For Yukon River residents, salmon shortages have health consequences

By: Yereth Rosen

Outlets: Alaska Beacon

Published: July 23, 2026

Words: 1,519

Last Updated: 4 weeks ago

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When 26-year-old Tirzah Bryant was a kid, she knew how to watch the cottonwood trees along the Yukon River for the sign that it was time to fish for salmon.

“We know that the fish are coming when the cotton’s flying from the cottonwood,” she said.

But run collapses and successive fishing closures along the river have rendered the cottonwood signal meaningless.

“I remember that first summer that we couldn’t fish, watching the cotton …

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