Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd Harvest and Local Knowledge Project

1. Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd Harvest and Local Knowledge Project Sverre Pedersen1, Stacie McIntosh2, Tina Kaleak3and Price Leavitt3 L Background This project is based on an inter-agency effort to develop reliable baseline information on the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd (TLH), a resident caribou herd numbering ca. 45,000, with calving area just S of the Teshekpuk Lake and with an annual range mainly in the NW portion of Alaska’s North Slope. This caribou herd, as well as the Western Arctic and the Central Arctic Herds are a “keystone” terrestrial subsistence resource to Iñupiat communities within the study area. The study-area lands are managed by the federal government (Bureau of Land Management [BLM] as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska [NPR-A]), whereas fish and game resources are managed by the state (Alaska Department of Fish and Game [ADF&G]). Since 2000 the area has been open to competitive oil and gas leasing with leases in both the NE and NW portions of NPR-A. There has been some exploratory drilling in both areas, but no commercial development yet. • Methods: Local Knowledge (LK) • LK has also been collected annually through semi-directed, recorded, interviews with acknowledged caribou experts in the Barrow area on a standardized set of topics, including: • Traditional and contemporary harvest methods. • Distribution, movements and abundance of caribou over time. • Observations on different caribou types and their behavior in the Barrow area. • Reindeer and caribou interactions. • Traditional stories, legends, and beliefs. • Findings and Recommendations • Study communities remain dependent on caribou as the main terrestrial • subsistence resource. Community per capita caribou harvests have stayed within • the range of 0.7 and 1.3 caribou per person per community through the study period. • Estimated total subsistence caribou harvest for the three study communities has • ranged from 3923 to 5967 in the study period. • The TLH appear to be the main caribou herd from which caribou are harvested from • in Barrow (70%), Atqasuk (60%), and Nuiqsut (60%) and caribou from two other herds • to a lesser extent (under revision; cf. 2009 poster re. TLH harvest attribution). • Subsistence caribou harvest areas reported by study community hunters cover large • ranges around communities. • Incidence of “sick” (“Yapu”), i.e. unused, caribou reported in annual community • caribou harvests from 2003-2007 averaged 2.7 percent. • Sharing of harvested caribou among community households is high in all three • study communities. • LK information provides greater understanding of the cultural importance of caribou • to residents in the three study communities. • LK respondents provided information on past relationships between caribou and • reindeer that local hunters still recognize in TLH caribou. • Incidence of “sick” (“Yapu”), i.e. unused, caribou reported in annual community • caribou harvests from 2003-2007 averaged 2.7 percent. • Proportion of herd-specific caribou harvests need to be investigated more closely; • now in progress – see companion poster: “Development of a GIS-based Method…” • The extent to which community hunters seasonally utilize caribou hunting ranges is • presumed to reflect caribou distribution, but this needs to be verified. • A community-based long-term subsistence caribou harvest monitoring plan needs to • be formulated and implemented before any development in NPR-A takes place; this • adaptive management plan would monitor and evaluate performance of prescribed • subsistence mitigation measures, and recommend changes based on findings. • Project • Established in 2002 through an Assistance Agreement, this is a cooperative project between BLM, ADF&G, and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic • Slope (ICAS; the North Slope Iñupiat non-profit tribal organization). Objectives are to: • Estimate annual community caribou harvests in Atqasuk, Barrow and Nuiqsut • based on systematic community household surveys. • Develop a quantitative, temporal and spatial baseline of community subsistence • caribou harvest patterns. • Develop a Local Knowledge (LK) (descriptive) collection of caribou movements, • distribution and abundance in the Barrow area. • Establish internal subsistence resource harvest monitoring and LK data • collection analysis and reporting capacity in ICAS. Five 12-month periods • of harvest data (June 2002 through May 2007) have been collected in cooperation • with ICAS. Study Area The study communities (Barrow, Atqasuk and Nuiqsut) are traditional North Slope Iñupiat communities with mixed subsistence-cash economies, and in which caribou, especially those from the TLH, are a “keystone” terrestrial food resource. Presently Barrow, a regional hub-community, has an estimated population of ca. 4,000 with an ethnic mix of 65/35% Inupiat and non-Iñupiat, whereas Atqasuk and Nuiqsut are small remote predominantly Iñupiat communities with a population of ca. 200 and 300 respectively. Reports Pedersen, Sverre. 2008. Monitoring of Annual Caribou Harvests in Three Communities (Atqasuk, Barrow and Nuiqsut) within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska: 2006-2007. Annual Harvest Summary Report No. 6, January 2008. Prepared for Northern Field Office, Alaska Region, Bureau of Land Management, Fairbanks, Alaska. Northern Region, Division of Subsistence, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fairbanks, Alaska. • Methods: Harvest Data • Harvest data have been collected annually using a standardized instrument, through face-to-face household interviews. Up to 200 households were randomly selected in Barrow, whereas in Atqasuk and Nuiqsut, because of much smaller number of households, a community household census approach was used. Survey information collected included: • Number of caribou harvested by month • Sex of caribou harvested • Location of each reported harvest • Health condition of harvested caribou • Unsuccessful trips • Transportation utilized • Giving and receiving of harvested caribou 1 Sverre Pedersen, Division of Subsistence, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fairbanks, Alaska 2 Stacie McIntosh, Northern Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Fairbanks, Alaska 3 Tina Kaleak, Project Manager, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, Barrow, Alaska 3 Price Leavitt, Executive Director, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, Barrow, Alaska Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS)