The Kvichak River is a river in southwestern Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, located at the conjunction of the Alaska Peninsula

Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....

, to the Alaska mainland at about 58°40′N 157°34′W With headwaters in Lake Iliamna, it drains the lake into Kvichak Bay

Kvichak Bay

Kvichak Bay is an arm on the northeast side of Bristol Bay in southern Alaska, at . It is long and wide. The Kvichak River flows into the bay at its furthest northeast point, while the Naknek River comes in from the east about to the south of the Kvichak....

, an arm of Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay is the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km long and 290 km, wide at its mouth...

. The river is about 97 km (60.3 mi) long. The communities of Levelock

Levelock, Alaska

Levelock is a census-designated place in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 122.-Geography:Levelock is located at ....

 and Igiugig

Igiugig, Alaska

Igiugig is a census-designated place in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 53 at the 2000 census. The village is at the mouth of the Kvichak River, on Lake Iliamna, in the U.S...

 lie on the Kvichak River. The Kvichak is navigable along its entire length, and is used as a short cut by boats getting between Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage....

 and Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay is the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km long and 290 km, wide at its mouth...

 via the Lake Iliamna portage.

The Kvichak River is part of the watershed downstream of the proposed Pebble Mine

Pebble Mine

Pebble Mine is the common name of an advanced mineral exploration project investigating a very large porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum mineral deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. The proposal to mine the ore deposit, using large-scale...

.

Historically, the river was navigated and subsistence fished by local Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

. The name of the river means from- or up to- great water, a reference to Iliamna Lake, Alaska's largest freshwater lake.

External links

• Kvichak River Photos