| Summary: | Abstract From summer 2020 through fall 2022, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Division of Sport Fish staff will conduct a rapid, systematic inventory of anadromous and resident fish distribution and associated aquatic and riparian habitat in select drainages of the upper Tanana River and in select drainages of the Fortymile River and adjacent Yukon River drainages. This proposal is part two of a multi-year inventory effort that began in 2019, when project staff inventoried fish assemblages in Yukon & Tanana river drainages downstream of the 2020 study area. In 2020 project staff will continue where they left off and continue working upstream in those drainages. Target streams will be selected to fill gaps in coverage of the State of Alaska's Catalog of Waters Important for the Spawning, Rearing or Migration of Anadromous Fishes (AWC) in freshwater habitats expected to support anadromous fish populations likely to be impacted by human activities. Each of two crews will sample standardized target stream reaches using electro-fishers, with sufficient effort to collect all species (perhaps with the exception of rare species) of the extant fish community. At each sampling site, crews will also document standard aquatic and riparian habitat characteristics. These observations will be recorded in the Alaska Freshwater Fish Inventory database (AFFID) and made publicly available via the AFFID internet mapping service. For each water body in which anadromous fish are observed, nominations to the AWC will be submitted. Crews sampled 135 sites from 2020–2022. Methods Following ADF&G's AFFI protocols (nate.cathcart@alaska.gov for specific protocols), 2 crews, each with 2 members, will use helicopters to simultaneously sample fish communities in selected study stream reaches for approximately 12 days during the summer of 2020. Target survey sites will include wadeable headwater streams sampled with a backpack electrofisher, and un-wadeable streams (including mainstem rivers) sampled with a raft-mounted ...
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