In recent years the management of the Copper River has provided an abundance of salmon but there are indications that certain wild stocks of sockeye and Chinook salmon may have declined from historical levels. In particular local people have indicated that climate change, beaver dams, and human use have altered salmon runs on certain tributary streams of the Copper River. Collecting traditional knowledge about past and present runs and correlating that data from the natural and social sciences (e.g. biology, geography, geology, anthropology, and archaeology) would extend our temporal knowledge of the Copper River salmon fishery and supplement and validate indices of abundance for Chinook and sockeye salmon. Eric McCall Valentine is [...]
