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Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board members listened to a report on the first full year of studies on turbidity in the lower Kenai River on Thursday.

Robert Ruffner, executive director of the Kenai Watershed Forum, presented data he collected this past summer in the lower river.

Turbidity, as Ruffner defined it simply for the board, is how muddy the water is.

Ruffner used two measurement sites -- one at river mile 23 and one at Eagle Rock. Measurements came from mid-depth about 20 feet from shore, where instruments recorded the turbidity every 15 minutes from mid-May through September.

The river already has natural turbidity caused by everything from glacial sediment to muddy tributaries.

One of the factors Ruffner's study focused on was turbidity along the banks of the river.

Ruffner said the data he presented was still raw.

Using a line graph that compared the turbidity recordings at the two sites, Ruffner noted that through the month of June the two lines tracked nearly identically as natural rain and snowmelt caused turbidity in the river to rise and fall.

Starting in July, however, Ruffner said turbidity events began to spike at Eagle Rock every day of the week except Monday, when powerboats aren't allowed to fish the river.

"What we don't see on Mondays is these spikes, and you can pick out every Monday," Ruffner said.

Ruffner noted that the spikes consistently went up at specific times of the day.

"You can see there's a time period when the turbidity starts to elevate and then comes down," he said.

Many of the spikes went up starting around 6 a.m. in the morning and then again later in the evening.

In August, the spikes leveled off and the two instruments began to again track similar trends without the almost daily spikes at Eagle Rock.

State standards on turbidity do exist, though they don't attempt to address natural turbidity, but only turbidity above background levels.

For this reason, a natural background level of turbidity must be established.

Ruffner said he plans to again study the turbidity this summer, likely in the same locations.

"It takes two years for us to even plot out what the natural conditions are," he said.

Tim Stevens, Department of Environmental Conservation environmental program specialist for Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska, said that pending the future results of this study, turbidity could become a significant concern on the lower river.

"What Robert (Ruffner) presented indicated that we may have a problem," Stevens said.

He stressed, however, that a full two-year study was needed before that would be clear.

"We need to collect data for two years to be able to establish what a natural condition is for the Kenai River. Right now, we're only in the first year of the data gathering and we need one more year of data," Stevens said.

If studies show that the turbidity in the river continually breaches accepted state standards, the river could be listed as impaired.

Jack Sinclair, area superintendent for the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, said he believed the board was best-suited to tackle the issue.

"I think this board has the upper hand in addressing this much faster and much more effectively right now. I believe that the committees that already have wind of this not only put this information into the hopper, but take into account the boat wake study as well," he said.

He said he didn't anticipate the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources doing much with the turbidity studies until promoted by the board.

"It takes not only administrative action but broad public support to make sure that these things get done in a timely fashion," he said.

Hydrocarbons

Stevens presented the DEC's 2008 Petroleum Assessment of the Kenai River.

He said that study showed a marked drop-off in hydrocarbon contamination in the river.

"The good news from the report is all the water quality samples that were sampled, I think there were 190, all met water quality standards for petroleum hydrocarbons," he said.

By meeting with water quality standards, Stevens said that legislative action passed by DNR and the Department of Fish and Game to reduce contamination appeared to be successful.

"I congratulate those agencies for doing that work, it has solved the problem for us," Stevens said.

Stevens said plans were being made to continue to collect data on hydrocarbons at river mile 1.5 to prove that hydrocarbon levels are continuing to stay within the accepted standards.

"If we can show we're clean there, we think we can demonstrate to the (Environmental Protection Agency) that we've solved our hydrocarbon issue on the river at this time," Stevens said.

Salmon carcasses

A smelly issue may soon work its way downstream in the coming months for board members.

Bobbie Jo Skibo, Russian River interagency coordinator for the United States Forest Service said USFS is considering changing its policy on carcass disposal on the Russian River.

Current policy is that carcasses are to be filleted, chopped into small bits, and discarded in the river, in the hope that they won't attract bears to the area.

This year, however, Skibo said USFS is considering asking anglers not to throw fish carcasses back into the river.

"It sounds to me that we're going to be encouraging voluntary compliance with taking them out whole or gut and gill," Skibo said.

Board members attacked the idea, noting that it went against native tradition and could upset the natural ecosystem.

Board member Brenda Trefon noted that taking carcasses from the river could upset Native interests.

"I think if the carcasses are not disposed of in the river, there's going to be a lot of dissension and backlash from Native groups," Trefon said.

Board member Adam Reimer also noted that the carcasses not only provide nutrients for the aquatic organisms living in the river but the entire river ecosystem.

"The value of putting whatever part of the carcass you don't eat is very far-flung," Reimer said.

PFDs

Joe Connors, board president, reported that a voluntary personal flotation device program is being developed for the guiding community to go in place this summer.

Kenai River guides must sign off on stipulations before getting their permits from the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. The division considered adding a stipulation that would make it mandatory for clients of guides to wear a Class III PFD at all times while on the river.

The proposal met stiff opposition from the guiding community in January.

Connors, who operates a guide outfit in Sterling, said he would be taking part in the volunteer program.

"I think that to this board as a whole, next month there will probably be a proposal requesting that you approve this voluntary program," Connors said.

Connors said that in the future he'd like to see a broad riverwide policy requiring the use of PFDs.

"It's a voluntary program, but it's probably the beginning, and the hope is that everybody will behave in a similar manner in the future," Connors said.

Dante Petri can be reached at dante.petri@peninsulaclarion.com.