Fish & Wildlife
Alyeska’s Fish & Wildlife Program carries a mission to protect fish and
wildlife from activities that occur during the operation and maintenance
of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. All activities that could
negatively impact fish and wildlife are closely monitored by field-based
environmental professionals. Furthermore, environmental staff provides
formal briefings and ongoing on-the-job guidance to employees and
contractors who conduct work in and around sensitive habitats. Detailed
permit reviews, the importance of permit compliance, regulatory
responsibility, environmental stewardship and Alyeska’s environmental
philosophy are routine topics of discussion.
Fisheries Protection
By
state law, no one is allowed to impede a fish’s easy travel through a
stream channel. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources holds Alyeska
responsible for ensuring that Alyeska’s gravel work pad does not
adversely impact water quality, fish passage, and hydrogeologic balance.
The trans-Alaska pipeline traverses approximately 800 water bodies (i.e.
rivers, streams, creeks, tributaries). Every year, Alyeska’s “Stream
Team”, comprised of biologists, construction supervisors and equipment
operators, survey all of the streams in their respective areas of
responsibility. Based on the findings, field personnel prioritize the
streams that need “dressing” and get to work.
One might ask, “How can the streams be impacted by Alyeska’s
operations?” Through the normal course of driving vehicles on the
gravel-constructed pad that supports the pipeline, the banks of
intersecting streams can slough into a stream channel.
Furthermore, the term “break up” means more than just spring thaw in
Alaska. On the pipeline, melting snow and ice scour remove the sandy
fines that normally glue the gravel pads and roads in place. Similar to
a bathroom that has grout missing between tiles, water squeezes between
cobbly gravels and carries them in suspension until the water subsides.
Gravel deposits cause maintenance and aesthetic problems, but more
importantly, must be removed when they fill a stream and choke off a
fish’s ability to swim upstream and downstream of the pipeline
right-of-way.
Streams that don’t allow for the free and unobstructed passage can trap
fish, limit spawning, and adversely impact rearing habitat.
Wildlife Protection
Alyeska has a firm policy regarding the treatment of wildlife while at
work: leave the critters alone. This includes workers’ intentional
attraction (e.g. offering food or calling to animals), personal interest
(e.g. sneaking up on an animal to get a photo), and negligent attraction
(e.g. leaving food trash in a vehicle or on the ground at a job site).
Alyeska does not tolerate any preventable interactions with wildlife
caused by its employees, contractors and subcontractors.
Birds
Alaska is home, either temporarily or permanently, to approximately 443
species of birds1. Of that population, about 203 species can
be found along the pipeline corridor and/or in Prince William Sound2.
Tourists travel from all over the world to view birds that winter
outside of the U.S. but summer in Alaska. Alaska is a bird-watcher’s
paradise.
Although birds are wonderful to observe, sometimes they can set up their
homes in not-so-convenient locations for pipeline and terminal
operations. Due to the regulatory requirements of the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act, no one is allowed to disturb a bird’s nest until all of the
chicks have fledged. In order to avoid such avian/industry
interactions, employees notify the Environment Team when they see mommy
and daddy birds appearing to set up house. Trained Alyeska personnel
have the legal authorization to move nests before eggs are laid. Nests
are moved when at least one parent is watching the relocation.
However, rather than move nests, Alyeska prefers to persuade birds to
build their nests in non-operational areas. At the beginning of each
spring, employees proactively screen and plug piping, scaffold,
staircases, vehicle undercarriages, and other locations where birds
routinely try to build their nests.
1
Guide to the Birds of
Alaska, Robert H. Armstrong
2
Extrapolation of data
from the Guide to the Birds of Alaska, Robert H. Armstrong
Pipeline animal crossings,
constructed
- 579 approx. (See also Pipeline Engineering
crossings)
- Bird species, number identified
along route
- More than 170
- Fish species, number identified
in waters crossed by pipeline
- 34