OUR VISION
We believe the Copper River watershed can have a vibrant, healthy future.
Our plant technicians, Maddie and Jillian, found two infestations of bird vetch in Cordova 🙁
This highly invasive plant grows real fast using branched tendrils to climb up pretty much anything it touches, smothering and blanketing bushes and small trees. It produces a heavy amount of seed and also reproduces with underground root systems. This burly invasive plant survives drought, fire, poor soils, and prefers to invade undisturbed natural habitats rather than disturbed roadsides (—University of Alaska, Fairbanks)
It`s now been spotted in Cordova, and we need your help to locate other places where bird vetch may have dug in. If you`ve seen this plant, please report it to our office on Main Street, or call the office number (*See flyer). You can also email ashley@copperriver.org.
Let`s get ahead of the spread!!
Scan the QR code on the flyer to learn more about this invasive plant.
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For more information on our Invasive Plant Management program, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
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#CordovaAlaska #birdvetch #invasivespecies
👉🏼 CORDOVA - Our Plant Technicians, Maddie and Jillian, have been all around the Cordova area clipping reed canarygrass seed heads before the invasive plant goes to seed. Maddie worked with us last summer, and is noticing the rapid rate of spread of this invasive grass.
🌾 They took photos of some of the sites they found this summer, many of which have seen reed canarygrass spread. Maddie created these graphics to help show where these stands of aggressive invasive grass are taking hold - most of these areas are near pullouts, roads, and places where people and pets recreate. Places where seeds can hitch a ride on your shoes, pants, shirts, hats, and fur babies, and be deposited somewhere new in an entirely different location. You can help prevent that from happening.
🥾 Please remember to clean your boots before leaving these areas to prevent the spread of seeds to new areas. We are really aiming to stop the spread of this grass so it doesn`t take hold out on the delta.
For more information on our Invasive Plant Management Program, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
#CordovaAlaska #reedcanarygrass #invasivespecies #invasiveplant #stopthespread
🥳 Last week in Cordova, we had a small but mighty crew who helped us tackle an entire yard thick with orange hawkweed in only 2.5 hours! We are so grateful to our volunteers who make our work of tackling invasive plants in Cordova more manageable and fruitful — and more fun!
💪🏽 It takes a community to keep highly invasive plants like orange hawkweed from spreading further. You can make a difference by tackling this plant when you see it.
👉🏼 Refer to the post below for how to handle this invasive plant during various stages.
🌺 During bud & flower stage: Pluck the seed heads and flowers BEFORE they go to seed. If they are already in seed, don`t touch them to prevent the seed from spreading. Bag and burn the flowers & buds in a hot fire. DON`T mow or pull the plants or disturb the roots in any way - they will spread voraciously.
For more information on our Invasive Plant Management Program, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
📷 Maddie Tharp/CRWP: Photo 1 - Yard of orange hawkweed BEFORE the team got to work. Photo 2 - DURING the team plucking buds and flowers from the yard. Photo 3 - AFTER the team took good care of this yard in 2.5 hours!
#CordovaAlaska #orangehawkweed #invasiveplant #invasiveplantmanagement #communityeffort
Last week`s Floatable Weed Smackdown on the Gulkana River was a great success! Big thanks to all the volunteers from the Glennallen area, Anchorage, and Valdez who came to help! This crew wasn`t daunted by the rain at all, and had a good time on the river.
We had 16 people —2 CRWP staff, 9 volunteers, and 5 guides with Copper River Guides who pulled 50 bags of invasive white sweetclover from banks and sandbars. It was a fun day with a cheerful crew who got A LOT done. (See the before, during, and after photos below of one of the sandbars this crew tackled!)
Stay tuned....there may be upcoming float trips that you can hop on!
For more information on our Invasive Plant Management Program, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
📷 Photo 1 & 2 Ian Lingard/CRWP - The amazing crew on last week`s Floatable Weed Smackdown who tackled white sweetclover on the Gulkana River. Photos 3-5 - The before, during, and after photos of the crew clearing a sand bar on the river. Photo 6 - Bags of invasive white sweetclover being hauled out on a raft for burning on a dryer day.
#RaftTrip #FloatableWeedSmackdown #CopperBasin #GulkanaRiver #whitesweetclover #invasiveplantmanagement #communityeffort
Salmon Jam LOST & FOUND - Did you leave something behind last weekend at Salmon Jam? If so, you can pick it up at the Copper River Watershed Project office until 5pm today.
If you can`t make it today, email info@copperriver.org to arrange a pickup day.
Thanks for coming to Salmon Jam!
#SalmonJam #lostandfound #CordovaAlaska
🤩 Thank you to everyone who participated in the orange hawkweed contest at Salmon Jam and made it such a success!
🏆 The winner of the contest was Shea Davis, who collected about 1.5 pounds of flower heads! Big thanks to Shea for making the effort to collect so many flower heads before they went to seed, and for participating in our contest!
📷 Maddie Tharp/CRWP - Orange hawkweed contest winner, Shea Davis.
#CordovaAlaska #orangehawkweed #SalmonJam #invasiveplantmanagement
👉🏼 CORDOVA - TOMORROW (Friday, July 24th), join us for an orange hawkweed cleanup at the corner of Council Ave. & 4th St.!
☕️ Hot chocolate will be served! Get your GIVEBACK HOURS in, or just come have fun with a good crew and help us pluck orange hawkweed before it goes to seed.
🗓️ WHEN: Friday, July 24, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
📍WHERE: Corner of Council Ave. & 4th St.
Want more information on our invasive plant management program? Visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
#CordovaAlaska #orangehawkweed #invasiveplantremoval #teamwork #community See less
Earlier this month, our Copper Basin Plant Technician Ian Lingard, traveled to McCarthy to give a presentation on invasive plants in the McCarthy and Copper Basin areas. Many thanks to the wrangellmountainscenter for hosting this community event!
While Ian was there, he hopped on a flight-see to get a birds-eye view of this part of our amazing watershed.
📷 Ian Lingard/CRWP - Photo 1: Copper River SE of Gulkana. Photo 2: Lake at the toe of Kennicott Glacier in McCarthy. Photo 3: A lovely rainbow in the McCarthy area.
#McCarthyAlaska #CopperRiver #CopperBasin #KennecottGlacier
Last week, the Youth Employment and Training Initiative run by Copper River Native Association — or YETIs — hopped in rafts and helped us remove invasive white sweetclover, along the Gulkana River starting from Sailor’s Pit. Thanks to their help that day, the team was able to collect ten large trash bags of white sweetclover from sandbars and river banks.
And thanks to the Gulkana Village Council, Christopher was able to participate in his first river outing with CRWP! The CRWP crew surveyed the area for white sweetclover and taught youth about the impacts of this invasive plant on the area.
For more information on our Invasive Plant Management Program, visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
📷 Ian Lingard/CRWP - YETIs rafting the Gulkana River to pull white sweetclover from banks and sandbars with CRWP`s Copper Basin Plant Technician, Ian Lingard.
#whitesweetclover #GulkanaRiver #CopperRiverWatershed #invasiveplants #communityeffort
COPPER BASIN - Join us on Thursday, July 23 for the Floatable Weed Smackdown on the Gulkana River to remove invasive white sweetclover from the banks and sandbars!
We have room for 20 people, so RSVP to save your spot on a boat: https://forms.gle/CFExZnA5mZE3dTst9
CRWP will provide trash bags, hand tools, gloves, life jackets, and dry bags for participants to use. Please be sure to pack your own snacks, water, and proper clothes for possible wind, rain or direct heat with limited shade.
WHEN: Thursday, July 23, 1:00 pm
WHERE: Meet at Gulkana Bridge
WHY: FREE Float Trip to pull white sweetclover!
For more information, contact Ian at cbtech@copperriver.org
We`ll see you on the river!
CopperRiver.org
#CopperBasin #Glennallen #Gulkana #floattrip #invasiveweedmanagement #weedpull
👉🏼 CORDOVA - DATE CHANGE for the orange hawkweed cleanup at the corner of Council Ave. & 4th St.!
🗓️ WHEN: Friday, July 24, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
📍WHERE: Corner of Council Ave. & 4th St.
🌺 WHY: Tackle orange hawkweed before it goes to seed!
☕️ Hot chocolate will be served! Get a jump-start on your GIVEBACK HOURS, or just come hang out with a good crew and help us pluck orange hawkweed.
Want more information on our invasive plant management program? Visit https://copperriver.org/programs/invasive-plant-management/
#CordovaAlaska #orangehawkweed #invasiveplantremoval #teamwork #community
CRWP was excited to head into the field last week with our partners from The Eyak Corporation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) , including our Grants Officer all the way from Maryland. We were able to visit sites we implemented together in 2024, take a peak at the next big project to be implemented in Cordova (Eyak Weir replacement!), and most exciting, catch some Coho Salmon while visiting the sites that the Wilson Construction crew replaced last month. We caught both young of the year Coho that hatched this spring, and fry that had spent maybe 2 full years moving between the wetlands. Now that these baby fish have easier access to good places to feed and over-winter, we`re hopeful there will be more heading out to sea to return someday and feed our families and the ecosystem.
Find out more about our Fish Passage work in the Copper River watershed at https://copperriver.org/programs/fish-habitat-restoration/culverts-are-the-culprits/
📷 Kate Morse and partners from The Eyak Corporation and NOAA visiting culvert sites for fish habitat restoration on the Copper River Delta.
#FishPassage #CopperRiverWatershed #fishhabitatrestoration #culvertprojects #CordovaAlaska
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.
Join us for a FREE float trip on the Gulkana River to pull invasive white sweetclover!
On Thursday, July 23 we’ll be floating the Gulkana River to remove invasive white sweetclover from the banks and sandbars in the Floatable Weed Smackdown!
CRWP will provide trash bags, hand tools, gloves, life jackets, and dry bags for participants to use. Please be sure to pack your own snacks, water, and proper clothes for possible wind, rain or direct heat with limited shade.
WHEN: Thursday, July 23, 1:00 pm
WHERE: Meet at the Gulkana Bridge
Our Programs Making a Difference
