Gwich'in want to ensure no development takes place in wildlife refuge
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Fort McPherson (Aug 18/00) - It may have been a symbolic act, but the lighting of candles was a pointed reminder of the impact development could have on the important Porcupine caribou herd.
| Fight for a way of life
There is a very good reason why Norma Kassi has been working to protect the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd for the last 15 years.
"The caribou means everything to my people," said the Old Crow resident, one of the people involved in the Millennium Trek.
"Our Gwich'in way of life is in jeopardy," Kassi said after a celebration on Friday to mark the arrival of the Trek participants from Aklavik.
"Our blood is caribou blood. We've been living with the caribou for so long, we have to continue the fight to preserve the herd. We cannot survive without it," Kassi said.
"As we go along on the trek, we are involving grassroots people more and more. We're also educating younger people so they can continue the fight, much as my grandfather had taught me to do," she said.
"The world has got to realize the Arctic is in a dilemma in terms of climate changes and long range contaminants and things like that. We have to look at preserving these pristine biological areas here. We have no choice.
"That is my duty as a Gwich'in person to do that," Kassi said.
"We're going to do the best we can in trying to get the most powerful country in the world to recognize we have got to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
Kassi said Friday's ceremony was "really good" and that trek participants were quite excited going into their second day.
"It feels really good now. The momentum is happening."
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The trek began in Aklavik the day before. Folks in Fort McPherson celebrated the occasion by listening to speeches, sharing a meal and lighting candles.
The trek is the latest effort by the Gwich'in to pressure the U.S. government to grant permanent protection from development to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The area was granted protection around 1980 by then president Jimmy Carter, but since then congress has been pressured to open up the refuge to oil exploration and development.
The coastal plain of the refuge is where the Porcupine caribou calve, and many fear development might force the herd to calve elsewhere, leading to higher mortality rates.
Near the end of the ceremony, Gladys Netro -- a member of the Porcupine Caribou Management Board -- called upon the young people present to gather near the stage. While they lined up candles were distributed throughout the hall.
No sooner were the candles lit than the hall's lights were shut off.
"I'd like to recognize the hardship the caribou have gone through in the past year," Netro said, explaining that this spring, heavy, wet snow prevented the caribou from reaching their regular calving grounds in time.
"Instead they ended up having their young just outside of Old Crow," Netro said. "As a result, we lost 15,000 baby caribou. And tonight, we have 100 candles lit, to represent -- each candle represents 150 caribou."
Referring to the possibility of development within the refuge, Netro said, "This is one of the indicators of how much our caribou can take, you know, just a few more feet of snow made a whole lot of difference."
After the celebration, trek co-ordinator Doug Urquhart said the journey has taken over a year to prepare. The Millennium Trek will wrap up in Arctic Village, located within the refuge, on Aug. 19.
"After the Arctic Village celebration is over, several delegates will go down for a luncheon with (former) President Jimmy Carter in Anchorage," said Urquhart, of Whitehorse.
"President Clinton is leaving office, and he's defended the calving grounds for the past eight years. He's even vetoed bills and this is all done to encourage him to declare this area a national monument."
Fort McPherson Mayor William Kehoe said that earlier on Friday, those involved in the trek were treated to a five-shot salute as they approached the town by boat.
"We had tea up there for them," Kehoe said. "The people that were there early made some tea and had a big fire for them."
