Little Campbell Creek Watershed Plan Completed
The Little Campbell Creek Watershed Management Plan has been completed. View the document here.
The Plan is a policy document meant to assist and guide the Municipality and the community in decision-making throughout the watershed. The plan describes the area’s resources, addresses social and environmental issues that the watershed faces, and identifies implementation strategies that are beneficial to the watershed as a whole.
This Plan was created as a cooperative effort between Municipal Watershed Management Services (WMS) and a planning team comprised of water and biological resource experts from ten federal, state, and local agencies and nonprofits. Community input from flyers, website, and community councils were solicited to support the planning team with plan development. The Plan’s vision, mission and goals, and prioritized projects are all based on this community participation.
This planning document is the first of many such plans to be drafted and approved for all of Anchorage’s watersheds. Watershed plans are a key component of Anchorage’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water permit and an implementation strategy of Anchorage 2020. These watershed plans are to be adopted as elements of the Municipality’s Comprehensive Plan in Section 21.05.030 of the Anchorage Municipal Code.
It is the intent of the WMS and the Planning Department to have Little Campbell Creek Watershed Plan adopted by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Assembly.
The Little Campbell Creek Watershed Plan is scheduled for public hearing before the Commission on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers of the Z.J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage. The findings and recommendations from this public hearing will be forwarded to the Anchorage Assembly for final approval.
The public may provide verbal comment on the Plan at the March 10th Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
In addition, written comments may be submitted online through the Planning Department’s website at http://www.muni.org/Zoning/index.cfm by clicking on Cases Online and inputting the case number 2008-050. Please submit comments by Wednesday, March 5, 2008.
The Little Campbell Creek Watershed
The Little Campbell Creek watershed consists of approximately 6,900 acres. It stretches from the Chugach Mountains to the Mid-town Anchorage area, draining a large portion of the Hillside neighborhoods.
The Little Campbell Creek Watershed is divided into six distinct drainages: Lower Little Campbell, North Fork, Upper Little Campbell, Craig Creek, Hidden Lake, and South Campbell Tracts. Land use in the watershed ranges from large tracts of undeveloped parkland to some of the most heavily industrialized areas of Anchorage. This mix of uses creates a creek with two faces; one of a picturesque stream that provides important salmon rearing habitat, the other of an urban creek with significant areas of piped and ditched reaches.
