Alakanuk is a Yup’ik community located at the eastern entrance of Alakanuk Pass, a major distributary channel of the Yukon River, approximately 162 miles (261 km) northwest of Bethel and 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Emmonak, Alaska. The Pass stretches about 11 miles (18 km) west through the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge to the Bering Sea. Alakanuk, meaning “wrong way” in Yup’ik, presumably refers to the maze of interlaced waterways in the Yukon Delta. The village was originally settled by a Yup’ik shaman named Anguksuar and was first documented by George R. Putnam during a U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey in 1898-1899. A mission school was later built, and a post office was established in 1946. Residents live in wooden houses on stilts to protect against flooding. The village sits on floodplain sediments of sand and silt deposited over the last 2,500 years. The Yukon Delta covers about 32 million acres (13 million ha), with the river depositing an additional 19.6 million tons of sediment annually. The delta coastal plain is a complex mix of active and abandoned distributary channels and channel bars, natural levees, marshes, and lakes. The older, more inland parts of the delta plain show evidence of permafrost, but it is discontinuous and relatively thin, with depths of 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m). Flooding is a major hazard, as are erosion and sedimentation from the meandering distributary channels. Riverbank erosion at Alakanuk results in the loss of about 1.42 acres (0.6 ha) annually. Erosion events typically occur twice a year during ice break-up and fall storm surges from the Bering Sea. During break-up, the Yukon River experiences high flows due to thawing snow and ice, along with flooding from upstream ice jam failures. The distributary channels serve as transportation corridors for boats during the open water season and for snow machines when frozen from late October to late May.

The Yukon Delta has been home to the Yup’ik people for at least 3,000 years. Today, there are 56 settlements in the region that mostly rely on a subsistence lifestyle. Alakanuk holds historical and cultural ties to the fish found in the river, particularly depending on all five Pacific salmon species for food security, especially Chinook, chum, and coho. Subsistence food is largely based on fish, but people also hunt seals, beluga whales, beavers, moose, geese, ptarmigan, and various waterfowl, and trap foxes, hares, land otters, lynxes, minks, and muskrats. Traditionally, subsistence salmon fishing occurs from late May through early October, corresponding with the breakup of seasonal ice and daily incoming tides. Set gillnets are used from shore in the main rivers and coastal marine waters, while drift gillnets are increasingly employed due to their efficiency in catching more salmon per unit effort. From 1997 to 2021, the abundance of returning salmon declined, leading to several declared economic fishery disasters throughout the Yukon River watershed, which closed commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing due to low salmon escapement. The Bering Sea walleye pollock fishery has been identified as a potential cause of the population decline in Chinook and chum salmon due to documented incidental bycatch. This bycatch steadily increased from the late 1990s, with chum salmon bycatch reaching a record high of 704,586 fish in 2005. Chinook salmon bycatch hit a peak of 130,139 fish in 2007 before decreasing. In 2009, an amendment to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Fishery Management Plan was passed, requiring observers to monitor bycatch and imposing limits on incidental catches. Despite these regulations, Chinook salmon populations have continued to decline, leading to fishery closures. The complexities of ecological and socio-economic factors make pinpointing a specific cause challenging, but the impact of the pollock fishery remains significant.

The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge encompasses over 26 million acres (10.5 million ha) of land and water on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, with approximately 19.6 million acres (8 million ha) on federal land. The Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers have formed one of the world’s largest river deltas. This generally flat marshland, characterized by countless lakes and ponds, is the refuge’s dominant landform. Water played a crucial role in creating this landscape and remains a significant feature today. The abundance of water in lakes, ponds, streams, inlets, bays, and coastal areas provides habitat for waterfowl from all four North American flyways. The rivers support major salmon migrations, and the refuge includes habitats for various mammals, fish, and birds, which are vital for maintaining the traditional subsistence lifestyle of local residents. In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt set aside lands here as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds. In 1929, Nunivak Island was established as a refuge and breeding ground for wild birds, game, and fur-bearing animals. In 1930, the small islands and all lands under the waters surrounding Nunivak Island were added to the refuge. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reserved additional lands by establishing the Hazen Bay Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. In 1960, the Kuskokwim National Wildlife Range was created and enlarged in 1961, becoming the Clarence Rhode National Wildlife Range. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which established the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge by combining the existing ranges and refuges. Read more here and here. Explore more of Alakanuk and Yukon River Delta here: