Geography of Akiak

Akiak is located on the 61st North parallel and the 161st West meridian. It is in Southwest Alaska, near the Kuskokwim River. Akiak is 42 miles upriver from Bethel, on the lowlands of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The Kilbuk and Kuskokwim Mountains are about 40 miles south of Akiak. Akiak climate is a mixture of wet and dry polar and a wet and dry mid-latitude. On the tundra there are no trees, but there are mosses, lichens, and dwarf woody plants. The tundra has continous grasscover except along the streams. Trees line the rivers and creeks: cotton wood, black spruce, and birch. You can tell the season by the colors you see. The tundra is green and brown in the summer. The berry plants and leaves turn red and yellow in the fall. During winter time, everything is covered by the white snow. Spring time is muddy brown and dead, yellow grass.

Yup'ik people live here in Akiak. The population of Akiak is approximately 350. In 1880, the population of Akiak was 175. The people in Akiak speak in Yup'ik and English. The main religions in Akiak are Moravian and Russian Orthadox. People in Akiak depend on subsistence. This means that they go fishing and hunting for their food. When the men go hunting they can catch bears, caribou, moose, geese, ducks, ptarmigan, grouse, and porcupine. Some people trap animals like rabbits, beaver, otter, mink, wolf, wolverine, and muskrat. We use the fur from these animals for things like fur hats, mittens, parkas, headresses, hairpins, and "kamaksuks" or boots. Porcupine quills are used sometimes for jewelry. We catch king salmon, pike, white fish, black fish, lush, chum salmon, silver salmon, and smelts. The boys catch the blackfish in traps made from willows or from wire mesh. The men set nets and big traps under the ice to catch fish in the winter. During the summer, the women help cut and dry the fish at fishcamp. Some families also commercial fish for the silver and chum salmon that come up the Kuskokwim to spawn. They depend on this income for the winter.

When people travel they use snowmachine, boats, planes, and hovercraft. During the winter we use trucks, cars and snowmachines to travel on the river ice. During the summer we use boats and the hovercraft to travel on the river. People can travel from place to place by bush plane if they want to get there faster. Food and other supplies come into Akiak by plane or hovercraft from Bethel or Anchorage. Fuel and building materials are brought to Akiak by barges.

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