What sort of founder crops and/or domesticable food plants can be found in the tundra/subarctic, specifically the Alaska interior?

Question

Another attempt at a broad question I asked here earlier. My aim here is to build another cradle of civilization from the ground up, in an area that never did (for fairly obvious reasons) and in an area that could serve as a sort of connection point between the Old World and New World.

For most the part I am getting together a rough idea of what I need to do and where I want to go with things but I am have trouble getting the initial setup going, this is where the plausibility factor might be kicking this entire idea in the groin.

To get to the point are there any plants in the interior of Alaska, specifically the Yukon River basin, that could serve as a founder crop to serve as the catalyst for further plant domestication and ultimately sedentary civilization. I haven't been able to find much, not sure if its due to a lack of resources on the topic, a lack of knowledge on my part as to where to look or a lack of said plants in the region.

I mean the area could certainly provide a decent supply of food for locals, especially with proper agricultural practices, winter preparation, advanced/complex food preservation techniques, etc. For instance Alaska does produce oversized record breaking vegetables due to loads more sunlight during the summer.

Thanks again

Answer 1

Aspen.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/aspen/grow.shtml

Aspens grow in the Alaskan interior. They will dominate an area until shaded out by pines.

Quaking aspen is an aggressive pioneer species. It readily colonizes burned areas and can persist even when subjected to frequent fires. In the Central Rocky Mountains, the extensive stands of aspen are usually attributed to repeated wildfires. It may dominate a site until replaced by less fire-enduring but more shade-tolerant conifers.

The seeds and bark of aspen are edible.

https://www.ediblewildfood.com/quaking-aspen.aspx

Edible Parts Much of the tree is edible. You can eat the inner bark and cambium but it is best in the spring. It can be dried, ground into a powder and used as a flour. For those who have used it, they say that this flour is normally mixed with other flours for making bread. It also can be used as a thickener for soups. This tree can be tapped for the sap and it can be made into syrup. Catkins can be consumed raw or cooked...

Your people have been working on the aspen. They keep the pines from shading them out. They select for trees with big fat catkins and lots of them. It helps that aspens can grow as clones.

Aspen is noted for its ability to regenerate vegetatively by shoots and suckers arising along its long lateral roots. Root sprouting results in many genetically identical trees, in aggregate called a "clone". All the trees in a clone have identical characteristics and share a root structure...

If you want Fat Caskin Tree to take over the area, give it room. I could imagine your sedentary aspen keepers have different named tree clones, each good for something particular - Fatty as noted above. Sweetbark the flour trees are kept as saplings to maximize tender bark production. Sapmasters are of course is made into that staple of civilization, beer.