Humpback Whitefish Coregonus pidschian is an important subsistence fishery resource for local communities within the upper Tanana River drainage. Community members have expressed concerns to Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) staff on perceived declines in size and abundance of Humpback...
In 2004 a large permafrost thaw slump began emitting substantial volumes of fine sediment into the Selawik River upstream from the Inconnu Stenodus leucichthys spawning area. Following this event, the once clear-flowing river ran turbid for about nine summers before the thaw slump stabilized and...
Left to their own devices, rivers change constantly. Snaking side-to-side across floodplains over ages, they eat the land away and deposit it elsewhere. Both beavers and fish are all too familiar with their fickleness and power.
Some will eat, some will spawn, many will die. So long as the perennial springs in Arctic Refuge keep flowing and the sea keeps giving and taking, this cycle will continue as it has for thousands of years.