A dramatic video circulating online shows Big Lake near Huslia eroding and draining into the Koyukuk River.
HUSLIA, Alaska - Dramatic video circulating online shows Big Lake near Huslia eroding and draining into the Koyukuk River . Lee DeWilde lives in Huslia and has seen the erosion of the landbank firsthand.
“It started draining out to the river across the tundra there, and it’s just been getting closer and all of a sudden, last couple days it just started rushing out,” DeWilde said.“It’s an area that we’ve grown up picking berries in, ice skating on the lake, walking around hunting in that lake, hunting ducks and stuff as kids,” DeWilde recounted.With the water coming through in full force, the speed of erosion is likely to increase, exacerbating the changing of the land, something DeWilde says could’ve been prevented. ”If we had dammed it, would have stopped this. It would have given us, you know, maybe 10 years or so before the lake drained like it is now,” DeWilde said.”The seasons are not predictable anymore. We’ve had extremely high waters this fall, the seasons are not the same. We had higher water this fall than we had in the springtime during breakup, and it’s been that way for most of the last several years,” DeWilde explained.Concerns for the town of Huslia lie on the horizon as water contacts the permafrost layer near the town. ”My major concern is that as that permafrost melts and as it erodes more of that away, it’ll speed up, which will have a pretty big impact on a new part of town, the side of town that was near Big Lake, instead of just the side of town that’s along the river,” science teacher at Jimmy Huntington School, Steven Swatling, explained. All the residents of Alaska can do is wait to see how the draining of Big Lake will affect Huslia and the sand dune it sits atop. ”We’ve tried things; they tried sandbags many years ago, but rivers are way too powerful and unpredictable,” Swatling said.High school football player proposes to girlfriend on field after Senior Day win2025 Alaska high school football playoff brackets finalizedFairbanks elections: Mindy O’Neall challenges incumbent David Pruhs for city mayor
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