Native Residents Stunned As Kuskokwim Breakup Moves Backwards; Elders Have Never Seen This Before
The Kuskokwim River serves as the main transportation route for the Yup’ik living along it. People use it to reach other villages and gather their food. So predicting its behavior is an essential part of survival.
Atmautluak elder Henry Tikiun says this break-up was unlike any he’s ever seen. “They said the weather would change with the people, I never thought I’d ever reach this in my lifetime,” Tikiun said. Originally from Bethel, Tikiun recounts his childhood memories when seasons were more predictable. “In my first memories in Bethel, upriver areas like McGrath and Aniak would always break up first,” Tikiun said. “After that, downriver would break up even though it’s closer to the ocean.”
Tikiun says the ice would be much thicker in those days. Breakup would be signaled by loud rumbling from the river caused by ice grinding and breaking against each other. He says the climate is changing because of the way people treat the land. “All of us just the same are polluting our land with no respect,” he said. Tikiun points to trashed fuel drums along riverbanks as just one of numerous examples.
At the mouth of the Kuskokwim, Tuntutuliak elder and pilot James Charles says the early downriver break-up is attributed to the lack of snow and thin ice.
EDIT
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2014/05/13/kuskokwim-elders-react-to-this-years-breakup/
= new reply since forum marked as read
I never thought I’d ever reach this in my lifetime,” Tikiun said.
"They" referring to ancestral wisdom, I'm guessing here. 
