stream-side revegetation work, Moore knew of a variety of grant opportunities that could possibly fund a restoration project.

This is my background, and I saw a problem, Moore explained.

Through Valley Alaska Center for the Environment (VACE), where Moore serves as a board member, she applied and received $10,000 from the federal Natural Resource Conservation Services wildlife-habitat improvement program.

The grant, however, did not come through until March. By the time the appropriate permits had been acquired, breakup had come and gone. Moore said it might have been easier to move the gravel and topsoil via snowmachine and sled, but the ice had melted.

So she came up with another, although certainly more difficult, plan use buckets and boats to move the gravel to the site. For two weekends in July, the volunteers worked intensely.

It all came together at the very last minute, Moore said.

The short stretch of land between Jim Creek and Jim Lake had been eroded by heavy use people walking and carrying or dragging boats from one side to the other.

The portage had become shorter and shorter, Moore said. It almost looked as if it had been excavated.

At one time, it spanned about 50 feet but had since shrunk to 18 feet. The volunteers filled gravel over a synthetic fabric called Pyramat that allows plants to grow through it, holds up well to traffic and should help stop the erosion.

Topsoil and sod was also brought in and some areas were seeded.

The difference before and after is dramatic, Moore said.

Moore said she hopes the area will be somewhat self-sufficient now, but she anticipates there will need to be some minor upkeep.

During the next months, with anglers and hunters traversing the portage, the repair work will be put to the test. Just during the few days the volunteers were at the site, several canoes came through. One night, 15 people in a pre-wedding party set up tents nearby.

Well have a good sense how it is holding up to the activity, Moore said.

While the vast majority of work is done, Moore said she will probably return and transplant some more wild roses into some of the bare spots, maybe put in some more sod and observe how the portage looks as the water level goes down. And Moore said she knows of other areas where similar work could be done.

First, though, she is going to take a weekend off.

Volunteers use gravel, top soil and a synthetic fabric to fill in and reinforce the portage between Jim Lake and Jim Creek.Photo courtesy of Nancy Moore.