Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Nondalton, AK

Nondalton is a town on the west shore of Six Mile Lake in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska.

The 2020 census counted 133 people in Nondalton, down from 164 in 2010, and the town was incorporated on May 18, 1971.

Nondalton is an Athabascan village of Tanaina and Iliamna people, and its Dena'ina name, Nuvendaltun or Nundaltin, means lake after lake, because the village sits along one of a line of lakes.

Nondalton was first recorded in 1909 on the north shore of Six Mile Lake, but residents relocated to the present site in 1940 because of the depletion of wood and the growth of mud flats, and the original site became Old Nondalton.

Subsistence hunting and fishing are the major economic activities in Nondalton, and government is by tribal council.

The village has a food store with a post office attached, a state-certified public school providing pre-kindergarten through 12th grade instruction, an outpatient medical clinic with family social services, a maintained Russian Orthodox church, a fishing lodge, and a water purification plant, though the village is on an indefinite boil drinking water notice.

Nondalton is isolated, with no highways or roads connecting it to other villages, and the primary means of access is by airplane through a privately owned airport for single-engine craft.

A major issue facing Nondalton is the proposed Pebble Mine site to the west near Lake Iliamna, which would mine copper, gold, and molybdenum and could affect local fishing grounds.

A road along the Newhalen River toward Iliamna and Newhalen was partially paved, but the bridge over the river was never completed, and while the borough would like it built, local residents are not convinced, fearing increased exploitation of their village lands by incomers.

Nondalton first appeared on the 1920 census with 69 residents, peaked at 221 in the 2000 census, when it had 68 households, and has declined in every census since.