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This quiet tributary to the Kenai River emerges from a
thick white spruce forest to invite salmon and terns to a summer
feast.
Common merganser
Caddisfly
NOTABLE
SPECIES
Chinook salmon
Coho salmon
Dolly Varden
Waterfowl
Common merganser
Shorebirds
Arctic terns
Caddisflies
Mayflies
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 FIELD NOTES
The confluence
of placid Slikok Creek with the glacial Kenai River offers a
glimpse of two overlapping migrations. Arctic terns that have
flown 10,000 miles from South America arrive here to feed on
salmon smolts moving toward the sea in a run five to 50 million
strong. Bald eagles and gulls work the main stem of the river,
filling the air with their cries. Adult Chinook and coho salmon
return to the creek to spawn, feeding bears and replenishing lush
bottomland with nutrients. Moose feed in the meadows across the
river, while songbirds move through the forest. Rocks along the
shallows hide invertebrates at the bottom of the food chain, such
as mayflies and caddisflies.
HABITAT
Along the
trail to the river, a dense white spruce and paper birch forest
blends to bottomland dominated by riverbank alders and willows and
creekside marshlands. The rocky shallows and overhanging banks
along the Kenai give protection to juvenile salmon and insect
larvae. The north bank supports mature forest and meadows.
CULTURAL CONNECTION
Dena’ina Natives
once used the creek’s west bank for fishing.
RESEARCH
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game uses sonar to track the
number of returning adult.
VIEWING TIP
The smolt migration to sea begins in late May and peaks in June,
drawing the most activity by migratory birds. A culvert upstream
along College Road offers close views of spawning Chinook salmon.
HELPFUL HINTS
Bring a small net and hand lens for close-up looks at stream
invertebrates. Caddisfly larva build protective casings from small
rocks and twigs, grass and leaves.
GETTING THERE
Sterling Highway milepost 96.1 (just south of the Kenai River
Bridge)—turn west on Kalifornsky Beach Road and go 1.1 miles. Turn
right on West Endicott Drive, follow to left onto Endicott Drive,
follow—.8 mile to Park entrance on right (signed). sockeye salmon.
The sonar counter crosses the river just upstream and can be seen
from the boardwalk.
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