two EWT 900 kW turbines, according to an AEA report. Turbine construction was finished in summer 2012, and a premium power flow battery will be installed this spring. Bruce Wright, senior scientist for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, recently released a paper outlining wind power potential in rural Alaska. More than 120 of Alaska’s small communities operate on independent micro grids, Write reported, using fewer than 200 kW at peak capacity.
Food
“The purpose of the Reindeer Herders Association is to provide assistance in the development of a viable reindeer industry, to enhance the economic base for rural Alaska, and improve the management of the herds,” says Rose Fosdick, director of the Reindeer Herders Association in Nome. The 21 members come from the Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island with two associate members (no vote). Fosdick explains that reindeer were first introduced to Alaska from Siberia in 1892 when the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, general agent of education in Alaska, imported 16 reindeer to Amaknak Island in the Aleutians from Siberia reindeer herds in 1891. In 1892 a herd was brought to the Seward Peninsula. Jackson had witnessed severe hunger when traveling in the Arctic on the U.S. Treasury Revenue Cutter The Bear with Capt. Michael Healy. It was thought that the animals would provide an easy food source. From 1892 to 1898, Siberian Chukchi Natives and Saami reindeer herders from Finland trained Alaska Native herders. Congress passed the Reindeer Act of 1937 that restricted ownership of the animals to Alaska Natives. By 1905, there were 10,000 head, which grew to an estimated 640,000 reindeer by 1937, and in 1985 there were 23,000. Today, Fosdick says, the number of ranges on the Seward Peninsula and the island is 17, with an estimated 10,000 reindeer. “Currently the majority of the herds are not active because Western Arctic Caribou Herd migration and departure have taken the reindeer with them off the ranges,” she says. The largest populated herds are located near the communities of Wales, Brevig
Mission, Teller, Nome, Stebbins, St. Michael and Savoonga (on St. Lawrence Island). Most of the harvest of red meat is for family and village food supply. “With the loss of reindeer and low populations, herders are not doing much slaughter or butchering for red meat sales, nor are they rounding up the small numbers on their range to harvest velvet,” she says. Regardless, she adds, the herders still consider themselves reindeer herders and have agreed to work on a strategic plan to revitalize reindeer herding on the Seward Peninsula.
Hope for Arctic Communities
Meeting the growing challenges of shelter, energy and food security are tantamount to the survival of Arctic communities. Although these examples don’t encompass all the elements needed in order to achieve sustainability in the Arctic, they are a good start in the right direction for the indigenous peoples of Alaska. Long-time Alaskan journalist Dimitra Lavrakas writes from the East Coast and Alaska.
www.akbizmag.com • Alaska Business Monthly • March 2013
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