Red Dog is a major zinc producer sitting in the Wulik's upper watershed, which is why water quality here is monitored as closely as it is.
Read itAbove: the concentrate conveyor at the coast, the far end of the operation this piece is about
And the roll behind them
Dolly Varden feed at sea and come back to a handful of spring-fed reaches to survive the winter. The harvest, and most of the year, is organised around where they are.
A char that has to come back to fresh water to survive winterPhoto: Dolly Varden trout · Wikimedia Commons
The fish decide the year's shapeSubsistence harvest is organised around when the char are where, and that timing is the practical calendar of the region.
Salmon are here too, and further north each decadeChum salmon use the same systems and their northern distribution has been shifting, which is documented rather than anecdotal.A river clear enough to see the bottom of is a legal instrument here: it is the baseline every permit argues against.
Kivalina sits at the mouth. Red Dog sits at the head. The road between them is the only overland link either has.
Geometry: project map kit
The relocation studies, and the decades they cover. The island has been narrowing for decades and the record of what to do about it is now longer than most of the buildings on it.
The Kivalina marker on the map, from the air: lagoon on the left, the Chukchi on the right, the airstrip running the length of the spit. Everything in this section happens on that strip of gravel.
Photo: Kivalina Alaska aerial view · Wikimedia Commons
