Expiration date: 3/26/2022
Nushagak Cooperative; Trung Vo, 907-842-5251, states the purpose is to install new fiber optic cable to Aleknagik and Dillingham via connection to an existing fiber optic cable in the Levelock area. This will provide needed middle mile transport to the Nushagak Telephone Cooperative exchange area allowing the offering of improved broadband for those areas, with the additional benefit of potential backhaul for the provider at Ekwok. With the installation of this new "middle mile" fiber optic cable, new Fiber To The Home (FTTH) will be installed in the Village of Aleknagik. Upon completion, both Aleknagik and Dillingham will be brought up to current standards for available broadband, and in tum will also provide increased broadband for schools and medical facilities. The applicant proposes to discharge 6,755-cubic yards of fill into 57.5-acres of Waters of the United States (WOUS), including wetlands, to install approximately 70 miles of fiber optic cable between the cities of Aleknagik, Ekwok, and Levelock, Alaska. The proposed project would result in less than 0.01-acres permanent impacts and 57.49-acres temporary impacts to WOUS. Vegetation would be cut and grubbed along the route to allow passage of trenching equipment and crews. Trenching equipment would excavate a 6-inch-wide slot by 2-feet deep, temporarily side cast excavated material, install the fiber optic cable, and then backfill the trench. Boring equipment would be used at 7 river crossings, to install the cable a minimum of 3.5-feet under the riverbed. Splice vaults to provide access to the buried cable would be set in place every 20,000 feet, and at both sides of a river boring. All work would be performed in accordance with the enclosed plan (sheets 1-61), dated January 22, 2022. The linear project site is located within multiple Townships, Ranges, and Sections (see plan sheets); Seward Meridian; USGS Quad Maps Dillingham B-8 SE, B-7 SW, B-7 SE, B-6 SW, B-6 SE, B-5 SW, B-5 SE, B-4 SW, B-4 SE, A-4 NE, A-3 NW, A-3 NE; between terminus at Latitude 59.26756º N., Longitude 158.62652º W. and terminus
at Latitude 59.15734º N., Longitude 156.88230º W.; the project runs cross country from Aleknagik to Ekwok and a point approximately three miles north of Levelock, Alaska. Please contact Jason Brewer at (907) 753-2823, toll free from within Alaska at (800) 478-2712, by fax at
(907) 753-5567, or by email at Jason.D.Brewer@usace.army.mil if further information is desired concerning this notice.