Gwich'in Nation fights for caribou in Alaska

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is home to Porcupine River caribou, vital to the Gwich'in people

By Environmental News Network staff

According to the myths of the Gwich'in people of Alaska, every caribou has a bit of the human heart, and every human has a bit of the caribou heart.

This belief comes from a culture that consumes caribou two or three times a day, 365 days a year.

For thousands of years, the Gwich'in Nation has relied upon the Porcupine River caribou herd to meet their needs for subsistence. The caribou have provided the tribe with food and raw materials for clothing, tools, weapons, ornaments and ritual objects. One would be hard-pressed to dispute the Gwich'in's claim that caribou are part of their bloodline.

Now the caribou and the traditional way of life of the Gwich'in people are at risk.

A battle over the future of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where caribou migrate each year to nurse their young, has been waged since the early 1980s.

Following the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980, multinational oil corporations renewed their efforts to open the coastal plain, known as the 1002 area, to oil drilling.

While rumors circulate that President Clinton might designate this pristine part of Alaska as a national monument before he leaves office, the Gwich'in people continue to track the migration route of the Porcupine caribou herd from Aklavik in Canada's Northwest Territories to Arctic Village in northeastern Alaska.

"We wanted to reaffirm our commitment to the land," said Donna Carroll, administrative director of the Gwich'in Nation steering committee.

At a ceremony last week to celebrate former President Jimmy Carter's passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation, tribal leaders, conservation groups and biologists called on President Clinton to give the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge permanent protection under the Antiquities Act of 1906.

Carter said the coastal portion of the refuge should be given full wilderness protection and recommended that Clinton go forward with the national monument designation.

In 1987, the Reagan administration recommended development of the 1002 area. The following year, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed a bill to open the coastal portion of the refuge to oil drilling.

Members of the Gwich'in Nation found out about the legislation through a news report on television.

Members of the Gwich'in Nation gather at the community center in Arctic Village in Alaska

With the threat of oil development on their sacred tribal land, Gwich'in Nation chiefs called a meeting in Arctic Village. Carroll was one of eight tribal members selected by the elders to "to protect our people, caribou, land, air and water."

The Gwich'in people along with biologists and conservation groups maintain the 1002 area has several characteristics that maximize calf and herd survival.

The coastal plain provides nursing caribou with relative isolation from predators when newborns are most vulnerable. The area also supplies nutritious vegetation to fatten herds for the long journey back to their wintering grounds.

In addition, the area's climate drives away mosquitoes that can harass a young caribou literally to death.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, oil drilling on the coastal plain would significantly alter caribou migration patterns and could cause a 40 percent decline in the population.

While the Millenium Trek symbolizes Gwich'in unity in their opposition to oil development, neighboring Inupiat Eskimos on the North Slope are more divided on the issue. Although most Inupiat leaders oppose offshore oil drilling because it could disturb the ocean resouces, many support drilling on the coastal plain for economic reasons.

Inupiats believe revenue derived from oil drilling on the coastal plain could create jobs and social services such as health care and police and fire protection.

In a recent editorial in the Anchorage Times, Inupiat member Tara Maclean Sweeny wrote, "Unfortunately, the Gwich'in steering committee is being used to further the agenda of the environmental community which places less value on basic human rights. After this issue is over, will the environmental community support the lifestyle of the Gwich'in? Possibly not, but the money derived from ANWR will benefit many government programs as well as create over 750,000 jobs."

Gwich'in Nation members maintain that without the caribou, their lives would have ended a long time ago.

"It is very important for our young to learn our values," said Gwich'in leader Faith Gemmill. "Without the caribou we wouldn't have our identity and we wouldn't be a distinct people. We shouldn't have to give that up for short-term economic gain.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
   •caribou migration and biology
Gwich'in steering committee
Alaska Wilderness League

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