Toksook Bay is a Yup’ik speaking community located on Nelson Island in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, approximately 112 miles (181 km) west-southwest of Bethel and 13.5 miles (22 km) west-northwest of Nightmute, Alaska. Nelson Island was named in 1880 by Henry Gannett after Edward William Nelson, who spent about five years in the area as an observer for the U.S. Signal Service and as a collector for the Smithsonian Institution. The island is separated from the Alaska mainland to the north by the Ningaluk River and to the east by the Kolavinarak River. It is separated from Nunivak Island to the southwest by Etolin Strait.

The village was established in 1964 when most of Nightmute’s population relocated there. Nearly all residents are members of the Alaska Native Nunakauyarmiut (or “People of Nunakauyaq”), who primarily follow a traditional diet involving fishing and hunting musk ox and caribou. The community was selected as the site of the first enumeration for the 2020 U.S. Census due to its extreme remoteness and the need to collect census data before residents disperse to seasonal fish camps.

Nelson Island hosts four villages, including Umkumiut, located 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Toksook Bay. Tununak lies on the northwest coast, Nightmute near the eastern edge, and Mertarvik on the northern shore. In winter, snowmobile trails connect these communities. Over 77% of the island remains unpopulated. The village of Newtok, situated on the mainland across the Ningaluk River to the north, is relocating to Mertarvik due to severe riverbank erosion at its current site. Read more here and here. Explore more of Toksook Bay and Nelson Island here: