Many aspects of nature in the arctic are much different now than when the Thule people first settled the Bering and Chukchi coasts.  They eventually headed east into Canada and on to Greenland following food and metal for weapons.  Changing conditions kept subsistence cultures on the move in their quest for food or resources, whether it was movement to hunt food or long term nomadic journeys to follow food and resources due to changing climate and sea level. Many of the ancestors of these modern Alaska Natives were always on the move.
Creating settlements favored by western cultures doesn't seem to work as well for some in this culture so perhaps the old nomadic ways are the key to abundance but that life doesn't come with frame homes and many of the modern conveniences that a settlement provide. This seems to be a crossroads for many to either preserve the old ways, which were nomadic in nature, or settle into a more sedentary life which is more based on western culture.