An Alaska Native corporation ordered by the state to stop claiming exclusive fishing rights to a Cook Inlet river told the Department of Natural Resources on Thursday to get its facts straight but agreed to make certain changes to a brochure and website.

In a letter dated April 20, Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin directed Tyonek Native Corp. to "cease-and-desist" claims of ownership of the Chuitna River riverbed and to stop blocking what the state deems legal public access to the river.

The website of a lodge owned by the corporation has advertised exclusive fishing along 10 miles of the river. In a brochure, the corporation warned anglers that the riverbed is privately owned so "walking, wading or standing on the riverbed is also considered trespassing."

The company's chief executive, Tom Harris, responded that the state's accusations are wrong and its arguments are based on unresolved questions in state and federal laws.

While the corporation claimed ownership of the riverbed, it never claimed to own the entire river and never said it owned exclusive rights to fish there, Harris wrote in his letter Thursday.

Harris said the website's claim of "exclusive fishing" is a reference to the corporation's "ownership of some 40,000 acres of private land surrounding the river."

The company agreed to change the wording on the website to instead advertise "exclusive access" through private property to fishing sites.

Harris delivered the letter to the Department of Natural Resources on Thursday. Irwin invited him to stay and talk, Harris said in an interview, and the corporation in turn invited Irwin to the village of Tyonek.

"We had a good, cordial visit," Harris said.

Irwin said Friday he stands by his letter but is now focused on working with the corporation to resolve the dispute. He plans to visit Tyonek by the end of May, Irwin said. "Both sides listened, both sides communicated, and that's the step we needed to take."

The Chuitna is about 45 miles from Anchorage on the west side of Cook Inlet. The Native corporation has asked Congress to create a conservation easement -- no commercial development along an eight-mile stretch of the Chuitna -- in an effort to preserve salmon runs along the river, the company has said.

While the corporation's lodge caters to anglers and hunters in the area, Harris said the company chose not to build the getaway directly beside the Chuitna to "give the fish a rest."

Harris wrote that the company won't market the lodge for king salmon fishing this spring due to declining beluga whale populations, which Tyonek Native Corp. attributes to dwindling king salmon numbers in other area rivers.