Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is one of the biggest river deltas in the world, roughly the size of Oregon. It is located where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers empty into the Bering Sea on the west coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. The delta, which mostly consists of tundra, is protected as part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

The delta has approximately 20,000 residents. 85% of these are Alaska Natives, both Yupik Eskimos and Athabaskan Indians. The main population center and service hub is the city of Bethel, with a population of around 6,000, and there are approximately 55 villages of up to 850 people. Most residents live a traditional subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and gathering, and over 30 percent have cash incomes well below the federal poverty threshold.

The area has virtually no roads; travel is by Bush plane, or by river boats in summer and snowmachines in winter.

References

*cite web | url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16643 | title=Yukon River Delta, Alaska | publisher=NASA Earth Observatory | accessdate=2006-05-23