McCarthy meeting to take up Copper River proposals on salmon eligibility and dip net limits

People who live along the McCarthy Road could become eligible to fish for salmon in the Chitina Subdistrict, and dip netting near the mouths of salmon streams on the upper Copper River could be banned, under two federal proposals a local subsistence panel will take up Oct. 9 in McCarthy.

The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Subsistence Resource Commission, made up of nine local rural residents, will hear public comment and vote on its recommendations. The commission advises the federal subsistence regional councils and the Federal Subsistence Board, which makes the final decision. The board is scheduled to take up the proposals, and hear public comment on them, at its February 2027 meeting.

The commission wrote the first proposal itself. It asks federal managers to recognize that people living along the McCarthy Road out to Dan Creek and Kennecott have a customary and traditional use of salmon in the Chitina Subdistrict. That finding is what makes rural residents eligible to fish there under federal subsistence rules. McCarthy residents are already on the list.

The second proposal, from the Southcentral Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council, would ban dip nets from 500 yards below to 100 yards above the spot where any salmon-bearing tributary meets the upper Copper River. The council says those spots are easy to reach and heavily fished, which puts small runs at risk. It wrote that the change would protect "streams with small spawning populations that can easily be fished out," and the genetic diversity those runs carry.

The meeting is at the Great St. Elias Station in McCarthy. The Park Service moved it there from the location listed in the Federal Register because of venue availability. It begins at 9 am and recesses at 5 pm or when the day's business is done. It continues at 9 am Oct. 10 only if business remains.

People can also join by Microsoft Teams or by phone at 202-640-1187. Anyone who needs a toll-free line should contact Amber Cohen of the park's subsistence program at 907-822-7284 by Tuesday, Oct. 6. The agenda will be posted about a week ahead at go.nps.gov/2026FallSRCMeeting.