Background Essay: Gwich'in Tribe Protects Caribou and Culture

While caribou hunting provides one of the mainstays of the subsistence lifestyle of the Gwich'in people, this activity is also integral in maintaining the people's cultural and social identities. For 10,000 years, the people of the Gwich'in nation, which extends from Alaska into Canada, have developed their lifestyle through a coevolution with their surroundings. Central to this lifestyle are the caribou. While caribou populations are currently stressed because of changing environmental conditions, the Gwich'in are also guarding against a different and immediate threat—oil development.

The Porcupine caribou herd is estimated to include about 110,000 to 112,000 animals. Over thousands of years, the key to their survival has been movement. Caribou migrate with the seasons to search for food, to avoid predators, and to find relief from insects. Weather conditions determine the paths they take. Although the weather and conditions may cause the specific route to change yearly, one destination, the calving grounds, never changes.

Each spring, the herd travels to the same calving grounds—a 1.5-million-acre parcel of land within the 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—where food is plentiful and nutritious for nursing cows. It is also largely free of predators such as wolves and grizzlies, and inhabited by relatively few biting flies. In years when deep snow along the migration routes prevents caribou from reaching the calving grounds at the appropriate time, fewer calves survive. The survival of calves ultimately determines the survival of the entire herd.

For generations, the Gwich'in traditionally neither visit nor hunt in the calving area. In this way they mark their respect for the bond they share with the caribou and ensure that the populations remain strong for years to come. Yet it is this precise location, the calving grounds, that has been designated for private development by oil and gas companies. While proponents of oil development claim that exploration and extraction activities will do little to affect caribou and other wildlife inhabitants, the Gwich'in understand that caribou, especially pregnant females and those with young calves, are sensitive to the presence of humans, just as they are to any natural predator. Hence, any disturbance associated with the development of this region for exploration and extraction of oil will make the historical calving grounds less attractive and will cause the herds to go elsewhere. In doing so, they are likely to forego the rich feeding habitat and the protection from predators characteristic of the calving grounds, jeopardizing the reproductive success of the herd.