Alaska's Copper River Delta

by Riki Ott

Alaska's Copper River Delta visits the largest wetland on the Pacific coast of North America - with its associated rain forest, barrier islands, mountains, and glaciers, and its wildlife and human inhabitants - and reveals the Delta through the work of 22 artists from 11 countries. Invited by local residents and the Netherlands-based Artists for Nature Foundation, artists came to the Delta to see spawning runs of Copper River salmon and the world's greatest shorebird migration. They stayed in the seaport town of Cordova, working closely with residents to portray their daily lives on fishing boats and in processing plants, and visited a Chugach-Aleut spirit camp to appreciate the community's spiritual strengths. Together, artists and residents seek to both celebrate and protect the area's magnificent natural resources and cultural diversity, while helping to build a healthy future for all inhabitants.

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

A commercial salmon "fisherma'am," Dr. Riki Ott (PhD in marine biology) experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spilland chose to do something about it. Ott retired from fishing and founded three nonprofit organizations to deal with lingering harm. She is the author of Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$ and Not One Drop. Riki lives in Cordova, Alaska."