Elizabeth McNeill will give an illustrated presentation to the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society (SCNHS) at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 6 at the Sechelt Arts Centre. She will describe her seven-day rafting trip down the last 160 kilometres of the Copper River in Alaska.
The Copper River is Alaska’s tenth largest river in U.S., draining a large region of the Wrangell and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska. The Copper River 700,000-acre delta is located in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park of 13.2 million acres, making it the largest U.S. national park (six times the size of Yellowstone). Combined with adjacent Canadian and other U.S. protected areas, this becomes the world’s largest protected land areas in the world. The Copper River delta is used by 16 million birds, including the world’s entire population of western sandpipers and dunlins. It is also the home of the world’s largest population of nesting trumpeter swans. The Chugach, Wrangell and St. Elias mountains converge in this area, containing nine of the 16 highest peaks, in North America. The Copper River deposits more silt in its delta in one day than the Mississippi River deposits in one year.
The trip starts in the ghost town of Chitina and ends at the small fishing town of Cordova, Alaska on the Pacific Ocean. Historical information will be provided on the Kennecott Copper mine, a consortium operated by J.P. Morgan & the Guggenheim family, in the early 1900s that transported copper to the Pacific on a railroad built that crossed moving glaciers and rushing rivers. Viewed during the trip were glaciers, icebergs, sand dunes, migrating sockeye salmon, and grizzlies. We learned to navigate silty channels, and more.
Elizabeth is a 12-year resident of the Sunshine Coast and previously lived in Alaska for 31 years. She backpacked, camped, and kayaked in many parts of the Alaskan wilderness.
