"erosion"

Typically, when a contaminated site is discovered it’s up to the landowner — or the person responsible for making the mess — to clean it up. But there are dozens of sites where this process has broken down.

In Western Alaska, accelerating erosion is forcing villages like Quinhagak to consider moving.

The city’s administrator says that Akiak has seen erosion problems before, but nothing like this.

“We know that the berm isn’t the long-term solution,” said Scott Evans with the North Slope Borough. “But that’s what we have the ability to do right now. So that’s what we’re continuing to do because we know it’s slowing everything down.”

The oxbow bend in the river has been eroding for years, until floodwaters broke through the river bank.

The team can map the shoreline biology because the photographs are shot at an angle, which makes it easier to see cliffs and overhanging vegetation.

Dennis Davis using social media to share the footage he collects in an effort to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on Alaska’s Northwest coast.

Each year, coastal communities in Western Alaska watch feet – even yards – of shoreline disappear into the waves. Now, a new online mapping tool will let them look at past erosion and see where coastlines might be in future years.

Dog musher Mike Williams Sr. stepped outside his home Saturday evening to see his kennel falling into the Kuskokwim River and seven of his 60 sled dogs being pulled along with it.