Special Workshop Held in February 2025

Glaciers are a dominant feature of the Copper River watershed. Understanding how glacial melting in a warming climate might affect salmon was an important part of the discussion at a two-day workshop held in late February at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park headquarters in Copper Center, Alaska.

Thirty people assembled, including a mix of research specialists, representatives from various agencies and organizations, staff and members of tribal organizations, university professors, students, and fishery stakeholders. The workshop, led by the Prince William Sound Science Center and the College of Fisheries and Ocean Science at the University of Alaska, is the first in a series planned to improve our understanding of factors affecting Copper River salmon. The series is entitled “Copper River Salmon 2125” to emphasize the importance of taking a longer-term perspective on salmon in this iconic river.

Separate breakout groups during the workshop focused on the complexities of salmon biology and fisheries management. The objective of the workshops is to develop a model that incorporates a “systems perspective,” emphasising how changes in marine and freshwater ecosystems might affect salmon productivity and how fisheries management will need to adapt to future changes. Workshop presentations and discussions focused on how glacier dynamics will impact salmon in positive and negative ways and how a better understanding of these processes will inform salmon management.

The importance of understanding “who is doing what and where” was repeatedly brought up at the workshop, and, with the help of Casey Cusick, a GIS specialist at the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission, an online map was developed to capture different efforts in research and monitoring related to salmon in the basin. The map will be developed over time but is already populated with a variety of ongoing efforts, including water temperature and salmon abundance monitoring, locations of new stream and lake habitats that may be created as glaciers recede, and the distribution of different salmon species in the region. For those with active field projects in the Copper River basin or those interested in starting new ones a questionnaire has also been created to help people contribute to this effort.

The workshop included a tour of the Gulkana Salmon Hatchery operated by the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation. Workshop participants were guided around the site, learned about the role of the hatchery, and viewed the first salmon fry that recently hatched in the streamside incubators.

The workshop concluded with a list of “next steps” that involve acquiring and synthesizing data and building a model to capture key ecosystem dynamics. The next workshop is planned for November 3-4 at the PWSSC in Cordova. Reach out to Pete Rand if you have any questions about this project.

We thank everyone who took the time to share their knowledge at the workshop, and we sincerely thank Copper River Seafoods for donating salmon fillets that were prepared for lunch at the workshop.