Chena River Flood Control

After the 1967 flood in Fairbanks made clear that the city and nearby Fort Wainwright needed better flood control, planning began for a project centered on a diversion dam on the Chena River together with a levee on the Tanana River. Because the Chena River had a history of flooding and the 1967 damage was so extensive that it prompted Congress to pass a national flood insurance program, scale models were built in an Oregon lab to study water velocity and flow and to protect both the community and the fish. The United States Army Corps of Engineers acquired land for the Moose Creek Dam 17 miles east of Fairbanks on the Chena River, while the Fairbanks North Star Borough acquired land for the Tanana River levee. Construction began in 1973, and by 1978 a 20.7-mile levee and 8.1-mile dam formed the largest federal civil works program in Alaska and the northernmost flood risk management project. The project also created new recreational opportunities, as depressions left by gravel removal for dam construction became the center of activity on 20,000 acres of public land used for biking, camping, fishing, swimming, paddling, cross-country skiing, dog mushing, and snowmachining.

Farmers Loop, Alaska · United States