Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his land

A Kenai man says a gravel company has mislabeled a salmon stream that starts on his property as non-salmon-bearing — and that when it took over the neighboring pit, "the first thing they did was dig up the buffer, and they didn't have permission to do it."

Curt Wilcox told the City of Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 12 that a stormwater plan filed by Quality Asphalt Products misidentifies the stream, which originates on his Beaver Loop Road property. "Their own site plan shows the Anajimas Stream discharging into the Kenai River," Wilcox said, adding that Alaska Fish and Wildlife gave him documentation showing an anadromous stream at the same spot.

The distinction matters because the Kenai Peninsula Borough's Habitat Protection District requires a 50-foot buffer around documented salmon-bearing waters. The commission carried five gravel resolutions — three of them variances to dig within required setbacks — to a public hearing Aug. 26. The source contains no response from the company or city planning staff.