The village applied for a $70,000 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to remove a pile of mangled cars and appliances piled high on the side of the Eklutna River, beneath a 250-foot cliff, to help restore salmon runs. It also wants to remove an old dam, deepen some river ponds to make better fish habitat and take back river water long ago allocated for drinking and hydropower. “We’re trying to make sure the fish come back,” said CEO Lee Stephan. The stream has been dammed and diverted, its banks mined for gravel and its mouth moved no fewer than five times, said Marc Lamoreaux, natural resources director. He has asked the military about blowing a defunct 68-foot-tall hydropower dam, built in the 1920s, as a training exercise. Others suggested installing a sluice gate to be opened to let water through. However, removing the dam would release the accumulated silt behind the dam, which could smother salmon-spawning habitat, Lamoreaux said. Another dam upstream supplies water and some electricity to Anchorage and the Mat-Su area. The tribe will ask electric companies that own the dam to leave more water in the stream. Federal and state agencies have said they will provide technical help in the restoration effort.