Cultural and Wildlife Resources
The cultural and wildlife resources forms the basis for the future.
The subsistence way of life characterizes much of the cultural and economic activity of the indigenous Yup’ik, Cup’ik and Athabascan peoples of the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta Region. And it is this dependency on the resource that remains as the number one social and economic priority for the people of the region.
The unique natural character of the delta region lead to the formation of two national wildlife refuges, the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. About 75 percent of the total land mass on the Calista region is contained in these two refuges.
The Calista region is a large alluvial fan delta formed by material deposited by the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers and measures between 200 and 250 miles across. The sediment plume from the Yukon River alone extends 4,000 square miles out into the Bering Sea. The Calista Region is a vast tundra lowland dotted with thousands of lakes and ponds, meandering streams, sloughs, creeks and small rivers, broken occasionally by isolated volcanic peaks and hills. The region is dominated by the world’s largest coastal floodplain and contains much of the Bering Sea coastline.
The Calista region is one of the most productive wildlife areas in the United States. The abundance of water in the lakes, ponds, streams, inlets, bays and coastal areas provide critical habitat for waterfowl from all Northern American Flyways. Each year, several million ducks and geese depart from the delta flying southbound during the fall. The seasonal biomass of the region can equal the biomass densities of the great equatorial deltas of the world. The Calista coastal zone contains the greatest density and diversity of shorebirds using intertidal habitats in all of Alaska. This area is of greatest importance as it is home to all the Cackling Canada and Pacific Flyway whitefronted geese in the world. Nunivak Island also contains some of the most important and largest seabird rookeries in the world.
The Calista region extends beyond to the north where the Yukon flows against the Nulato hills. In the easternmost part of the region the coastal plain gives way to rolling hills and steep mountains and boreal forests of spruce-birch trees typical of interior Alaska. The Kuskokwim flows from interior Alaska, cutting through the Kuskokwim Mountains in a gorge 100 to 400 feet deep.
Offshore, Nunivak Island lies 25 miles across Etolin strait in the Bering Sea and contains several volcanic peaks with topography rising 1,600 feet. St. Matthews, Hall and Pinnacle Islands form the western extremity of the Calista region; these three islands rise out of the Bering Sea some 225 miles offshore from the delta.
Three climatic zones exist in the region: maritime along the coast and offshore islands; transitional throughout much of the delta; and interior along the upper Kuskokwim and upper Yukon Rivers. Villages are located primarily along waterways as to be close to subsistence sites, particularly summer fishcamps sites.
Summer subsistence fishing activities provide a substantial portion of the food and diet of the people in the region. King, chum, sockeye and coho salmon are caught with drift nets using small skiff boats. On both the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers subsistence fishing is provided as a priority first before commercial harvests to allow villagers the opportunity to fill their drying racks and smokehouses to prepare food for the year.
Later in the summer will find many families travelling throughout the delta in search of plentiful salmonberries, blackberries, blueberries, lowbush cranberries, and tundra greens. In the fall at least one or two family members, typically the male head of household and another male relative or two will go hunting for moose, caribou, ducks and geese. Often these trips may include other small game. On occasion black bears or brown bears are harvested as well by local hunters. Throughout winter months hunters will go out ice fishing with jigging sticks or nets for whitefish, burbot and pikefish; and set traps for small blackfish. On the coast, fishermen will venture out in the fall and spring for seals and walrus. Coastal village people will often catch herring with drift nets and dry them in the sun on racks. Their men will usually enjoy a brief commercial herring opener to provide cash income. Summers will find these men fishing with longlines for halibut, cod or other bottom fish to store food for the year.
There are primarily 47 inhabited village communities, although there are 56 recognized tribal communities in the region. As indicated above most of the people are dependent upon the resources found in the region. The majority of the people live within the boundaries of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The social and material culture of the indigenous Yup’ik, Cup’ik and Athabascan peoples is based upon the subsistence way of life and the traditions, customs and practices associated with the culture. Family patterns, age and sex roles, community organization, leadership and social life all continue to strongly to be influenced by this way of life. It is a year round activity with types and methods that changes throughout the year depending upon the type and abundance of resources of the season.
For the people of the Calista region, the subsistence way of life is as much a social and cultural value as an economic enterprise. Besides providing the necessities for the year it brings the families together, defines social relationships, it confirms the continuity in the relationship between the indigenous people of the region and their natural world upon which their traditional way of life is built.
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