Above the Yukon River, on Native land, Hilcorp is set to drill for oil this summer

Rain falls along the Yukon River in the Yukon Flats region, where oil company Hilcorp is planning to drill exploration wells this summer. (Bathsheba Demuth)
Later this spring, barges of heavy equipment will pull away from a launch on Alaska’s road system and begin a journey up the Yukon River.
More than 100 miles upstream, a tributary, Birch Creek, branches off.
The equipment’s destination is along that creek, on remote property owned by Alaska Native corporations in a huge basin ca