“There are seven springs in the canyon,” said Gary Martinek, former manager of this salmon hatchery just off the Richardson Highway between Summit and Paxson lakes during an interview in 2011. “From summer to winter the water temperature only varies 3 degrees. This water is the key to the hatchery.”

On most days of the summer, fishermen heading to the Copper River to scoop up salmon pass this cluster of small buildings tucked in a shallow valley. Few realize that many of the fish they will catch are born here.