The Copper River School District (CRSD) central office is located in Glennallen, Alaska. The district’s region is rooted in Ahtna Athabascan Native culture. Glennallen is a supply hub of the Copper River Basin region. Area residents and tourists to the region are served by local businesses and agencies, including health care providers, small grocery and convenience stores, gas stations, a post office, utility cooperatives, churches, and seasonal tourist-related businesses.
The CRSD encompasses 23,994 square miles and has 410 students enrolled in its varied schools. The district’s brick-and-mortar schools are located in Glennallen, Kenny Lake, and Slana. Upstream Learning, the district’s home education program, is headquartered in the central office building in Glennallen. All schools are located on the road system and are easily accessible by car.
The district is located in the eastern interior of Alaska with extreme weather conditions. The average low temperature in January is -14 degrees; the average high during July is 71 degrees. The region abounds with wildlife, including moose, caribou, bear, sheep, arctic hare, fox, and coyote. Canada geese, swans, cranes, ducks, and a variety of fish make use of the ponds and lakes in the area.
The Copper Basin is in the unincorporated borough. Glennallen and the surrounding communities have no mayor, city government, or local taxes. Native villages have local governments in the form of village councils. The overall community is highly dependent on volunteerism to operate basic services, such as fire departments and senior centers.
State highway maintenance and federal offices are in Glennallen, as are offices for the Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Troopers, and the Dept. of Fish and Game. The National Park Service's Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center is also nearby. Prince William Sound College (part of the University of Alaska system) has a campus in Glennallen. There are two health care facilities near Glennallen.
The Glenn/Tok Cutoff and Richardson Highways provide year-round road access to other areas of the state. One of the appealing aspects of living in this region is that Glennallen is a 3-hour (187 miles) drive from Anchorage, and a 4-hour drive (248 miles) to Fairbanks.