Nunivak Island is home to one of the Earth’s most peculiar creatures, which seems to have stepped into the present straight from the Ice Age. The musk ox, known as oomingmak to the Yupik, was indigenous to this region, but was overharvested in the late 1800's. In 1935, musk oxen from Greenland were reintroduced to the island, where a herd of approximately 500 still roams. Today, descendants of the Nunivak Island herd live at the Musk Ox Farm, near Palmer in Southcentral Alaska. This herd is managed for the harvest of the musk ox’s undercoat, known as qiviut. The fiber is processed much like cashmere, spun, then woven into incredibly soft and exceptionally warm scarves, smoke rings, hats, and other garments. Each design is unique to the village where it is woven. This endeavor is an important economic development initiative for this region, whose residents maintain a subsistence culture. It has also helped to preserve and pass down from one generation to the next the traditional ways of the residents.

Mekoryuk, with a population of 204, is the only inhabited village on Nunivak Island. Its “backyard” is part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to the reindeer and musk ox that inhabit the island, name your favorite migratory bird and you are likely to see it near Mekoryuk or elsewhere on the island.