Decision Support Tool Development and Quantifying Spawning Habitat for Alaska Salmon

Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge

The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is collaborating with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office to identify and map critical salmon spawning areas on the Chandalar River, home to the largest run of chum salmon in Alaska.  Using both thermal and high-resolution imagery collected from fixed-wing aircraft in September 2014, thermal distribution of waters will be mapped and protocols  developed for creating a spatially explict fall-spawning chum salmon habitat model for Alaskan rivers.