Caribou

Some caribou bounced away from roads, moved back and forth without crossing, or traced along the roads. On average, the study found caribou that came in contact with roads were delayed nine days from their normal migrations.

Federal and state biologists, land managers, subsistence users and community members discussed a multitude of topics. The presentations help the council make recommendations to the Federal Subsistence Board who, in turn, manage subsistence on federal lands.

Local and regional advisory councils, along with the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group, submitted multiple proposals recommending the board dramatically reduce the harvest. Right now, residents can harvest five caribou per day. The proposals encouraged cutting that to four caribou per year, one of which can be a cow.

“It wasn't very subtle. It looked to me like they had clearly reacted to the road,” Dau said. “Caribou that were far from the Red Dog road, they had no delay at all.”Dau said that’s a big deal, because those 18 collared caribou that struggled to cross the road, each of them were moving with the herd and represented about 80,000 animals.

Federal officials say the proposal is spurred by concern for the health of the Western Arctic herd.

Regional hunters had requested the Federal Subsistence Board limit hunts to only local federally qualified hunters, as opposed to the Dunleavy administration, which wanted to keep the hunts open to all.

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many rural communities are wary of non-residents, but options are limited for alleviating those concerns. I

The most recent count of caribou, about 244,000, showed a slight dip from 2017, close to 259,000. It was a higher amount than 2016.