The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a United States national wildlife refuge covering about 19.16 million acres (77,500 km2) in southwestern Alaska and is administered from offices in Bethel, Alaska. It is the second-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, only slightly smaller than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge located in northeast Alaska (See insert map). These wetlands are a coastal plain extending to the Bering Sea, covering the expansive delta region created by both the Yukon and the Kuskokwim Rivers. The delta includes extensive near sea level wetlands that are often inundated by Bering Sea tides. It is bordered on the east by Wood-Tikchik State Park, which is the largest state park in the United States.

Also part of the wildlife refuge is the Andreafsky Wilderness, which is a wilderness area covering about 1,300,000 acres (2,046 square miles or 5,300 square kilometers) of the NWR. This wilderness area was designated by the United States Congress in 1980. Both the Andreafsky River and its East Fork, in the northern section of the NWR, flow southwest along parallel paths and then merge into the Yukon River.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was first to set aside parts of southwestern Alaska as refuge lands in 1909. Other lands were added through the years until December 2, 1980, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) into law, and which created the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Reserve by consolidating existing refuges and adding additional lands, including the large islands Nelson and Nunivak as part of the refuge.

The National Wildlife Refuge is home to some 35 villages of the indigenous people, which has a total population consisting of about 25,000 people. Most all of these people are indigenous peoples who are of Yup′ik and Cup′ik Aleut native American origin. This specific tribe of the Eskaluet family is from the Alutiiq language division.

Of all of the Esklauet tribes there are six language divisions. These Native Americans are all descendants of Sheleph who had six sons, which made their homeland in Alaska. Most of the descendants of Sheleph choose the Alaskan Peninsula to live, but some chose areas along the southwestern coast, north or the peninsula, and made their homeland in and around the area known today as the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

The Yup′ik live along the coast of the Bering Sea within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta areas, including the villiages on Nelson and Nunivak Islands.

The Yup′ik indigenous people are an Arctic people living primarily in western and southwestern Alaska, as well as parts of the Russian Far East. They are the most numerous Alaska Native group, with a population exceeding 24,000 in the Unite States and have deep historical roots tied to fishing, marine mammal hunting, and have developed a vibrant, enduring culture and lifestyle for themselves. Their lifestyle remains in their long held traditions and live a life in their villages in a manner called subsistence lifestyle.

Subsistence Lifestyle is a way of living where individuals and families produce their own food and necessities, rather than buying them. This can involve strategies like hunting, fishing, foraging, and agriculture, all of which is often tied to culture′s specific traditions, and that person′s or tribe′s worldview.

Worldview in this context is the comprehensive framework of beliefs, values and assumptions through which a person or culture interprets reality and subsequently interacts with the world. This lifestyle has become the core value of this tribe′s life in rural Alaska.

Living a true subsistence lifestyle is not easy, and is not done out of desperation. It involves dedicated time and skill, as well as financial investment in equipment and fuel. Also required is a lot of dedicated time for harvesting, processing, distributing, and preserving food. Subsistence provides pride in what one does, why that one does it, and for whom it is done for.