A caribou skull is seen on Feb. 21, 2012, on the frozen tundra in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The preserve is part of the range historically used by the Western Arctic Caribou Herd. That herd and other major herds across North America are undergoing steep and nearly simultaneous declines.
There are a few notable exceptions in Alaska to the widespread declines, they noted. The Porcupine Caribou Herd that straddles the Alaska-Canada border in the Arctic region reached a historic high in 2017, the last year a census was taken. The Central Arctic and Teshekpuk herds fluctuated but experienced recent increases.
Among the most worrisome for subsistence harvesters is the trend in the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, traditionally among North America’s biggest. The herd size now, according to the most recent count, down from a high of about 490,000 in 2003. That has led to recommendations for much-reduced hunting.
“I’ve seen it. In November. I don’t like rain because we’re so far out there and it freezes, and the caribou are almost starving,” he said. “The climate change is a big factor to not only our caribou in our region, but all the mammals, the fish, what’s going on right now.”