Posts Near Bethel Map Timeline

Bethel, Alaska, experienced historically low July temperatures with highs in the 40s, a rare event not seen since 1971, due to an unusual cold air outbreak from the Arctic.

Bethel Search and Rescue advises against travel on the Kuskokwim River due to dangerous conditions of open water and thin ice identified in their annual aerial survey.

Amid severely restricted fishing on the Kuskokwim River, one bright spot has been abundant sockeye salmon runs at 30,000 fish daily near Bethel.

Chinook (king) and chum are the major salmon species on the Yukon and Kuskokwim. They’ve been at historically low numbers in both rivers for years. The coho (silver) returns have also dropped.This will be the fourth year subsistence fishing has been closed or severely restricted on both rivers. The region is bracing for another dismal subsistence harvest.

A study by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp and the CDC found that COVID vaccination was 92% effective in preventing hospitalizations and extremely effective at preventing symptomatic cases among the mostly Yupik residents of the region, with booster shots restoring protection against symptomatic cases.

The spiders are usually in multiple form in most areas, but it has not been witnessed in this form. This is described as a spider "ballooning" event, the term used when spiders launch themselves in to the air. These events might be happening more frequently as warming Arctic temperatures has been associated with increases in the population of some spider species such as the wolf spider (see Spider Baby Boom in Warming Arctic), and spiders moving further north and also having more then one hatch per season.

Biologists do not expect either to reach their goals for fish reaching their spawning grounds.

The booming Bristol Bay salmon run has broken the record set just last year, while on the Yukon River, Chinook are too scarce to harvest.

As chum and chinook salmon numbers dwindle in Western Alaska, salmon bycatch in the pollock industry was a main concern addressed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, or NPFMC, from Jun…

The vast majority of callers at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting last week called for a reduction in bycatch limits, which they said would help reverse a dramatic trend of salmon declines on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.

In an unusual event, a pair of beluga whales swam about 60 miles up the Kuskokwim River to Bethel. After word got out, boaters pursued the belugas and took at least one of them. Now, an official is working to collect samples of the animal to better understand where it came from.

Air tankers and smokejumpers responded to the fire, which the division said Thursday is no longer a threat.The tanker dumped retardant to help contain the fire, which had spread south, scorching about five acres of tundra. Much of Southwest and Southcentral Alaska is under a red flag warning because of hot, dry and windy conditions.

Less snow than usual fell in the area this winter. It melted early, exposing the tundra. A steady wind has dried the vegetation, and hardly any precipitation has fallen since early March. Thoman said that with no rain and abundant sunshine, the tundra has remained brown and dry. The fire still is not threatening the community of Kwethluk or any Native allotments.

On Dec. 8 and 9, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young held a Zoom meeting between salmon researchers, tribes, and managers. Their goal was to unite these groups’ efforts to determine the cause of the ongoing Chinook declines and the sudden chum crash in Western Alaska. After two days of meetings, the groups are still at odds over what’s causing the declines, and what the best way to move forward is.

A decades-long decline in salmon in the Yukon River has reached a crisis this year, forcing harvest closures and prompting emergency shipments of salmon from other regions of Alaska to river residents who are otherwise facing food shortages.

The village is losing ground three times faster than it was 10 years ago, according to studies of Napakiak’s erosion. During high tide, the river is only 64 feet from the high-schoolers’ original classroom and gets closer by the day. On windy days, waves crash against the shore where students used to play, battering it until the land relents and crumbles.

Chum returns are the lowest on record, leaving communities with empty freezers and uncertainty about getting through the winter.

The Kuskokwim River king salmon run does not look particularly strong this year, but chum numbers look even worse. Historically, around 60% of the salmon in the river at this point in the season would be chum or sockeye, but right now Bethel Test Fishery numbers show that just over 20% of the salmon are.

The Alaska Division of Forestry deployed 12 smokejumpers on an estimated 100-acre wildfire burning near the village of Akiachak in southwest Alaska Tuesday afternoon to protect a fish camp and Native allotments surrounding the fire.

Heavy snowfall has made maintaining the lower Kuskokwim Ice Road a challenge this year. The road is shorter than usual, even as its crew is working harder.

The weather may be cold, but it’s too soon to get out on the river ice. The ice is forming up better than it did two years ago, when the winter was the warmest on record, but it is not freezing as fast or as well as last winter, when conditions were near-perfect.

Usually Aug. 7 is the midpoint of the coho run, but this year it was not until Aug. 8 that numbers at the Bethel test fishery increased, and then only modestly.

While many communities along the Kuskokwim River escaped major flooding, one small village is still seeing high water.

Most Kuskokwim River communities have escaped heavy flooding so far, but not Kwethluk. Social media photos show water rising high and completely covering

Break up continues on the Kuskokwim River. Napaskiak resident and river observer Earl Samuelson has been tracking the ice and water levels on the Kuskokwim

An ice jam is holding downstream of Napaimute, flooding the seasonal village. At Aniak, the ice is shifting, according to Aniak resident Dave Cannon.

Midnight on Dec. 31 brings the close of 2019 and also the close of the hunting season for Mulchatna Caribou on federal lands. The federal season,

Poor trail conditions have pushed the Kuskokwim 300 Season Opener race back another week.

Travelers need to stay off Straight Slough, which flows into the main Kuskokwim River near Bethel.

The school district plans to transport fuel from a group of 10 tanks into three new tanks expected to be placed in the Napakiak school parking lot further inland.

Storms tore more land away from Napakiak’s already heavily eroded riverbank in early August. About eight feet of bank fell into the Kuskokwim River, adding to the more than 100 feet of shoreline that has already been lost this year.

An “atmospheric river" is what it sounds like - a channel of very moist air coursing across the globe, up in the air. And it’s what’s been drenching parts of Alaska, including the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Winds gusted up to 46 mph and about 2.4 inches of rain fell from Friday to Sunday.

Nine short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris) were seen floating in the Kuskokwim river, directly in front of Bethel. The birds were acting disoriented and farther up the Kuskokwim than normal.

As record high temperatures swept Alaska, many people said that the heat was killing them. For Kuskokwim salmon, it was actually true.

Subsistence families along the Kuskokwim River are cutting open fish to find white balls or white streaks deforming the meat.

AKIAK, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska community with a rapidly eroding riverbank is seeking funding to relocate homes, officials said. Money is available, but Akiak officials will have to go...

Akiak City Administrator David Gilila says the village is in danger of becoming an island in the Kuskokwim River.

Above average snowfall at the headwaters of the Kuskokwim, and early break up, led to higher than average river flows past Aniak. The river banks are eroding, threatening community infrastructure.

Napakiak doesn’t have a boat landing anymore. Storms over the past week ate huge chunks from the Kuskokwim riverbank close to the city school and fuel

The tragedy came after several days of dire warnings about the dangers of river travel due to an unusually early warm-up. Search and rescuers crawled onto weak ice, open water all around, to help retrieve the survivors.

Two four-wheelers carrying five men leaving Bethel broke through needle ice on the upper end of Church Slough on Sunday night. Two of the men died, while three others were treated for hypothermia in Bethel.

Late freeze on the Lower Kuskokwim produced ice conditions unsafe for travel in November.

Drivers need to stick to marked trails on the Lower Kuskokwim River, according to the latest update from Bethel Search and Rescue’s Earl Samuelson. There is a spot in front of Oscarville that has only 9 inches of ice, which Samuelson says is too thin to drive a truck on.

As fishing restrictions push salmon harvests on the Kuskokwim River later into the wet part of summer, families are seeking new ways to dry their fish and keep bugs away.

Unusually colored caterpillar in area identified as Bedstraw Hawkmoth (Hyles gallii)

Starting Thursday, the Department of Transportation will begin repairing Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway. The warm winter has wreaked similar havoc on highways across Alaska.

Four teams had scratched as of 7 p.m. Saturday because of the icy conditions, said Kuskokwim 300 race director Madelene Reichard. "It's the same thing for all of them," Reichard said. "The dogs aren't used to running on the ice, and people were wanting to keep their dogs healthy."

For the first time, the race will run two laps to its halfway point and back. Mushers agree it’s the safest way to run the race, but it could present challenges.

How will climate change affect health in Alaska? Dangerous travel conditions could cause more accidents, warmer temperatures could spread new diseases and the topsy-turvy weather could worsen mental health. Those are some conclusions from a new state report released Monday. Listen now

The warm winter has made traveling on the river ice more hazardous than Bethel Search and Rescue ever remembers.

Sled dog racing season officially began on the Kuskokwim this weekend. Listen now

A father’s body has been recovered from the Kuskokwim River after he and his family fell through a marked, open hole the night of New Year’s Eve. Bethel

Melting permafrost and major storms are eating away at the coastal Alaskan village of Newtok. Residents are desperate to move, but the U.S. has no climate change policy that could help them.

In villages like Kongiganak, communities have stopped burying their dead because, as the permafrost melts, the oldest part of their cemetery is sinking.

The ice highway that residents are used to driving this time of year has yet to fully freeze. Bethel Search and Rescue calls the number of open holes on

Smart started finding dead fish in his trap near Dull Lake about two or three weeks ago. Now there are hundreds and hundreds of them.Some local officials suspect water pollution killed the fish, but state officials offered an alternative explanation. According to the Fish and Game representative a local fisherman forgot to check a blackfish trap and may have dumped the dead fish in Dull Lake.

Some local officials suspect water pollution killed the fish, but state officials offered an alternative explanation.

Climate change may be responsible for pushing Alaska’s Gray Whales up into estuaries and rivers like the Kuskokwim.

Climate change may be responsible for pushing Alaska’s Gray Whales up into estuaries and rivers like the Kuskokwim.

In Southwest Alaska, a tired crew of volunteers on Saturday night, dragged a large whale’s carcass onto shore near Napaskiak’s airport. The whale was grey, bloody and barnacled, and the men who set to work butchering it said it was at least 37-feet long. Residents are still distributing its blubber and meat, saying it will feed families throughout the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta for months.

Residents who have long depended on chinook salmon to fill drying racks and smokehouses are worried about their food for next winter.

Unknown species of green algae in a lake near Kongiganak.

Blooming Raspberry plants

The start of January 2016 felt like it was early springtime.

Ayaprun School Fire

1-9-15 Record high temperatures - Bethel, Alaska, USA

A rare winter robin has been spotted in Bethel and it has folks wondering what exactly it means. Locals and a biologist say they think it has to do with climate change.

Fish had a brownish moldy growth all over its body.

4-25-14 Rare brown bear visit - Bethel, Alaska, USA

4-13-14 River ice treacherous - Bethel, Alaska, USA

2-20-14 Very little snow - Bethel, Alaska, USA

1-24-14 Winter plants blooming - Bethel, Alaska, USA

6-19-13 Extreme temperature Bethel, Alaska, USA

Salmon runs in Alaska's Kuskokwim River show some improvement compared to last year, but overall numbers remain low, with chum and coho salmon still below long-term averages, while Chinook salmon meet escapement goals through precautionary management and sacrifices by subsistence users.

Commercial fishing openers are only available to individuals registered as catcher/sellers. On the Kuskokwim, the only one registered is Fran Reich.

On the Yukon River, subsistence salmon fishing is being closed to protect king salmon as they migrate upriver.

Rep. Mary Peltola discusses the challenges facing Alaska's fisheries, including declining salmon populations and the impact on subsistence and commercial fishing, during her visit to Bethel for the Cama-i Dance Festival.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy lauded the partnerships with Alaska businesses and “tremendous team effort to get salmon into the hands of our fellow Alaskans in need."

News of avian flu outbreaks in dozens of states in the lower 48 have wildlife managers and bird hunters on edge as the spring migration gets underway in Alaska.

The Kuskokwim River breakup has led to widespread flooding, affecting roads and drinking water in several communities, with Kwethluk experiencing significant impacts.

Permafrost Pathways started two years ago with the goal of mapping the permafrost thaw and putting that data into the hands of the communities themselves. As human-caused climate change continues to warm the region and the permafrost melts more and more, the project is expanding.

Biologists want to know why there are so many moose. It may have a lot to do with shrubs — moose feast on their leaves during the spring and summer. These short woody plants are spreading west, aided by climate change, and moose populations are expanding along with them.

Fall moose hunts are beginning across Alaska. In western parts of the state, biologists hope that hunting pressure will help protect the health of booming populations. They also want to know why there are so many moose in the first place. It may have a lot to do with shrubs — particularly scrubby willows shooting up at the edges of open tundra. Moose feast on their leaves during the spring and summer. These short woody plants are spreading west, aided by climate change, and moose populations are expanding along with them.

Melting permafrost in Nunapitchuk is causing severe structural damage to homes, leading to erosion, instability, and health issues for residents.

Some people in Bethel have called this the dreariest, wettest summer of their lives, and they're right. Last month was the wettest July in Bethel in over

Kuskokwim River chum salmon numbers remain off-the-charts low. However, sockeyes are still coming in strong. Meanwhile, the summer rain has not been

Amid the highest water levels seen since 2005, the city urges residents to be prepared for things to get worse.