The community of Atqasuk lies on the north-flowing Meade River about 60 miles southwest of Barrow. It is part of a region of many, historic fishing and hunting camps that are located on the coastal plain along the Meade, Chipp and Ikpikpuk Rivers. Atqasuk is one of two ‘inland’ villages on the North Slope, (the other being Anaktuvuk Pass in the Brooks Range mountains). The subsistence activities of both these communities are focused more on the land and river resources than the coastal and ocean harvests. In addition to the harvesting of caribou; fishing for grayling, lingcod and several varieties of whitefish help meet the food requirements of the village. Many Atqasuk residents return to the Barrow area for sea mammal hunting and the area between Atqasuk and Barrow is use by both communities for fishing, hunting for waterfowl and caribou, and for trapping of furbearing animals.

In addition to biological resources, Atqasuk is the location of a coal mine that produced and freighted this fuel to Barrow during the 1940’s. Natural Outcroppings of coal had been used for centuries by the Iñupiat family groups along the Meade River, but the growth of Barrow created a commercial market for the resource. The small community was called Meade River Village at that time, however the population dwindled rapidly with the discovery and distribution of natural gas to Barrow in the 1960’s. The establishment of regional autonomy through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the formation of the North Slope Borough enabled former’ Meade River families’ to re-establish the village in the 1970’s under the present name, Atqasuk.

There are about 250 people living in Atqasuk today and over 140 in the work force. Approximately 90 percent of the population is Iñupiat (‘Eskimo’) and the village economy is largely based on subsistence hunting of caribou and river fishing. In the ‘cash economy,’ the private sector employs about one-fifth of the workforce; the North Slope Borough employs about fifty percent; and the NSB School District just over twenty percent. Residents also produce arts and crafts for sale including masks, mittens, dolls, yo-yo’s, ulus and parkas.

In addition to its modern homes, public utility facilities, and school; the tele-communications needs of Atqasuk are met with a fully-digital local telephone system; local dial-up Internet; a community teleconference center; cable television; public radio broadcast; and interactive distance education system; a regional wide-area data network; and several two-way radio technologies. Interconnection with the regional and global networks is by satellite.