Caribou crossing the Kobuk River because it freezes up throughout the fall migration. (Used with permission from Jim Dau)
The most recent estimate for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd is 121,000, a steep drop from 2023. The final time the herd’s numbers had been this low, Jimmy Carter was president — virtually 50 years in the past.
As soon as one of many world’s largest herds, its vary is the scale of California, stretching throughout a big swath of Northern and western Alaska. For the distant communities of the area, caribou should not solely a central meals supply. In addition they have appreciable cultural significance to the distant communities of the area.
Alex Hansen is a Kotzebue-based wildlife biologist with the Alaska Division of Fish and Sport. He mentioned the newest inhabitants depend from earlier this 12 months is down significantly.
“Basically, based on the last count in 2023, we’ve lost 20% of the population,” Hansen mentioned.
Hansen’s division introduced the findings on the annual assembly of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd working group held in Anchorage this month. The working group makes suggestions in regards to the herd to federal and state regulators, who then set coverage and bag limits for hunters.
This 12 months’s inhabitants depend led the working group to categorise the herd as “critical, declining.” It’s the bottom inhabitants tier of their administration plan. The designation directs managers to accentuate efforts to the utmost extent doable for the survival of the herd.
Hansen additionally urged the working group to be pointed with their suggestions to the Alaska Board of Sport, which meets each three years. Beneath state legislation, that board is finally chargeable for any regulation modifications.
Hansen says if the board doesn’t act in 2027, the herd’s steep declines might proceed unabated for an additional three years.
“Six years we’ve lost the number of caribou that we have currently,” Hansen mentioned. “So we can kick the can down the road. ‘Another few more years, let’s not do anything for the Board of Game this time. Let’s wait til the next time.’ That’s about five or six years from now. What do we have at that point? Maybe nothing.”
Ultimately 12 months’s Board of Sport assembly, the caribou working group really helpful that the board dramatically cut back the caribou harvest for the area’s hunters to 4 animals per 12 months, with only one permitted cow or feminine caribou.
The Board didn’t comply with that suggestion, which disenchanted many subsistence customers all through the herd’s vary. As an alternative, it set the restrict at 15 caribou per 12 months (solely one in all which might be a cow). The Board additionally opened up looking to as much as 300 non-resident hunters to take one caribou a 12 months via a draw allow for Sport Administration Unit 23, which covers many of the Northwest Arctic. Usually, non-resident hunters don’t hit that restrict.
Charlie Lean is a member of the working group that advocates for the herd. He represents the Nome area.
“I think we need to make suggestions, as we did two years ago at the Board of Game,” Lean mentioned. “Maybe the Board of the Game will see the light.”
The working group voted once more to advocate a restrict of 4 caribou per 12 months and to shut looking for non-residents for the administration space that features many of the Northwest Arctic. In addition they really helpful if the herd inhabitants drops to 75,000, all looking would mechanically stop. Searching might resume if the inhabitants rebounded to 100,000 caribou or a degree that enables for a wholesome sustained inhabitants.
The Western Arctic Caribou working group has categorised the herd in a “critical, declining” state. This designation helps decide administration plans. The working group really helpful a looking moritorium if the inhabitants declines to 75,000. The looking ban wouldn’t be lifted till the herd reached a “preservative, increasing” tier of 100,000 caribou. (Western Arctic caribou working group assembly packet)
Tom Grey, who represents reindeer herders, shared the identical sentiment of most of the working group members.
“It’s not my freezer that I’m worried about, it’s the caribou herd itself,” Grey mentioned. “We need to keep that in the back of our heads as we’re trying to preserve this caribou herd.”
The working group additionally really helpful a proposal to the Board of Sport to make it authorized for personal residents to shoot animals that predate caribou from plane inside the herd’s vary.
Predator management for caribou in Alaska is a controversial follow, nevertheless it has been utilized in Southwest Alaska to attempt to increase the Mulchatna caribou herd’s calf inhabitants.
Those that help diminished harvest limits might additionally request an emergency motion via the Federal Subsistence Board, which is scheduled to satisfy in April.
On the state administration facet, subsequent the Board of Sport assembly is scheduled for January 2027. The deadline for proposals to the Board is Might 2026.
