OCTOBER 1991 - VOLUME 12 - NUMBER 10

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I N T E R V I E W

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Since the oil spill in Prince William Sound, we haven't seen sandpipers... We believe that if one species goes, then the whole system shuts down eventually.

Multinational Monitor: Why are the caribou important to the Gwich'in? Sarah James: We survive as a people by identifying ourselves with the Porcupine Caribou Herd. We use every part of the caribou. For thousands of years we have used caribou bones for tools and the skin for clothing and footwear and for arts and crafts--making pouches and so on. We use the meat for food. When we were a nomadic people, before Western education came to our country, we used caribou skin tents for housing. We used to follow where the caribou went, where the food was. Now we settle in certain areas so our kids can go to school, and we tend to settle or set up trading posts in areas within the Gwich'in country where the caribou pass. Right now, maybe 75 percent of our diet is wild meat, which includes caribou and also fish, ducks, moose and rabbits. MM: What are your concerns about the proposals to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? James: We want the Arctic Coastal Plain, about one-tenth of the Arctic coast, to be protected, because the rest of the Arctic Ocean coast is already in development or will be. The fertile tundra soil has been built up over thousands of years--maybe three inches of fertile soil. It is very fragile, and if it gets disturbed, it will take another thousand years for it to replace itself. So we are talking about a very sensitive environment. All the companies say there would be no impact on the environment, but they still have to put gravel paths wherever they're going to drill to catch all the small spills. But the way the tundra is--very soggy and rich wetland--oil will seep into it. Once oil seeps into the tundra, it will spread out. If there is ever an oil spill there, it will be very hard to clean up because of the wetland. We are concerned about the sea animals and also on-shore animals. Since the oil spill in Prince William Sound, we haven't seen sandpipers, which used to hang around lakes and creeks. We believe that if one species of animal goes, then the whole system shuts down eventually. The whole ecosystem is connected. So we are trying to protect the whole Gwich'in country. We are still living off the land and in return must take care of it. MM: What about the caribou specifically? The oil companies say that drilling will not affect the caribou. James: Already this winter we have seen the results of what oil development can do to animals. Over on the Prudhoe Bay side of the Dalton Highway, there is a caribou herd called the Central Arctic Herd, one of the five different herds in Alaska. This winter [1990-1991] our hunters from Arctic Village and hunters from Eskimo villages complained that the caribou are too lean and their marrow too bloody and runny, an indication that the herd is starving. Since the time my people can remember, the Central Arctic Herd has never come over into Gwich'in territory or the Porcupine Caribou territory. But this winter, about a week before Christmas, people spotted some caribou in the Arctic Village valley. They got excited and went out hunting, but the hunters came back disappointed and angry. The caribou they found were too lean and their marrow was too bloody and runny, so they just left them alone. Then, one or two weeks after New Year's Day, they spotted caribou and went out and the same thing happened. Additionally, some friends of the Gwich'in that work along the pipeline and along Prudhoe Bay have told us that a lot of dead caribou have been found and that the oil companies just throw them in an incinerator and say nothing about it. When the workers ask the oil company or their boss how those caribou died, they are always told that they died of old age. MM: And you think that if the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is developed the same thing will happen to the Porcupine Caribou Herd? James: Yes. The Central Arctic Herd has a big, vast area, and they can relocate their calving area and avoid the development. Even so, we are now getting that kind of report [about their poor condition]. We think the drilling plans will really affect the Porcupine Caribou Herd; though they migrate throughout thousands of miles of Gwich'in country, they can't relocate their calving ground from its [currently] very limited area. If they have to calve at the foothills on the other side or the south side of the Brooks range, then most of the calves are going to die or be weak. If it's at the foothills, then it will be too cold for the calves to survive. If it's on the other side of the Brooks range, then there will be too many mosquitos and the calves won't survive. One of the reasons the Porcupine Caribou use the Arctic Coastal Plain is to relieve themselves from mosquitos. The new calves have very thin fur and mosquitos get to them. On the Plain, it is breezy and there is open country. Additionally, the caribou can dig themselves into salt water at the coastline and relieve themselves of mosquitos that way. MM: How would these problems with the caribou affect the Gwich'in people? James: If the herd dies or decreases or changes its migratory route, then the caribou will no longer reach all the villages located along the current migratory route. Since we survive by hunting and fishing, that means we will have to depend more on store food, and store food is expensive in Arctic Village and Old Crow. Our whole way of life would be affected. We would have to look at alternative ways to get food and probably have to look for a job or depend on public services like welfare and food stamps. MM: Some indigenous people in Alaska do not share your opinion of the oil companies' proposals, however. James: There are people who live in over 200 villages throughout Alaska, and we all depend on fishing and hunting. That is the life we know. The people who live in these villages really do not have very much to say except that they want to keep on living a subsistence lifestyle. But there are 13 different native corporations in Alaska. The people that run those corporations, based in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, Ketchikan, are the ones who make most of the decisions to go for development so that they can keep their corporations going. This is why we hear on the news that the Native and the Indian of Alaska want to see development; the Native corporations have to keep their operations going. But that is not the people who live in the villages. The Eskimos that have agreed to allow the pipeline to go through their country and to have oil development in their country have been working with the oil developers for about 20 years. And they have done really well; they are earning good revenues. They are getting good food and housing and services--all from just having agreed to development and to work with the oil companies in their country. But the rest of Alaskan Natives are not benefiting that much from oil development. MM: How have the Gwich'in responded to the threat of oil development? James: Back in 1988, when the oil companies first proposed the development, the Gwich'in got really concerned about the caribou. We have lived with the caribou for thousands of years and we have always protected it, and we knew we had to protect the calving area. But there was no support from anywhere, and we did not know what to do. So we called all the elders back together from the Canadian side and the U.S. side and held a meeting in Arctic Village from June 5-10,1988. That had not happened in 150 years; it used to be done, before Western culture came to our country, for sport reasons or when there was a threat to the tribe. We thought this was a threat to the tribe, so we called all the elders together, all the chiefs. There was a rebirth of the whole nation in Arctic Village at that time. We even got rid of the Western-type agenda and carried out our business as we did 150 years ago. We talked for several days at the meeting and held the entire meeting in Gwich'in--Gwich'in language is the first language of the Gwich'in people; English is their second language. At the end of the [meeting], the elders said: we have to protect the caribou, preserve our language, deal with the border between us and [confront] the alcohol problem. Alcohol has always been a problem among the Indians and among the Gwich'in also. But since we stood up to protect our way and protect the caribou, a lot of our people are sobering up. They have something they can identify themselves with, something which makes them feel important as a people. The elders said that protecting the caribou calving ground would be the issue to write up a resolution about--once we protected that, the rest [of our problems] would be resolved much more easily. So the chiefs got together and wrote up a resolution to protect the Porcupine Caribou calving area. And we chose four people from the United States and four from Canada to represent us on this issue; that is how the Gwich'in Steering Committee was formed. When the Gwich'in Steering Committee met, it elected me as a chairperson. MM: What is the border issue? James: There are Gwich'in on each side of the U.S.-Canada border. We all speak the same language--Gwich'in. We are all related somehow or other. And we use the same caribou herd, the Porcupine Caribou Herd. We are the same people and have the same culture. But there is the U.S.-Canadian border between us, and that tends to keep us separate. We have a problem with where customs offices are. In order for Old Crow people [in Canada] to come to Arctic Village [in Alaska], Old Crow people have to go through Fort Yukon customs, then on to Arctic Village. It takes about an hour and a half by airplane from Old Crow to Arctic Village, but through Fort Yukon it takes three hours. Thus it costs us a lot of money to see relatives on opposite sides of the border. Another problem is that we cannot hunt and fish just over the border. If the caribou are over at Old Crow, we cannot go over there and bring back fish and meat. MM: Are the Gwich'in treated differently by the Canadian and U.S. governments? James: The Canadian government--both the national government and the Yukon government--is supporting the Gwich'in people and caribou protection. Another difference is that, on the Canadian side, the users of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, working closely with a government agency, manage the caribou. We don't have Porcupine Caribou management on the U.S. side. MM: Do you think you will ultimately succeed in persuading Congress to protect the refuge? James: I have a good feeling that we are going to win. But even if we win, that is not the end of it. You can never trust the opposition side. I can never trust them again after that oil spill. I can never trust them because they often say one thing and do another. The state and the federal government and the oil companies--when they hang in together--have the power to do almost anything. So it is best at all times that we protect ourselves and the caribou. Right now, I feel good because there are a lot of good people supporting us. But we still have to watch out for each other.

If the herd dies... our whole way of life would be affected