Volunteers are replanting a mining-scarred creek, and last year's willows lived

Nome Creek was chewed up by mining. Since 2023 the Bureau of Land Management has been putting it back, rebuilding more than 1,000 feet of stream channel in the White Mountains, about an hour from Fairbanks.

The part that takes hands is the planting. Volunteers came out last year to drive willow stakes into the floodplain, cuttings that root where they stand, and enough of them survived that BLM is going back for more. "Hundreds of willow stakes that are alive and growing well," biologist Ryan Lane said of last year's work.

The next round is Sept. 26, from 10 am to 3 pm, meeting at the Nome Creek Bridge. Crews will plant more willow stakes along with starter plugs of flowering ground cover and seed, at stations run by BLM staff. Organizers expect about 30 people and are taking sign-ups through Sept. 14 at the Eastern Interior Field Office, 907-474-2200.

The point of all of it is the fish. Nome Creek is a popular Arctic grayling fishery, catch-and-release only under state rules, and a major tributary of the Beaver Creek Wild and Scenic River. Grayling need cold, clean water and stable banks, which is what the willows are for.