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Upper Kuskokwim River Breaking Up Near Nikolai

The rotting Kuskokwim River at Crooked Creek on April 24, 2018.
Mark Leary
/
Native Village of Napaimute

Breakup has begun on the Upper Kuskokwim, and the rest of the river is expected to follow soon. Rain and warming temperatures are rapidly weakening the ice, and Search and Rescue groups are issuing travel warnings urging people to stay off the river.

In the upper part of the Kuskokwim, near the community of Nikolai, Dan Esai can hear a grinding beneath the ice. It’s beginning to move.

“It seems like it was melting kind of fast compared to years before,” he said.

Esai predicts high water will follow. There’s more snow in the upper river than he’s seen in years, and all that snow will be adding to the river's flow.

“I can see at the base of the trees it’s starting to melt,” Esai said.

In the middle part of the Kuskokwim, by Kasigluk, the ice is rotting fast. Kasigluk Search and Rescue President Wilson Twitchell expects the rain to accelerate that rot. He is asking all travelers to stay off the river until boating begins.

“The middle of the river is all pretty much brown ice," Twitchell said, "and this morning, what the trail was last night is not a trail anymore.”

Despite unsafe conditions, snowmachiners are continuing to cross the mile-wide section of river separating Old Kasigluk from New Kasigluk. The new side holds the community’s amenities and jobs, like the post office, store, runway, and offices. It’s difficult to keep people away.

Twitchell advises that if people must travel, they tell someone where they’re going and when they should arrive before setting out. It only takes a few seconds.

“I know one mile is a short distance," he said, "but a lot can happen, especially with the rotten ice.”

Further downriver, Mark Leary of Napaimute flew the Kuskokwim River from Bethel upstream to Napaimute on Monday. The river ice between Bethel and Tuluksak was much more deteriorated, with more water along the sides, than the ice from Tuluksak to Napaimute.

Leary calls this situation “surprising” and “the world upside down.” Usually break-up starts in the headwaters and moves downriver.

This week, Bethel Search and Rescue issued a travel warning, urging everyone to stay off the Lower Kuskokwim River. Open holes have appeared near Tuluksak and Kwethluk and the ice has significantly darkened, indicating weak needle ice.

Anna Rose MacArthur served as KYUK's News Director from 2015-2022.