The Chena River (;
Tanana Athabascan: Ch'eno' "river of something (game)") is a tributary of the
Tanana River in the
Interior region of the
U.S. state of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
. It flows generally west from the
White Mountains to the
Tanana River near the city of
Fairbanks, which is built on both sides of the river.
The Tanana empties into the long
Yukon River.
Named tributaries of the Chena River include the North Fork, South Fork, West Fork, Middle (East) Fork and the Little Chena River.
The
Chena River State Recreation Area surrounds much of the upper half of the
main stem
In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow. ...
.
The Chena River is used for recreational fishing and boating.
During the winter months, it is also traveled by snowmachines and mushers (sled dogs).
The
Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project dam is about up the Chena River from
Fairbanks. The dam was built in response to the
1967 Fairbanks flood, which inundated much of the city. When closed, the dam impounds water and, when the inflow is high enough, diverts it about to the Tanana River near
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Ma ...
, upstream of Fairbanks and the natural
mouth
In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...
of the Chena.
Fish
The Chena River supports populations of many fish species, including
Arctic grayling,
burbot
The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species is closely ...
,
chum salmon
The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus '' Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian A ...
,
humpback whitefish,
king salmon
The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...
,
least cisco,
longnose suckers,
northern pike
The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...
,
round whitefish, and
sheefish. Easily accessible from Fairbanks, the Chena is the most popular sport-fishing river in interior Alaska.
Overfishing for grayling reduced their number in the Chena to "dangerous levels" by the mid-1980s. In the 21st century, sport fishing for grayling, which grow in length to in the upper river, is limited to
catch and release
Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posing, posed photography as trophy, proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooke ...
.
Boating
Easy access to the river from Chena Hot Springs Road, the Chena River Recreation Area, four bridges, and elsewhere make a wide variety of float trips possible. Most of the river is rated Class I (easy) on the
International Scale of River Difficulty; however, the upper reaches along the North Fork near
Chena Hot Springs are "extremely swift" with few safe
eddies
In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object. Fluid ...
and are rated Class II (medium). High water increases these difficulty ratings.
Dangers on the North Fork include a much narrower channel than that of the main stem, possible logjams, overhanging vegetation, and shallows, any of which may require a
portage
Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...
. Dangers below that include possible overhangs, logjams, and channel braiding. In the early season (June), boaters may encounter ice jams anywhere along the river.
See also
*
List of rivers of Alaska
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska
Rivers of Alaska
Tributaries of the Yukon River
Tanana Athabaskans