| Summary: | Many rural Alaskan residents rely on harvested driftwood from the Yukon River for fuel and construction materials, however they have stated that the character of the summer discharge in the Yukon River is changing and affecting their ability to harvest this resource. We examined whether the perceived changes in driftwood availability are related to changes in river hydrology and how changes in hydrology may affect future driftwood flows and the livelihoods of rural Alaskans. The Yukon River flows northwesterly through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory before flowing southwest through Alaska. In most summers, major driftwood flows occur in the Yukon River during two different periods. Typically, driftwood accompanies high flows on the Yukon River associated with spring break?up. A few weeks later, a second series of driftwood appears, associated with the “June rise,” which is reported to occur during early June, which is when the rural residents of Tanana, Alaska plan to harvest their annual supply of driftwood. This study examined the nature of the differential timing of high flow events in the Yukon River. Increasingly, villages in rural Alaska are trying to lessen their dependence upon expensive fossil fuels. To achieve this goal, a number of Alaskan villages have recently installed wood chip?fired boilers to generate heat and/or electricity and additional boilers are slated to be installed in rural Alaska in the near future. These boilers are largely fed by driftwood, a cheap and easily processed wood source. Some Tanana residents have expressed concern that in recent years, driftwood was not readily available because the June rise flood event was absent. Rural Alaskans find this disconcerting because they have offset a dependence on fossil fuel use for heat and electricity with an increased reliance on wood. In our study, the local knowledge of rural Alaskans was used in conjunction with the historic hydrology to model the historic driftwood harvest from the Yukon River near Tanana. The model allowed us to explore how various hydrologic scenarios might influence the lives of rural Alaskans. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Has there been corresponding changes in hydrology to reported observations by Tanana residents? Has the driftwood harvest potential been affected by changes in river hydrology? How might the driftwood harvest be affected by future changes in river hydrology?
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