Guardians of the Confluence

The clear waters of Alaska’s Russian River cascade through the forest before merging with the mighty Kenai River on the Chugach National Forest. Today, this legendary confluence near Cooper Landing, Alaska, is known worldwide as a premier sports fishery where anglers from across the globe come to catch salmon.

This peaceful retreat enjoyed by anglers is a carefully managed success of modern conservation that shows how sport fishing and environmental stewardship are deeply interconnected partners.

“That riverbank was a sea of mud.”

As the river’s popularity grew in the mid-1970s, the lack of infrastructure meant that people scrambled freely down the banks to fish, trampling the landscape. Foot traffic over the delicate vegetation crumples the river’s fragile ecosystem, killing the plants and roots that binds the soil together.

“Before there was anything here, that riverbank was a sea of mud,” said Gene Horning, a life-long angler and volunteer with the Kenai & Russian River Stream Watch.