The Kenai River in southcentral Alaska is an economically important salmon river generating as much as $78 million annually in direct benefits. Resource-management agencies are concerned that increased sedimentation and loss of streamside cover associated with accelerated erosion rates caused by boat activity may threaten salmon returns to the river. Bank loss and boat activity were characterized during 1996 along 67 miles of the Kenai River, including a segment of the river several miles long where boat activity is restricted to non-motorized uses. Bank loss in the non-motorized segment of the river was about 75 percent less than that observed in the highest boat-use area of the river and 33 percent less than that observed in the lowest boat-use area of the river.
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