CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES CONCERNING NORTHERN ALASKAN HERDS
In any area of the world, controversial issues concerning animals arise when there are conflicting ideas and beliefs of humans as to the use and management of them. The caribou in Northern Alaska are good examples of how conflicting interests have led to controversies among groups. On the eastern side of the Coastal plain of the Brooks Range the Porcupine herd is under considerable scrutiny from several different groups. These caribou spend their summers calving and feeding along the coast of the Beaufort Sea on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS: A portion of the coastal plain, called the 1002 area of about 1.5 million acres was set aside in 1981 for the possible exploration and development of oil. The Federal government mandated a complete Environmental Impact Statement of all the living resources of the 1002 area before they were to allow any development. Much of what we know about the caribou, fish, musk ox, snow geese on the North Slope is a result of these surveys and research by both private and Federal agencies (see references, below)
The controversy of management of the Porcupine herd arose from differing interests among oil developers, environmental groups, native groups. The oil industry (and the Department of Defense that is concerned about national security) would like to drill and extract fossil fuels from this area. Although none of the companies has disclosed highly-coveted findings from preliminary exploration, some people think there exists enough oil to provide the country with energy for the next few decades (we are sorry we cannot quote any literature on this, our teacher Laura has obtained it from informal discussions with biologists, and government and industry visitors to the Refuge when she worked there. Please do not take it as gospel).
On another side of the issue stand groups of people who feel that because the Refuge is public land, then the public (i.e. all Americans, including you!) should have a say in how it is managed. These groups tend to be anti-industry because they feel that the country should not be potentially endangering the living resources for the benefit of extracting a short-term oil reserves and because they feel the caribou will be in danger.
Another and most important facet to this controversy lies in the interests of the peoples who depend on the herd for subsistence but who also depend on the money from oil revenues to support their communities. In the north, the Inupiaq Eskimos are undecided about whether to allow the industry to drill for oil on the Refuge. One village in particular, Kaktovik is located in the 1002 area and is the focal point for the controversy. After we talked to a few folks in the village, we found that it is split between those who would like to see the money for their community by developing the area and those who feel that their lives as subsistence users and natives will be destroyed if the oil is developed. One sure thing is that Kaktovik, a small village of 200 folks, would be changed forever with the presence of the oil industry. Anyone of us who flies out of Barrow, passes through the Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay airport and sees the permanent impact of the oil industry.
In the south, In the southern end of the Porcupine herd's range, still on the Arctic Refuge,(in the southern edge of the Brooks Range) are the Athabascan folks of Arctic Village. These people are very highly dependent on the herd for their existence. Because they do not benefit financially from the development of oil, as the Eskimo corporations do, and because the caribou are their main food, they are not in favor of oil and gas development. They fear that the development will have negative impacts on the Porcupine herd and destroy their lifestyles.
In the middle are the biologists from many different groups that do not agree on the possible impacts of new pipelines, of increased traffic, of damage to the fragile tundra, of many different possible consequences that the industry will cause.
Questions that are still not answered include will a new pipeline and further development on the Arctic Refuge cause a decline in the Porcupine Herd? Will the subsistence lives of the Folks in Kaktovik and Arctic Village be threatened? Is there enough oil and gas off the 1002 area to warrant development and set up the potential for spills and negative impacts to the animals on public lands? What will the Athabascan folks do if their food source is destroyed? Will the Eskimo folks in Kaktovik be able to adapt to the changes that will surely come? Will the caribou be affected?
See CHALLENGE QUESTIONS in the next posting and let us know what you think!