Glennallen, Tazlina, Kenny Lake
The Copper Valley encompasses approximately 20,649 square miles and is bounded by the Alaska and Talkeetna Mountain Ranges to the north, Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and Canada to the east, Thompson Pass in the Chugach Range to the south and the Matanuska-Susitina borough to the west. This vast region includes the Wrangell and St. Elias Mountain Range, which has nine of the 16 highest mountain peaks in North America. The Copper River, one of the major rivers on the continent, has its headwaters at the base of the Wrangell Mountains and dissects the region, flowing 250 miles to the Gulf of Alaska near Cordova.
In the 2000 census, the region had a population of 3,120 up from 2,569 in 1990. The major population centers are focused in the Glennallen, Copper Center and Kenny Lake communities which are situated near the junctions of major highways or with access to recreational resources. They are also the major shopping and service centers for the area. Each of these communities has approximately 500 persons in their loosely defined boundaries.
Glennallen is the major commerce and administrative center, with major medical services, the Alaska public health service clinic, a library, the region’s largest two schools, and the campuses of Alaska Bible College, and Prince William Sound Community College. The Copper River School District and Ahtna, Inc., have offices in Glennallen. There are also offices for the Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development – Glennallen Job Center, Alaska State Troopers, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Glennallen.
Just south of Glennallen in the community of Tazlina are the headquarters for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and the main maintenance facility for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Copper River Native Association and the National Park Service have their main offices in Copper Center.
Kenny Lake is a farming community – one of the last to be homesteaded in America. Kenny Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Copper River Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 234, down from 355 in 2010.
