OUR VISION
We believe the Copper River watershed can have a vibrant, healthy future.
🌿The Native Plant Garden event last week celebrating native plants & pollinators, was fun for kids and parents! There were strolls through the garden, crafting, rock painting, and much information shared on native plants in our region and why they are good for pollinators.
🎨The rocks that were painted during the event are on display at the Native Plant Garden. It`s a great place to wander and take an outside break, so go visit and check out the colorful rocks and all the plants buzzing with pollinators when you get a chance.
🫶🏽The CRWP plant team thanks everyone for coming to the event and making it a fun time - we hope you`ll come again next year!
.
👉🏼To learn more about native plants, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/native-plants/
.
📷 Kim Casavan/Kate Morse/Maddie Tharp-CRWP: Kids learning about native plants while walking through the native plant garden then making crafts and painting rocks that you can find in the garden at Odiak Pond.
CORDOVA - Volunteers needed!
Join us for a community Orange hawkweed clean-up on July 2, 1:30pm - 4:00pm at the ball field by the high school. Sometimes you have to outnumber the weeds, so we`re hosting a group effort to stop the spread of Orange hawkweed. We`ll tackle a central location and pluck the flowers and buds before they go to seed.
Bring a pair of gloves, clothes you don`t mind getting dirty in, and water. We`ll knock those weeds out in no time!
WHEN: July 2, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
WHERE: Ball field by the High School
For more information on this invasive plant, click our bio link and select the Invasive Plant Management Program button.
#CordovaAK #orangehawkweed #invasiveplantmanagement #communityevent
🎣 Fishing season is full on in the Copper River watershed right now! If you can`t get out to catch your own, check out senasea_seafoods for sustainably harvested wild Copper River salmon!
🫶🏽 Sena Sea will donate 8% of your purchase to the Copper River Watershed Project to help restore salmon habitat in the Copper River watershed. You get Copper River salmon and the watershed gets a little help with salmon habitat restoration.
👉🏼 Use this link to buy fish: https://www.senasea.com/r?id=4jha3n
#sustainablefishing #wildsalmon #buyfish #copperriver #sockeye
🐟 Last week juvenile coho were spotted around and passing through the new Sher 3 culvert! Big thanks to our partners, funders, and the CRWP Fish Passage team for making this project happen. We already have happy fish!
CopperRiver.org
#copperriverwatershed #cordovaalaska #fishpassagerestoration #cohosalmon
‼️CORDOVA - Construction for the culvert replacement project on the Copper River Highway at Sheridan Glacier Road (Cop 3/Sher 3) is in full swing.
🦺 Please SLOW DOWN for the safety of personnel working on site and for other road users coming in the opposite direction.
🚜 Crews are installing two culverts that will open fish passage for coho salmon, improve surface conditions, enhance drainage, and support long-term maintenance and access in this area.
Thank you to our partners for helping make this project possible:The Eyak Corporation, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities.
👉🏼 Find more information on our fish passage projects at https://copperriver.org/.../culverts-are-the-culprits/
📷 Thank you to our board member and Watershed Champion, Steve Richards, for capturing this aerial view of the Cop 3/Sher 3 construction site.
#Cordova #copperriverhighway #roadconstruction
CORDOVA - This is a reminder that you`re invited to our Native Plant Garden event at Odiak Pond tomorrow!
🐝 It`s Alaska Pollinator Week and we`ll host some fun activities, a tour of the Native Plant Garden, tips on how to plant pollinator-friendly gardens, and rock painting for the young and young-at-heart!
🗓️ WHEN: TOMORROW!! Wednesday, June 24, 3-5pm
📍 WHERE: Native Plant Garden behind CCMC along the path around Odiak Pond
👉🏼 For more information contact invasives@copperriver.org
#AlaskaPollinatorWeek #AlaskaNativePlants #Cordova
Last week, the Cordova plant team spent the morning working with the students, their instructors, two orcaadventurelodge staff members, and four City of Cordova, AK, Government staff members to dredge silt and sand from the Odiak Pond snow dump settling pond. They also helped the city to clear brush and trees to create a better view of Odiak pond for the CCMC residents, and cleared the Bioswale of silt and overgrown grass to help it better filter polluted water before it gets to the Odiak Pond salmon habitat throughout the year. Everyone was a great help, and together with the help of the city and their heavy equipment, we made a lot of progress to keep all of these systems healthy and functioning for the future.
That afternoon, they hiked part of the Heney Ridge Trail so students could practice native plant identification. The Cordova plant team helped the students find some of their target plants, answered their questions, and discussed different native and invasive species they would see on the trail.
.
CopperRiver.org
.
📷 Maddie Tharp/CRWP - Photos 1 & 2: Dredging silt and sand from the snow dump settling pond. Photos 3 & 4: Clearing brush and improving the bioswale. Photos 5-7: Group hike on the Heney Ridge Trail.
On June 13, Ian Lingard (CRWP Field Technician), and Lakota McRoberts (CRNA/CRWP Agricultural Specialist) had a fantastic time at the 5th Annual Gulkana Airport Day getting to interact with community members at the Copper River Watershed Project booth. The event was hosted by coppervalleyair who offered $10 airplane rides for event goers.
CRWP Staff shared information on our mission to stop the spread of invasive species at our booth, along with an activity for kids to learn about boot brushes and Clean.Drain.Dry procedures, using toys, dirt, and "invasive seeds" that were really just grains of rice that would get stuck in the little toys.
The kids loved it!
.
For more information our Invasive Plant Management Program, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
.
#GulkanaAirportDay #CopperBasin #InvasivePlantManagement
CORDOVA - Save the date for Wednesday, June 24th and join us for the Native Plant Garden event at Odiak Pond!
The Copper River Watershed Project`s plant team will:
• Demonstrate how we clean and process the native seeds that we collect for reseeding and other efforts to maintain healthy ecosystems
• Challenge you to design your own entirely native plant garden to support native pollinators
• Invite you to get involved with citizen science through iNaturalist`s Native Pollinator Week 2026 Bioblitz
🗓️ WHEN: June 24, 3-5pm
📍 WHERE: Native Plant Garden behind CCMC along the path around Odiak Pond
👉🏼 For more information contact invasives@copperriver.org
📷 Maddie Tharp/CRWP: Goatsbeard (1) and Dwarf Dogwood (2) in the Native Plant Garden at Odiak Pond.
#AlaskaPollinatorWeek #AlaskaNativePlants #Cordova
It`s Alaska Invasive Species Awareness Week!
One stubborn invasive plant that we tackle each year in Cordova is Orange hawkweed.
Orange hawkweed was introduced to the U.S. as an ornamental gardening and medicinal plant in Vermont in 1875 and has since spread across the country and into Alaska. Orange hawkweed aggressively competes with surrounding plants for space, light, and soil nutrients, forms dense mats, and produces a chemical that prevents other plants from growing nearby.
You can identify orange hawkweed by looking for:
🌱 Single, mostly leafless stems growing up to 1 ft.
tall
👉🏼Clusters of 5-30 orange-red flowers at the top of
the plant when in bloom
🍃Hairy, basal leaves up to 6 in. long
— Alaska Invasive Species Partnership
How do you get rid of it? Pluck the flower heads and collect them in a trash sack instead of pulling the roots. Breaking the plants roots/stems spreads the rhizomes further. Pluck it and bag it for best results.
Report any sightings in the backcountry at 1-877-INVASIV (1-877-468-2748) or using the AK Weeds ID App.
.
CopperRiver.org
.
📷 Photo 1 - Serena Herschleb/CRWP: Girls Scout Troop plucking Orange hawkweed from a yard in Cordova. Photo 2 - Mia Siebenmorgen and Samaya Faber removing Orange hawkweed in Cordova. Photo 3 - Michelle McAfee/CRWP: Close-up of Orange hawkweed flowers.
#invasiveplantmanagement #AKISAW #AKISP #Cordova #orangehawkweed
On Saturday, June 13, the Copper River Stewardship Program crew went to McCarthy. They hiked on Root Glacier, were sworn in as junior park rangers, and helped remove white sweetclover, an invasive plant that can fill in gravel bars and change salmon habitat. We`re so happy we had these stewards to help respond!
They returned to Kenny Lake on Sunday where they wrapped up the last day of their adventure through the watershed.
This is an incredible program — thank you to all of our partners and funders for giving this opportunity to our Copper River youth!
ahtnainc, akcommunityfoundation, alyeska_pipeline_service_co, mypubliclands , svitekfoundation, fireweed400, noaa, pwssc, Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, wise.education.alaska, wrangellstenps.
📷 Kate Trudeau/PWSSC - Stewards in McCarthy exploring Root Glacier, getting sworn in as junior rangers, and helping to pull white sweetclover from a riverside gravel bar.
Yesterday, Kirsten Valentine with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and CRWP`s Field Technician, Maddie Tharp, assisted with fish rescue during dewatering of the Cop 3 site. They saved all they could find and relocated the fish to safer waters during construction of the fish-friendly culvert replacements going in at Copper River Highway (Cop 3) and Sheridan Road (Sher 3).
For more information on our fish passage projects, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/fish-habitat-restoration/culverts-are-the-culprits/
📷 Darcy Saiget/CRWP - Kirsten Valentine and Maddie Tharp rescuing fish during dewatering of the Cop 3 site.
#fishpassage #Cordova #CopperRiverHighway #CopperRiverDelta #fishhabitatrestoration usfws
We’re Hiring!
The Copper River Watershed Project is seeking a Stewardship Engagement Specialist to provide educational stewardship experiences for youth and adult participants throughout the Copper River watershed.
Programs will largely be field-based and involve hands-on stewardship activities, including stream and lake clean-ups, habitat restoration, removal of invasive species, collection of native seeds, involving youth and adults in activities that result in positive, tangible impacts to the watershed.
⬇️ For more information on how to apply, click the button below.
Our Programs Making a Difference
