This undated map shows three wildlife enhancement projects on the southern Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, planned or done by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (Map courtesy of Alaska Department of Fish and Game)

This undated map shows three wildlife enhancement projects on the southern Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, planned or done by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (Map courtesy of Alaska Department of Fish and Game)

3 projects on southern Kenai Peninsula aim to benefit moose habitat

Cut willow bushes will regenerate into higher protein browse for moose

A Homer contractor finished a wildlife enhancement project earlier this month to help regenerate willow patches in the Fritz Creek area.

Under an Alaska Department of Fish and Game grant funding three enhancement projects on the southern Kenai Peninsula, Moore and Moore Services did spruce tree clearing and willow mowing on an old hay field.

Another Homer area contractor, Fetterhoff Services, will work on enhancement projects in the Beaver Creek and North Fork Anchor River areas, all part of Game Management Unit 15. All of the projects involve cutting willow bushes back to encourage new growth that moose prefer. The total project area for the three sites is 117 acres, all on state lands, and will cost about $120,000 total for all three sites.

“If they mow them down from the root crown of the plant, it will rejuvenate and sprout,” said Sue Rodman with the Fish and Game Wildlife Enhancement & Spatial Analysis Program, Division of Wildlife Conservation. “The moose like that fresh growth. It has more digestible protein.”

While moose will browse willow that encourages growth, the bushes will grow in what are called “brooms,” for their appearance of tall, thin stalks that look like the straws of brooms. Brooms don’t have as much digestible protein, Rodman said.

Funding for the enhancement projects comes partially through an 11% excise tax on sales of firearms and ammunition mandated by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, commonly called the Pittman-Robertson Act. Through formulas, those funds are distributed back to the states to pay for up to 75% of the cost of programs like wildlife enhancement, wildlife research, development of access facilities for public use and hunter education. The state has to provide 25% of funds using fish and game license sales.

Rodman said it typically takes between two and three years for willow bushes to regenerate enough to provide moose browse. The enhancement projects also will cut small cottonwood trees back to stumps. Those stumps also will make new growth of saplings desirable to moose.

The North Fork project is the only site with cottonwood, but most of the trees in the area are large, mature cottonwoods that won’t be cut, said Matt James, the supervisor of the projects and an area administrator with the Homer Soil & Water Conservation District, one of the partners in the wildlife enhancement project. The North Fork site is off the lower North Fork Road before the bridge. The Beaver Creek site is on the Watermelon Trail on the north side of Lookout Mountain off Ohlson Mountain Road.

A longtime wildland firefighter, James said it’s interesting to see how in willow patches moose prefer some bushes.

“It’s amazing how they pick that out,” he said. “There’s areas that are heavily browsed and right adjacent to that is a patch of willow that isn’t touched. There’s no indicator why they wouldn’t eat that. They just know.”

James said the Fritz Creek project is near the old Tracy Avenue fire zone, but outside the burn area. The project site was part of a hay field project from a University of Alaska program in the 1980s. Small, Christmas-tree size spruce had started to grow back in the area, so Moore and Moore Services contractors had to first cut back those trees to make room for more willow to grow. The willow mowing is done in the winter when plants are dormant, James said.

“That’s to do it when it’s as cold as possible,” he said. “That way you get a cleaner break, if you will. It doesn’t splinter as bad.”

Initially, James said he thought Moore and Moore would only be able to do the spruce clearing this year, but they finished the willow mowing as well. The projects are outside of burn areas, he noted.

“The willow in burn areas is doing very well,” James said. “That’s the best way to regenerate.”

Fish and Game also will work with private landowners to do wildlife enhancement projects. Clearing fire breaks is another way of creating better habitat, Rodman said. Such programs can combine the benefit of creating moose habitat and mitigating for wildfires.

“It’s something we’re talking about so we can do better as stewards of the land we manage,” she said.

Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.

In a photo taken in the winter of 2020, a hayfield off Greer Road near Fritz Creek, Alaska, shows young spruce and willow to be cut and mowed as part of Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife enhancement projects on the southern Kenai Peninsula. (Photo courtesy Matt James, Homer Soil & Water Conservation District)

In a photo taken in the winter of 2020, a hayfield off Greer Road near Fritz Creek, Alaska, shows young spruce and willow to be cut and mowed as part of Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife enhancement projects on the southern Kenai Peninsula. (Photo courtesy Matt James, Homer Soil & Water Conservation District)

More in News

Protesters stand with signs in support of federal employees, federal lands and the U.S. Constitution stand along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna protesters call for Congress to oppose executive overreach

The local display was part of a “No Kings on President’s Day” effort orchestrated by the online 50501 movement.

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Most Read