The spirit of Western Alaska — the incredible place your support has allowed us to serve for more than four decades — comes, in large part, from the vibrancy of the traditional Alaska Native culture that thrives in our corner of the world.

It’s a culture we celebrate every day on the air and cover in our news stories. One of our most popular recent stories concerns Savoonga (suh-VOON-guh), a community in KNOM country that recently caught its second whale of the season. As seen in the photos above and below, provided by Savoonga’s Brianne Gologergen, a traditional whale catch is both a lot of work and a joyfully special event for our region. It takes the helping hands of so many to make it happen, with non-stop work continuing for days on end, as workers travel back and forth on the 38-mile trail to the whale camp from their homes in Savoonga. But the fruits of the immense effort are worth it, since everything from the whale’s meat to its baleen are used. And, it’s “so yummy,” Gologergen says.

Thank you for helping us bring stories like these to our rural Alaska communities every day. Click through for more on this story, and for so many others, explore our homepage.