Seldovia River drains a watershed of 16,980 acres (6,872 ha) and flows generally northwest for 5 miles (8 km) from Seldovia Lake in the Kenai Mountains to Seldovia Bay, on the south shore of Kachemak Bay and Lower Cook Inlet, about 18 miles (29 km) south-southwest of Homer and 3.6 miles (6 km) south-southeast of Seldovia, Alaska. The name derives from the Russian word for ‘herring’ and first appeared on charts referencing Seldevoi Point. It is attributed to Captain Illarion Archimandritov, who was sent by Mikhail D. Tebenkov to survey Cook Inlet from 1848 to 1850 for the Russian-American Company. The Dena’ina name for the bay was ‘Chesloknu‘, according to the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1883. Most of the Seldovia River watershed is underlain by rocks of the McHugh Complex. Southern Alaska consists of a complex amalgam of ac­creted terranes, including the Wrangellia composite terrane to the north and the Chugach-Prince William superterrane along the Gulf of Alaska coast. During much of the Mesozoic, these formed a magmatic arc and an accretionary wedge, respectively, above a circum-Pacific subduction zone. The Border Ranges fault runs along the axis of Kachemak Bay and marks the local boundary between the Wrangellia and Chugach–Prince William superterranes. The Chugach terrane comprises two major units: the inland McHugh Complex, exposed along the southern shore of Kachemak Bay, and the Valdez Group, found along the outer coast and the perimeter of Prince William Sound. The McHugh Complex underlying the Seldovia River watershed consists mainly of graywacke and conglomerate, with one notable igneous intrusion known as the Snow Prospect. This ultramafic body—meaning it contains rocks low in silica—is predominantly composed of dunite, with infrequent but locally abundant layers of chromitite. Ultramafic intrusions occur in at least seven known locations within the McHugh Complex; the best known are the Red Mountain and Claim Point ore bodies, which were historically mined.

Dena’ina Athabaskans inhabited both sides of the Cook Inlet shoreline and were the only Athabaskans to live along salt water. Those in Kachemak Bay adopted a maritime culture, likely through contact with the Alutiiq Sugpiat of the outer coast. The Kachemak Bay Dena’ina hunted sea mammals from skin boats using harpoons while wearing waterproof parkas, but they also retained elements of their inland hunting traditions, distinguishing them from their Alutiiq neighbors. An ethnic frontier existed near Seldovia between the Dena’ina and Alutiiq. Little is known about the Alutiiq-speaking people who occupied the southern coast of the Kenai Peninsula before European contact. They appear to have been distinct from, though linguistically related to, the Chugach Alutiiq of Prince William Sound. In the Chugach dialect, their name means “those who lived towards the open sea.” Limited archaeological evidence suggests that their use of the outer coast intensified in more recent centuries. By the 1890s, their major coastal villages had been abandoned, and their descendants now live in Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Seldovia. In 1787 or 1788, a Russian fur trading post called Aleksandrovskaia was established in English Bay (present-day Nanwalek) by hunting parties under Evstratii I. Delarov of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, a precursor to the Russian-American Company. The Russian Orthodox Saint Nicholas Church in Seldovia was founded in 1820 and may have been built atop an earlier Indigenous village site. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Seldovia became an important port of call for deepwater ships from Seattle. Passengers typically transferred to smaller shoal-draft vessels to continue northward into Cook Inlet.

Kachemak Bay exhibits biological productivity significantly higher than elsewhere in lower Cook Inlet. Major marine mammals include harbor seals, harbor and Dall porpoises, sea otters, sea lions, belugas, orcas, and larger whales such as minkes and humpbacks. Sea otters, eliminated from the area in the early 1900s, have only recently reestablished themselves, with an estimated population of about 6,000. Although Kachemak Bay lacks major salmon streams, 25 tributaries support anadromous fish runs. Pink and chum salmon occur in harvestable numbers, while coho runs are small and difficult to access. Chinook salmon return to some tributaries but not in harvestable quantities. The Seldovia River supports all five species of Pacific salmon. Pink and chum are the most abundant spawners, followed by coho, with runs typically beginning around the Fourth of July. Small natural returns of Chinook and sockeye also occur. To provide fishing opportunities in late May and June, hatchery-produced early-run Chinook salmon have been introduced in Halibut Cove Lagoon from 1974 through 2017, Homer Spit since 1984, and Seldovia Bay since 1987. Chinook and coho are stocked in Seldovia to ease pressure on local wild stocks. The first Chinook smolt were released in Seldovia Harbor in 1987 to establish a new sport fishery. This is a terminal harvest fishery—fish are intended to be caught before spawning and do not reproduce at the stocking site. To produce an adult return of approximately 3,000 fish, the annual stocking goal through 2006 was 105,000 early-run Chinook smolt. As with other sites around Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet, Seldovia’s runs have declined since 2008, mainly due to low survival of stocked fish caused by bird predation and unfavorable ocean conditions. Read more here and here. Explore more of Seldovia River and Kenai Mountains here: