Homer's eroded Watermelon Trail is getting rerouted to protect a salmon stream

Construction begins Aug. 19 on a reroute of the Watermelon Trail near Homer, where the existing route has eroded up to 6 feet deep and washes sediment into Beaver Creek, a salmon-bearing stream.

The trail's alignment dates to the 1920s and runs straight down the fall line — the steepest, most direct path down the slope — which is why it has scoured into a gully over the decades. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the new route is meant to be durable enough to still support ATV and snowmachine use while protecting the surrounding Anchor River–Fritz Creek Critical Habitat Area. Beaver Creek is on the state's catalog of waters important to salmon spawning, rearing or migration, and the trail has been on restoration lists for close to two decades — a 2007 watershed plan already described it as an erosional gully.

The work includes new sustainable routing, closing and revegetating old sections, filling muckholes so the trail stops braiding into multiple paths, and installing bridges. Stretches that now cross private Cook Inlet Region, Inc. land will be realigned onto public land. Construction will pause during two late-September stretches when the area closes to motorized use for big game hunting, with completion planned for fall 2027.

A joint effort of ADF&G and the Homer district, the project has drawn no public comment from trail users in its announcement. Until the new route is built, users are asked to stay on designated routes and follow posted signs.