OUR VISION
We believe the Copper River watershed can have a vibrant, healthy future.
💪🏽 Last week, Nelly Hand with driftersfish, joined other fishermen and netyourproblem on a remote shoreline on the Copper River Delta where they fish. They collected stuff from the beach and hauled it out in their fishing boats to be recycled and repurposed into useful gear. Together, they collected nearly 5,000 pounds of trash!!
🐟 Nelly is the President of our Board of Directors, and her fishing business, Drifters Fish, donates 1% of profits each year to the Copper River Watershed Project. This is leading by example. This is caring about where the fish live and making an effort to make it better. This is fishing with integrity.
Visit Drifter`s Fish here: https://driftersfish.com
🧡 Thank you Nelly, and everyone who made the effort to clean up the Delta!
📷 Nelly Hand, CRWP Board President & owner of Drifter`s Fish.
CORDOVA - The Copper River Watershed Project (CRWP), with multiple partners including the eyakcorp, the u.s.forestservice, and the alaska_dotpf, will be replacing culverts this summer on the Copper River Highway at the intersection with Sheridan Glacier Road. The project will take place between approximately June 1 and August 15. Equipment mobilization and re-routing of the fiber optic cable near the site is starting now. During project implementation, one lane of the road will remain open to traffic, so the passage of vehicles will not be impacted.
👉🏼 We request that drivers reduce their speed in the work zone for the safety of the equipment operators and other personnel who will be working on-site.
Project background:
The goal of the project is to remove two sets of double-pipes that are undersized and failing. We will install two culverts that will ensure fish passage by coho salmon at all life stages. The project is also intended to improve surface conditions, enhance drainage, and support long-term maintenance and access in this area. This project is part of CRWP’s ongoing commitment to improving community infrastructure and environmental resilience throughout the Copper River watershed.
For more information on our Fish Passage work, click our bio link and select the Fish Passage button.
📷 Darcy Saiget/CRWP - Resurfacing after a project completion last summer on the Copper River Highway (2025).
#copperriverhighway #copperriverdelta #roadconstruction #fishpassageproject #Cordova
Happy World Fish Migration Day from the Copper River watershed! 🐟
#worldfishmigrationday #CopperRiver #copperriverwatershed
Tomorrow is World Fish Migration Day. It`s a good moment to pause and really think about the journey these fish are making. The salmon are coming home to the Copper River watershed just as they have for thousands of years. They`re swimming on instinct, and the will to create the next generation of fish who will grow up in this region, to return again, keeping the cycle moving forward.
Our mission? Keep their path clear and their waters wild.
A lot of salmon migrate up the Copper River and the rivers and tributaries that feed into this mighty waterway where they spawn and raise baby fish. Sometimes those waterways are impassable for fish due to damaged culverts. Our long-term goal, with the help of our partners, supporters, donors, and members, is to make sure the Copper River watershed is free of barriers and blockages for migrating fish.
Over the last 6 years:
13 culverts were replaced on the Copper River Delta
1 bridge was built over the Little Tonsina River
84.6 stream miles + 76.5 lake acres were reopened for Coho, Sockeye, and Chinook salmon
And this summer, Cop 3/Sher 3 culverts along the Copper River Highway near Cordova, and the ATV Trail culvert in the Copper Basin that impedes a stream connected to the Little Tonsina river, will be replaced opening even more miles of upstream habitat for fish this year!
Every barrier removed is a promise kept. A promise to do all we can to keep the watershed healthy and thriving for the salmon, and future generations who will depend on them.
Learn more about our fish passage work at https://copperriver.org/programs/fish-habitat-restoration/culverts-are-the-culprits/
📷 Photo 1: Copper River, Kim Casavan/CRWP. Photo 2: Thomas C. Kline, Jr. Photo 3: Spawning salmon, Michelle Mcafee/CRWP. Photo 4: Cop 3 damaged culvert blocking fish from swimming upstream. Photo 5: Sher 3 damaged culverts impeding fish passage.
#CopperRiver #SalmonRun #WildSalmon #CopperRiverWatershed #FishMigration #HabitatRestoration #WorldFishMigrationDay2026
COPPER BASIN - The Youth Environmental Summit is right around the corner! Youth K-8th grade can register to attend this full day event of hands-on activities, cultural learning, and fun in the outdoors!
WHEN: May 26-28th, 10am - 4:15pm
WHERE: Buster Gene Memorial Facility, Mile 4.8 Tok Cutoff Hwy, Gakona
For more information visit, nvgakona.com/YES2026
🐝 World Bee Day was yesterday, and we`re still celebrating these little but mighty buzzing pollinators.
Alaska is home to more than 100 species of bees including:
• Bumblebees - build nests in the ground under rotting logs or abandoned burrows, very social
• Solitary bees - don`t build hives, and you guessed it - they are solitary
• Leafcutting bees - build nests with leaves in holes of stems or wood, existing cavities in old buildings, or holes in the ground
• Sweat bees - they are attracted to the salts in your sweat (ewwww!), nest in the ground in solitary nests
• Mining bee - found everywhere in the world, resemble honeybees, solitary bees that dig a single nest into the soil, very important blueberry pollinators!
• Plaster bees - solitary bees, build nests with smooth walls of bee spit that dries into a plaster-like lining, carry pollen in their gut, not on their legs
🐝 Here are some idea for how you can help bees:
• Create habitat for bee nests in your yard: leave a corner undisturbed with a stack of logs and rocks.
• Plant a pollinator garden with native seeds and plants! Try Pollinator Partnership`s "Find Your Roots" tool: https://www.pollinator.org/find-your-roots-tool.
• Remove and limit the spread of invasive species in your yard
• Join us for invasive plant management efforts this summer.
• Bee nice to bees
🐝 Encouraging an abundance of native flowers, and attentive management of invasive plants helps to fight pollinator decline AND keeps our watershed healthy.
Email us if you`re interested in volunteering for an invasive weed pull this summer: cdvplantstech@copperriver.org
Bee info is from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service https://www.fws.gov/story/alaskas-100-bees
📷 Lisa Hupp/USFWS - Alaska bumblebee feeding on shooting star wildflowers.
Congratulations to our wonderful interns, Morgan Saiget and Pheobe Tschappat, for graduating high school and winning the Spirit of Youth Award!
In their early years, Pheobe and Morgan cared for baby salmon in a classroom tank learning about salmon lifecycles up-close and the habitat that they depend on. In high school, the door was open to them to join the Copper River Stewardship Program, and adventure through the watershed, boating, rafting, hiking, and camping alongside new friends, and meeting people from a wide range of fields and perspectives. These experiences made a positive impact on them both.
This year, Morgan and Pheobe just graduated! Rooted in the experiences that you - our supporters - made possible, they returned as interns for the Copper River Watershed Project. Together, they worked with 62 Cordova students to decorate recycling boxes to take home.
Morgan and Pheobe were recognized for their work and are co-recipients of the Spirit of Youth Award for their outstanding achievements and contributions to their community.
"Pheobe & Morgan are youth leaders working with the Copper River Watershed Project to strengthen recycling and environmental stewardship in Cordova. Their leadership reduces waste, protects local waters and salmon habitat, and encourages long-term sustainability in the community." —Spirit of Youth
Thank you Morgan and Pheobe, for the good work! We look forward to seeing the positive changes you continue to make in this world.
📷 Photo 1: Pheobe and Morgan painted a mural to keep light from entering the classroom salmon tank which can disturb baby fish, and to keep the water cold. Photo 2-4: K-2nd grade students in Cordova working with Morgan and Pheobe to create recycling boxes to take home and use for recycling with their families. Photo 5: Morgan and Pheobe with Kim Casavan, our Operations and Fundraising Manager, during our Annual Meeting and Wild Food Feast in April, 2026.
#SpiritofYouthAward #Cordova #stewardship #recyclingprogram #copperriverwatershed
Yesterday Jillian, our Plant Program Technician, did a fun classroom activity with the third graders in Cordova, as they wrap up their unit on ecology & plants. They talked about native plants, and made "seed bursts" with some of the native seeds that the Copper River Watershed Project harvested last summer. Each seed burst is a fist-sized ball of compost, clay, and native seeds (specifically: Mertens` Sedge, Yarrow, Lupine, and Fireweed) for the students to throw somewhere and see what grows over the years to come.
Students throwing seed bursts outside that they made in class while learning about native plants makes us smile! 😃
Find more information on native plants here: https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/native-plants/
📷 Photo 1: Jillian Gold/CRWP - 3rd grade student making "seed bursts" in class in Cordova Elementary.
#Cordova #nativeplants #AKNativePlantMonth #alaskanativeplants #plantingseeds
And they`re off and swimming! Yesterday, Cordova students released fry they raised in their classroom tank into local waters. Release day is always fun, watching baby fish take off into wild water and swim into the unknown. These fish will grow up in the watershed, journey out to the ocean, then come back again to spawn and start the cycle all over. How cool is that?
Experiencing Salmon in the Classroom gives students a hands-on and up-close opportunity to learn what it takes for fish to thrive in the environment.
Thank you to the teachers who helped with salmon tanks, and to our Salmon in the Classroom partners for making this program possible!
ahtnainc, ahtnaintertribal, adfg.official, mypubliclands, coppervalleyelectric, noaa, Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation, Valdez Fisheries Development Association, wise.education.alaska (WISE).
May is Alaska Native Plant Month! Why celebrate native plants? Because they are the foundation of healthy ecosystems.
A native plant is a species that has naturally adapted to a region over hundreds or even thousands of years. During that time, these plants developed deep relationships with local birds, pollinators, insects, and wildlife. Every bloom, seed, and root plays a role in supporting life around it.
Because they evolved in local ecosystems, native plants are uniquely suited to thrive in their environment. Their deep root systems help prevent erosion, improve soil health, and increase resilience in the environment. Native plants thrive through co-existence, offer food and shelter, and are beautiful springtime colors, teas, and medicines. THAT is worth celebrating all month!
Our new Plant Program Field Technician, Jillian Gold, created a cool activity kit that you can pick up at the CRWP office, or visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/native-plants/ to download and print your own copies!
#AKNativePlantMonth #nativeplants #alaskanativeplants #cordova #copperbasin
On April 29th we held our Annual Meeting which included a Wild Food Feast in Cordova and the first ever Tea & Jam Session in Glennallen. It was a great turnout in both locations - thank you to everyone who came to the event!
In Cordova, prizes were awarded in the Wild Food Cook-Off. Congratulations to the winners in the categories; Flew, Swam, Walked, and Grew!
🦆 Flew: Andy Morse - BBQ Duck & Goose Legs
🐟 Swam: Michelle Hahn - Red Tail Poke
🫎 Walked: Kate Trudeau - Moose Khinkalis
🫐 Grew: Anita Smyke - Nagoonberry Pie
In Glennallen, we`d like to send out a thank you to the folks who brought jams, jellies, and teas made with wild harvested plants in the region and shared them with everyone. It was a delicious way to sample the flavors of our watershed!
If you`re a Copper River Watershed Project (CRWP) member - thank you!
If you`d like to learn more about the work we do in the Copper River region or are interested in becoming a member, visit CopperRiver.org.
📷 Photos 1-3 Cordova Annual Meeting and Wild Food Feast. Photos 4-5 Glennallen Tea & Jam Session following the Annual Meeting.
#ThankYou #WildFoodFeast #Cordova #AnnualMeeting #Membership #Glennallen
Happy World Migratory Bird Day!
We get real excited here in the Copper River watershed when the migratory birds arrive - especially on the Copper River Delta, one of the most significant flyovers on the Pacific Flyway. Many of these shorebirds over-winter in Baja, South America, and other far south regions. The journey is long and sometimes harrowing, and they land to rest, feed, and nest on the Copper River Delta — a critical wetlands nesting grounds for species like the Dusky Canada Geese and Trumpeter swans. Millions of shorebirds migrate through this region to re-fuel on clams and other morsels living in the mudflats. Most birds move on further north throughout the Copper River watershed and beyond after filling up and resting on the Copper River Delta.
All week, May 7-10, the Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival has been in full swing with bird watchers and lovers from near and far observing the amazing migration happening here. If you love birds, it`s a bucket list festival to put on your calendar for next year!
https://www.coppershorebird.com
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CopperRiver.org
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📷 Milo Burcham - Shorebirds on the Copper River Delta.
#WorldMigratoryBirdDay #CopperRiverDelta #copperriverwatershed #Cordova #Alaska
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
