OUR VISION
We believe the Copper River watershed can have a vibrant, healthy future.
♻️CORDOVA - It`s almost time to recycle your old fishing gear and nets! Bring in your old gear for recycling and it will be repurposed into useful things like ball caps, knives, and shoes.
🚤 Drop of fishing web at the Baler on Whitshed Road from 1pm - 3pm on these dates:
– August 25 and 26
– September 22 and 23
– October 13 and 14
Web has to be free of cork lines, weed lines, lead lines, purse lines, chafe gear and hangings but
corks, leads, chafe and purse lines can be recycled separately.
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👉🏼 We need volunteers to help process fishing gear. Sign up for shifts on this google form and let us know when you`re available to help. And THANK YOU for helping us keep broken and old fishing web out of the landfill.
📋 Sign up to volunteer here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjwievoedzOHqnJJXkrmaWW_V2wicWoY8XrC97-7eQXEuBvw/viewform
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🥫While you`re at it, bring your aluminum cans! Recycling your cans supports the net recycling program, so drop off your aluminum at the Baler at the same time!
Learn more about our recycling program at https://copperriver.org/programs/recycling/
#fishingwebrecycling #recyclingmatters #repurpose #CordovaAlaska
Happy Alaska Wild Salmon Day! 🐟
Wild salmon are the lifeblood of Copper River watershed communities, cultures, and livelihoods.
We are so lucky to live in a place where salmon still have access to some of the last intact habitat, rivers, and cold streams to spawn and raise the next generations of fish that will return to this wild place.
There is no guarantee it will remain this way. It will take all of us being vigilant and proactive to keep our rivers and habitats healthy and thriving into the future.
Keep it wild. Keep it clean. Keep it free-flowing, and the salmon will come home.
#AlaskaWildSalmonDay #WildSalmon #CopperRiver #AlaskaWildSalmonDay2026 #KeepItWild
Our Cordova plants team worked with pwssc Wisdom of Plants campers learning about how seeds travel, and the importance keeping our boots clean to help slow the spread of invasive plants.
Campers also practiced the steps that it takes to clean native seeds, made native plant seed bursts, and did some seed-to-flower relaxation stretches.
It was a fun day learning about plants!
CopperRiver.org
#nativeplants #invasiveplants #Cordova #WisdomofPlants #summercamp
🌾 We`d like to give a great big thank you and shout-out to our wonderful Cordova plant technician, Maddie Tharp, who will be ending the season with us on Friday.
💪🏽 Maddie, along with our other incredible plant technician Jillian Gold, worked super hard this summer to knock back reed canarygrass and orange hawkweed in the area, and even located new infestations of bird vetch that hopefully can be removed before that invasive plant takes hold.
🫶🏽 From all of us at CRWP: Maddie - you are an absolute joy to work with and a powerhouse force for good. We are so grateful you spent your summer working with us and wish you all the best on your journey and adventures this next year. We hope you`ll come back next summer!
Thank you Jillian, for staying on staff for the remaining plant season to keep the work going!
CopperRiver.org
#staffshoutout #CordovaAlaska #invasiveplantmanagement #invasiveplantteam
CORDOVA - There is a new tarp down on Chase Ave by Wolf Hill that is part of a tarping project, which is a tool we use in our Integrated Pest Management program.
The goal of tarping is to reduce the spread of reed canarygrass from infested sites to new areas while also eventually reducing or fully eradicating the infestation at the tarped site.
We are working hard to control reed canarygrass and prevent it from getting established in the delta, where it could quickly grow out of control, and irreversibly damage and restrict salmon habitat that is critical to our salmon populations.
Tarping is the long game, as it takes a couple of years to fully eradicate an infestation under a tarp, but it`s an important tool to use in some areas, like on Chase Ave.
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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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📷 Maddie Tharp/CRWP - CRWP Plant Technicians Maddie and Jillian installed a tarp covering a large infestation of reed canarygrass on Chase Ave in Cordova.
The next best thing to catching your own is buying fish from fisherpeople who are committed to stewardship and responsible fishing!
senasea_seafoods is a fifth-generation fishing family who cares about the ocean, and the salmon habitat that Copper River fish need to continue thriving.
When you buy fish from Sena Sea, they will donate 8% of your purchase to the Copper River Watershed Project to help restore salmon habitat in our 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
CopperRiver.org
#sustainablefishing #wildsalmon #buyfish #copperriver #sockeye
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
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.
Recycle your fishing web and turn it into useful things like shoes and hats!
– October 13 and 14
Web has to be free of cork lines, weed lines, lead lines, purse lines, chafe gear and hangings but corks, leads, chafe and purse lines can be recycled separately.
🥫While you’re at it, bring your aluminum cans! Recycling your cans supports the net recycling program, so drop off your aluminum at the Baler at the same time!
We need volunteers to help process fishing gear! Sign up for shifts on this google form and let us know when you’re available to help. THANK YOU for helping keep fishing web out of our landfill!
Our Programs Making a Difference
