Coming into Quinhagak

Multimedia Journalism by Robert Lundahl | Nature and Technology Part 1. ©Copyright 2020 Agence RLA, LLC

The Cessna Caravan banked out of the clouds and Howard Sprouse gazed down at the enormous landscape stretched beneath him.

Where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers empty into the Bering Sea on Alaska's West Coast, the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta drains an enormous land mass of over 850,000 square kilometers, from over its 2000 mile length. At approximately 129,500 square kilometers (50,000 sq mi) in size, the delta itself is one of the largest in the world.

Floating islands of vegetation stood apart from his expectations. Hard to discern from the air, it was unclear to him if this unusual spectacle was due to bogs of what's called Palsa, a lasagna of peat, permafrost and related vegetation come downstream, or algae. Alaska rivers normally frozen, now become ice free months earlier. The high water at the confluence of rivers seemed to struggle to emancipate itself into the sea. 

Photos: Sprouse

Howard had been a fish hauler, cannery worker, and commercial fisherman. He had been coming to this part of Alaska since the late 1970's. But this last year was different. Howard squinted intensely as an Alaska he had never before seen rolled out beneath him.

Photos: Sprouse

Howard is a Mycologist and an Engineer. He has come to Alaska to pioneer bio–remediation strategies using Poplar cuttings and Mushrooms (Fungal Microbes) to accumulate hydrocarbons and break them down, mitigating oil spills located at two Yup'ik villages along the Bering Sea.

Howard Sprouse in Washington State.

Melting permafrost is damaging infrastructure like roads and buildings by causing shifts and changes in soil not expected when construction occured.

As permafrost melts, the ground sags and liquifies. Across Alaska, oil pipelines, drilling pads and other structures need to be shored up. In some towns and villages changes in permafrost pose a huge problem for homeowners, who must level their foundations.

In Quinhagak, warming temperatures not only have caused oil tanks to break and leak,

they also helped expose an ancient village.

As a result, the Nunalleq Culture and Archeology Center has opened in Quinhagak.

"It is home to over 60,000 artifacts, the largest collection of pre-contact Yup’ik artifacts in the world.

Its opening was the culmination of nine years of back-breaking work, and the result of a unique partnership between Quinhagak’s village corporation and archeologists."

–Alaska Public Media Listen now

“I almost broke down,”

Warren Jones said when asked about the museum opening.

The CEO of Quinhagak’s Qanirtuuq Corporation, this project was in many ways his idea."