Bendiilna'

A small leaf set afloat in Mendeltna's quiet creek would drift under the highway bridge, pass into Tazlina Lake, race down the Tazlina River as Nickel and Durham creeks join in, merge into the Copper River, travel through its meanders, shoot through a narrow canyon in the Chugach Mountains, bob past a calving glacier, cross the braided channels and wetlands of the delta, and finally reach the Pacific. Thousands of water sources and small streams join rivers that drain a great ring of mountains, and all waters merge into the Copper River and journey to the sea. Rainfall and snowmelt carry surface runoff into nearby waters, so whatever is spilled on roads, sprinkled on lawns, or tossed in forests enters the intricate living system of the Copper River watershed. Mendeltna Creek ends where the sea begins, hundreds of miles away at the Copper River Delta. Bendiilna' is the oldest name for this place in Ahtna Athabaskan, the language of the Copper River Basin and its first people, and the network of Ahtna place names forms an audible map that follows the river's flow and direction.

Mendeltna, Alaska · United States