The Magic of the Yukon River Delta

​By Alyssa Burns

​Every time I travel to Alakanuk, I’m reminded how fortunate we are that our fieldwork allows us to visit such a special and unique place – one that many do not get the opportunity to experience. We are truly given a gift, not just for the ability to work in a location where we can conduct impactful research on the frontlines of the climate crisis, but also where we can engage and interact authentically with Yup’ik people and culture. Even though we spend a short period of time in Alakanuk and the lower Yukon, it is life-changing. In an effort to share even a sliver of that experience, I will do my best to detail some of the magic we (Sasha Wagner, Maddy Miller, Alexis Slentz, Harrison Smith, and I) encountered on our last sampling trip to the Yukon River Delta.
 
One of the benefits of sampling during the spring freshet is that we witness the transition from winter to spring. The air temperature gradually increased. Ice-covered rivers and lakes thawed. Landfast ice slowly broke away from the shore. Bare trees started to grow leaves and buds. Moose shed their winter coats. Birds started laying their eggs. And the people of Alakanuk were excitedly moving boats into the river in preparation for spring and summer subsistence activities.

​Our first day on the water was the coldest day of all, but a definite highlight of the trip. We traveled to Three Finger Lake, a site that has been of interest during previous trips but was of particular importance during this trip as it was impacted by wildfires in the summer of 2022. While our project aims always include understanding how terrestrial sources and off-channel storage impact carbon cycling within the delta, there was now an added goal of quantifying black carbon export from the nearby (and another) massive wildfire within the delta. To accomplish those goals, we sampled surface water sites in and around Three Finger Lake as well as terrestrial sources (i.e. charred plants, soils, etc.) on the burned tundra. As a bonus, Augusta Edmund (one of our local partners) gave us some homemade akutaq that made a great tundra snack!

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