Communities along the lower Kuskokwim River and coastal areas in Western Alaska assess damage from recent storms, with flooding and erosion impacting homes and infrastructure, and a new storm potentially exacerbating conditions.

Sand dunes disappear with more frequent and powerful storms in Western Alaska. These storms have impacted bird nesting grounds and tundra plants.

The remnants of Typhoon Merbok not only battered Alaska’s west coast in September, the storm also left behind a few treasures in its wake.

During a community meeting, Chevak residents said better emergency planning should be a long-term priority. For now, though, assessing damage is the focus.

The storm could have threatened the town’s winter subsistence stock if not for the work of local power plant operators.

Nobody I have asked has seen any plant like this. I touched it soon after the picture and it turned into a maroon colored powder.

This video shot on Thursday May 19th, shows the erratic circling behavior of a Canada goose. Although the cause is unknown, this type of behavior is according to USGS, "highly suggestive" of an infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

There is usually an abundance of this fish in the fall and early winter season. This is a usual harvest for most YK Delta coastal villages. Note: According to NOAA Bering Sea Bottom Trawl data, there has been an 88% decline reported in the biomass of saffron cod from 2020 to 2021 in the N. Bering Sea.

“The ice was so thick flowing down the river. It was forming so fast. It was freezing so fast. Just amazing. I’d never seen anything like that," one of the hunters, Rex Nick, said.

A tumor is present on the lower jaw of the sheefish (Stenodus leucichthys).

Fish caught while ice fishing has black patches on skin. Appears to be the same black fungal syndrome previously reported in Kipnuk.

Almost 20 percent of residents in one town have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Permafrost is becoming exposed in Western Alaska, in areas where the landscape transitions to tundra.

Rusty tussock caterpillars can cause skin irritation for people when handled individually, and are responsible to large defoliation events when populations are high.

Permafrost thaw is causing tundra to sink and pool water.

The white spots found in the smelt appear to be tapeworm or nematode larvae. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend cooking fish at about 153 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes or freezing the fish at -4 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 days to kill the larvae before you eat the fish.

A big winter storm came in from the Bering Sea and battered the Western Alaska coast from the evening of Nov. 25 through Nov. 26. Some communities, like Hooper Bay, have reported flooding.

During the summer of 2019, warm water temperatures lowered the amount of dissolved oxygen in rivers and caused salmon across the state, including Mountain Village, to die before they were able to spawn.

Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) caught with a spinal curvature, which may be related to many different factors including genetics, infectious disease, trauma, neoplasm, diet, or changes in the environment.

Two sturgeon were caught in the Yukon River, farther upriver than has been previously reported.