The Chena River (; Tanana Athabascan: Ch'eno' "river of something (game)") is a tributary of the

Tanana River The Tanana River (Lower Tanana: Tth'eetoo', Upper Tanana: ''Tth’iitu’ Niign'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright, the name is from the Koyukon (Athabaskan) ...

in the Interior region of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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.S., ...

. It flows generally west from the White Mountains to the

near the city of

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

, which is built on both sides of the river. The Tanana empties into the long

Yukon River The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...

. 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 Chena River State Recreation Area is a state park in the U.S. state of Alaska, located east of Fairbanks. The recreation area is centered on the Chena River. Facilities include campgrounds, hiking, ATV, snowmachine and sled dog trails, a shoot ...

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.. A ...

. 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

. The dam was built in response to the

1967 Fairbanks flood Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, 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 Mag ...

, 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 The Arctic grayling (''Thymallus arcticus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae. ''T. arcticus'' is widespread throughout the Arctic and Pacific drainages in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, as well as the upper Misso ...

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments di ...

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 The humpback whitefish (''Coregonus pidschian''), also referred to as the bottom whitefish, the Arctic whitefishKottelat, M. and Freyhof, J. 2007. Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol, Switzerland. or the pidschian ...

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 v ...

least cisco ''Coregonus sardinella'', known as the least cisco or the sardine cisco, is a fresh- and brackishwater salmonid fish that inhabits rivers, estuaries and coastal waters of the marginal seas of the Arctic Basin, as well as some large lakes of tho ...

, 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 and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

round whitefish The round whitefish (''Prosopium cylindraceum'') is a freshwater species of fish that is found in lakes from Alaska to New England, including the Great Lakes. It has an olive-brown back with light silvery sides and underside and its length is ge ...

, and

sheefish ''Stenodus nelma'', known alternatively as the nelma, sheefish, siifish, inconnu or connie, is a commercial species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is widespread in the Arctic rivers from the Kola Peninsula (White Sea basin) ...

. 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 posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned ...

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 Chena Hot Springs is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community and spa town, hot spring resort in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, 56.5 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, ...

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 beh ...

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.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska Rivers of Alaska Tributaries of the Yukon River Tanana Athabaskans

Fish

Boating

See also

References