Large woody debris locations, Central Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, near Chevak Alaska, May 2023

On 16 September 2022 the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta of western Alaska was hit by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, a storm that many residents of the area described as the worst in their lifetime. Although this coastal tundra landscape is devoid of trees, coarse woody debris, mostly tree trunks greater than 2-meters (m) long, are found throughout the region and and can be remobilized during flood event like Typhoon Merbok. This dataset reports the location and length (< or ≥ 2m) of ~5000 pieces of course woody debris. Debris was mapped during two days of aerial surveying from a small-fixed wing aircraft on 25 and 26 May, 2023, in the central Yukon Kuskokwim Delta in a region extending from the coast to approximately 30 kilometers (km) inland, and 35 km south to north with the village of Chevak being the northmost extent. 560 photos of suspected debris were taken along 15 35-km long transects, and in targeted areas of expected accumulation. The location of the photo determined from a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, along with the orientation and direction of aircraft travel, were used to mark the debris location, estimate length category and number of pieces, and extract the associated elevation from a Digital Elevation model. This wood is a critical resource in a land devoid of wood (due to proximity to the Bering Sea) and also a potential hazard during winter travel when the landscape is snow-covered, and the wood cannot be easily seen.