• Overview
• Development
• Commentary
• Cultural and Wildlife Resources

CULTURAL AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

The cultural and wildlife resources of the Region are the basis of its future.

A 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. This dependency on resources remains the number one social and economic priority for the people of the Region.

The unique, natural character of the Delta Region have led 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 area in 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 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 a 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 white-fronted 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. To the east the coastal plain gives way to rolling uplands, steep mountains and boreal forests of spruce and 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.

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 mainland.

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 close to subsistence sites, particularly summer fishcamp sites.

Summer subsistence fishing activities provide a substantial portion of the 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 has priority before commercial harvests to allow villagers the opportunity to fill their drying racks and smokehouses to prepare food for the year.

In late summer, many families travel throughout the delta in search of plentiful salmonberries, blackberries, blueberries, low-bush cranberries and tundra greens. In the fall, at least one or two family members will hunt for moose, caribou, ducks and geese. These trips may include other small game, and on occasion black or brown bears are harvested by local hunters. Throughout the winter, villagers will ice fish with jigging sticks or nets for whitefish, burbot and pike, and will set traps for small blackfish. On the coast, hunters 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, and the men will usually enjoy a brief commercial herring opener that provides cash income. In summer, these men will fish with longlines for halibut, cod or other bottom fish to store food for the year.

There are 47 primarily-inhabited village communities, although there are 56 recognized tribal communities in the Region. 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 be influenced by this way of life. It is a year-round activity with methods changing 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, and confirms the continuity of the relationship between the indigenous people of the Region and the natural world upon which their traditional way of life is built.