Kuskokwim River

An ice jam below Aniak has inundated low-lying areas in the community and could cause further issues as the breakup front works its way towards Kalskag. But National Weather Service Hydrologist Johnse Ostman said he's optimistic about a lower river that is "thermally mushing out and degrading."

For many on the Y-K Delta, the breakup of the Kuskokwim River is the official indicator of spring. Waiting for breakup is a collective experience, as is the community's annual game of guessing exactly when that will happen.

The River Watch team will be back in full force this year, working directly with communities on the Yukon and Kuskokwim and closely monitoring impacts as the ice goes out after a historically cold winter.

The Native Village of Napaimute ice road crew announced that beginning Friday April 10, they will no longer be maintaining the Kuskokwim Ice road for the 2026 season.

Higher than normal snowpack and ice thickness, among other factors, have created heightened risks in 2026 for much of the Yukon River, the Tanana River, and the lower Kuskokwim River, according to the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center.

The funds come after the U.S. Secretary of Commerce declared a disaster for the 2021 subsistence fishery and set aside roughly $570,000. Eligible households are those whose ability to access subsistence salmon from the Kuskokwim River drainage was impacted as a direct or indirect result of the fishery disaster.

Following a request from the state and the transfer of a surplus grader, crews were able to plow the road roughly 40 miles beyond its normal southernmost point to reach Tuntutuliak for the first time since 2020.

Changes to federal subsistence management are still possible through a newly started regulation review process.

Amid ongoing legal battles and opposition among tribes in the region, Donlin Gold's general manager, Todd Dahlman, offered a bold timeline for potential completion of the proposed massive open-pit mine.

Early season truck trails are being used on the lower Kuskokwim River, though they are not the official Kuskokwim Ice Road.