For the past few decades, Noatak National Preserve has experienced a rise in the number of pilots that bring nonlocal hunters to this popular caribou hunting hotspot. Local hunters have expressed concerns that disturbance from the aircraft and nonlocal hunters interfere with caribou migration patterns and threaten their ability to feed their families with the subsistence hunt.
To better understand local perceptions of changes to caribou migration patterns with the purpose of better informing wildlife management in the preserve, researcher Gabriela Halas documented traditional knowledge of Noatak hunters from 2012 to 2015.
The research study came out of a collaboration among the National Park Service, the Native Village of Noatak and the University of Alaska Fairbanks to study the links among caribou, interactions of local and nonlocal hunters, and changes to subsistence caribou hunting. Halas returned to the region earlier this year to present findings from the study and to answer questions in Noatak and Kotzebue.
"Numerous biological studies have examined the impacts of human activity on caribou behavior, but there is very little documented local and traditional knowledge that addresses issues of human disturbance on caribou," explained Halas. "This lack of documentation of traditional knowledge has resulted in planning and decision-making processes that rely primarily on Western science."
Traditional ecological knowledge, on the other hand, refers to the collective body of lived experiences by local people. These observations and understandings about ecological and social systems are increasingly valued by decision-makers because they encompass people's actual experience on the landscape over time. Moreover, traditional ecological knowledge takes into consideration the values and traditions of community members whose lives are intricately connected to the land and its resources.
"We live here," explained Enoch Mitchell, fire chief and Noatak community representative to state and federal working groups on subsistence issues and caribou management. "We know our land and we know our community. There has got to be a balance."
Mitchell's emphasis on the value of local knowledge was echoed in a portion of the study that noted parallels between maps created by active hunters of caribou migration patterns and biologists' caribou radio collar data.
"Both data said the same thing," said Halas during her presentation, which showed two maps of data. "As caribou migrate southward in the fall, they funnel through the river valleys toward the Noatak, with some hugging the coast heading toward the Kobuk and then also finding areas along the Noatak to cross."
Hunters also demonstrated their rich understanding of the spatial aspects of caribou ecology by mapping predators, habitats and other ecological factors related to the caribou. A comparison of the maps indicated that an amalgamation of local observations from active hunters was comparable to data from wildlife biologists, only these observers also carry with them a lifetime of experience and knowledge from past generations.
The study also conducted surveys of active hunters in Noatak to examine local perspectives about changes to caribou hunting and the different disturbances to caribou migration patterns. Local hunters considered aircraft, nonlocal hunters and climate changes to be the factors that most negatively affect caribou hunting.
The study reported on suggestions by locals for how to improve caribou management, such as reducing sport hunting, reducing gas prices and teaching traditional ways. Allowing local hunters to access the area two weeks before nonlocal hunters was also suggested.
"The regulation has to be flexible to adjust to local conditions on the ground because you can't predict when the caribou will come in, especially with unpredictable weather conditions," said Robert Kirk of Noatak. "Rather than a specific date on a calendar, the delayed entry can be two weeks after the caribou actually come in."
Others suggested that nonlocal hunters use boats, like the local hunters, to even the playing field and avoid disturbing the caribou.
The collective voice and knowledge of Noatak hunters participating in the study has already made its way into a succession of analyses, interagency staff meetings and federal review boards. Last week, the Federal Subsistence Board voted 5-3 to approve restrictions proposed by the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council. Starting July 1, caribou hunting on federal public lands in Unit 23 will be closed to nonfederally qualified subsistence users for the 2016/2017 regulatory year. The National Park Service also funded research with nonlocal hunters and other user groups, which were also factored into the decision-maker's analysis.
With support from the community and elders, the study's researchers, Gabriela Halas, and the study's principal investigator, Gary Kofinas, organized an elder film project because they thought video documentation would be a valuable way to share important knowledge of unwritten laws about caribou hunting with current and future generations. Halas filmed interviews with elders that included stories of their lives, how caribou are important to them, what they know about caribou and how they learned about caribou. Each elder and the elder's family received a copy of their video. Copies of the videos were also shared with the Indian Reorganization Act and Noatak council, and the parks offices in Kotzebue and Fairbanks.
In addition to bringing local perspectives and knowledge to light at the policy and decision-making levels, the National Park Service and the study's authors worked with Sarah Betcher of Farthest North Films to create a documentary of the region for a wider audience.
The documentary, called "Counting on Caribou: Iñupiaq Way of Life in Northwest Alaska," was published on YouTube in late March. Interview footage from the study's project in Noatak is featured alongside Betcher's footage of Northwest Alaska, the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and interviews with community members in Ambler, Buckland, Deering, Kivalina, Kotzebue, Noatak, Noorvik and Selawik. The film is available for educational outreach to help build a deeper understanding of how the Inupiaq people have witnessed changes in caribou population and migration due to climate change and human influences and how these changes challenge the region's food security.
This article originally appeared at the Arctic Sounder and is republished here with permission.