Deering, AK

Deering is a small, close-knit Iñupiat village on Alaska's Seward Peninsula, sitting on a sandy spit where the Inmachuk River meets Kotzebue Sound. Because the community is off the road system, daily routines are closely tied to the Arctic seasons and coastal weather. First established in 1901 as a mining supply post, the town today is home to around 150 residents. Most daily activities revolve around the local school, health clinic, post office, and native store, with regular flights to the gravel airstrip connecting the village to Kotzebue.

ATTRSir Mildred Pierce from North Augusta, SC, USA / CC BY 2.0

Most local jobs are found with the school district, city and tribal offices, healthcare services, and retail. Traditional subsistence living remains central to family life here, with residents fishing for salmon, hunting moose and marine mammals, and gathering berries across the surrounding tundra. Getting around changes with the weather. Locals rely on boats and four-wheelers during the open-water summer months, then switch over to snowmachines once the river and tundra freeze into winter trails.