(JUNEAU)-"Flow through grant" took on new meaning when Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, secured funding in 2003 to replace culverts and install bridges along 15 miles of the Chena Slough.

Because of the efforts of Therriault and North Pole Mayor Jeff Jacobson to procure more than $1 million in state, federal and private grants, Arctic grayling and northern pike are now moving into the upper reaches of several sloughs that had been choked off with nuisance algae and sediment upstream of road crossings.

On March 10, the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Fisheries and Habitat Conservation program recognized Therriault, Jacobson, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Tim Anderson and Borough Manager John Duffy at a reception at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. They were chosen from a field of more than 30 nominees nationwide. Therriault was already in Washington attending The Energy Council and meeting with federal regulators on gas pipeline issues.

"Partnerships are key to successful conservation efforts. I have had the opportunity to visit many restoration projects throughout the nation and in Alaska in particular. That's why we chose to honor the work of four Alaskans this year," said Mamie Parker, Assistant Director of Fisheries and Habitat Conservation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who presented the award along with Steve Williams, who was director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service before his retirement last week.

Therriault and Jacobson's "celebrating habitat" award recognizes success in leveraging federal and state grants with partner money to build numerous bridges, including the Beaver Springs "wedding bridge," which has become as popular with newlyweds as with fish. Other bridges included Airway Drive, Doughchee Road, Outside Hurst Road and Spruce Branch Road over Chena Slough; Monetti Bridge, McGowan Bridge and Old Valdez Trail Bridge over Twenty-three-mile Slough; and Ingrid Drive and Bradbury Bridge over Piledriver Slough.

Anderson and Duffy raised matching funds to open blocked spawning and rearing habitat for salmon, construct a nature trail and lakeshore teaching platform at Meadow Creek Elementary School and conduct aquatic and riparian habitat restoration projects.

A photo of Sen. Therriault and other award recipients can be found on the Majority website at www.akrepublicans.org/therriault/
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