People and Environment of Alaskas North Slope

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People and Environment of Alaskas North Slope

• ENVIR 450
• June 20, 2006

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Who lives in and near the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge?

• From the US Fish and Wildlife Service
• http//arctic.fws.gov/communities.htm
• From Amy Gulicks One Earth Adventures
• http//www.oneearthadventures.com/anwr/who_lives.h
  tm

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The Gwichinhttp//www.gwichin.org/gwichin.html
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The Inupiaq

• The territory of the Inupiaq Eskimos (white area
  on map) includes 1) North Slope Borough (NSB)
  consisting of seven villages, served by the
  Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, 2) Northwest
  Arctic Borough consisting of eleven villages and
  3) Bering Straits Regional Corporation includes
  16 villages.

http//nnlm.gov/pnr/ethnomed/inupiaq.html
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North Slopes harsh climate limits human
activities

• Extreme cold winters (Tlt-18C, or 0F) limit
• Availability of resources
• Transportation and communication
• Incorporation of modern western culture
• Agriculture and gardening isnt possible
• Forestry isnt possible

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Travel and Transportation

• Tundra is difficult terrain for travel in summer
• Wetlands and ponds also difficult in summer
• Most transportation is by air, snow machines in
  winter, and boats in summer

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North Slope Borough Communities

• No connecting roads
• 70 Inupiaq, 17 whites, 7 Asians, 2 other
  Alaska Natives

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North Slope Population

• Arctic Village (not in the NSB) had 152 residents
  in 2000 (Alaska Natives, Gwichin)

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Cost of living is HIGH!

• 1998 typical market basket
• Anchorage 122
• Barrow 218
• Outlying villages 400
• The same high costs are generally true for most
  consumer goods

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Standard of Living

• NSB people must accept a lower standard of
  living, rely more on subsistence, or both
• Arctic Village per capita income was 10,761 in
  1999

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Coastal Inupiat

• Archaeological evidence suggests that the Inupiat
  have occupied coastal region from Pt. Hope to
  Canadian border since 1250 AD
• 1st contact with westerners was 1850s
  (commercial whalers and Protestant missionaries)

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Coastal Inupiat Economy

• 1850s Whalers hired Inupiat as crew, then
  Inupiat captained their own whaling boats
• By 1915 commercial whaling in NSB region was
  over, but the cash economy was established
• 1890s reindeer introduced by the US Bureau of
  Education
• From start of 1,250 up to 600,000 by 1930s, down
  to lt30,000 by 1950s due to overgrazing, growing
  population of predators, and escaped animals

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Coastal Inupiat Economy

• Trapping (Arctic foxes) was also short lived in
  the 1920s
• In the 1950s-60s, wage jobs were scarce, most
  people were engaged in subsistence living

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North Slope Subsistence

• Coastal areas community identity closely tied to
  Bowhead whale hunting, sharing, and eating
• caribou, birds, fish and plants are also valuable
  subsistence items
• Subsistence isnt just about food! Its also
  about strong cultural and spiritual ties to
  resources

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Subsistence cycles
These patterns have changed as Alaska natives
have established fixed residential bases and
incorporated new technology
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Coastal villages

• Pre-contact expected 4 of 5 years to have
  adequate Bowhead harvests
• If not, put more energy into obtaining other
  resources like caribou, moose, fish, birds, etc.

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Inland villages

• Anaktuvak Pass (Inupiaq) and Arctic Village
  (Gwichin)
• Caribou most important sheep, moose, fish and
  plants also taken
• Arctic Village has especially strong ties to the
  Porcupine Caribou Herd and the coastal plain

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Subsistence is a way of life

• subsistence is more than the sum of harvest and
  resource procurement it is idealogical,
  value-driven and value-laden an idiom that
  defines self and community
• Youll read more about tensions between Native
  and non-Native Alaskans surrounding subsistence
  issues in Frigid Embrace

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The Oil Era

• Discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968 --North
  Americas largest oil field -- catalyzed change
  for North Slope communities
• Increasingly moved North Slope people into the
  mainstream economy
• It accelerated political processes for resolving
  complex issues of land claims and rights needed
  to allow development investments to go forward
• Without settling unresolved land claims, oil
  development would have been impossible!

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Congress passes ANSCA 1971

• The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
• Established the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
  and the village corporations and led to the
  founding fo the North Slope Borough (NSB) in 1972
• Also called for 80 million acres of Alaskas
  Federal land to be protected as parks and
  wildlife refuges

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Alaskas Boroughs

• The nearest corollary in Alaska to the county
  form of government found in most other U.S.
  states is the borough. Alaska has 16 boroughs,
  which together cover less than 30 percent of the
  state. The remainder of the state's territory is
  divided into 11 census areas, which do not have
  organized borough governments due to sparse
  population.

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The North Slope Borough

• Larger than 39 states
• 70 of the people are Inupiat
• Taxes oil and gas facilities, and is responsible
  for education and public services
• The dominant economic force in NS communities
• Expanded services, creating jobs, expanding
  education, capital improvements (local energy
  production in Barrow) employs 61 of the work
  force only very small numbers of locals work in
  the oil fields

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More information

• Inupiat of Arctic Alaska http//arcticcircle.uconn
  .edu/HistoryCulture/Inupiat/
• Gwichin People of the caribou
  http//www.alaskawild.org/campaigns_arctic_gwichin
  .html
• ANSCA http//www.ankn.uaf.edu/ancsa.html
• North Slope Borough http//www.north-slope.org/
• Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
  http//www.asrc.com/intro.html

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Cool features of Arctic landscapes

• Permafrost, active layers, pingoes, ice wedges,
  polygon lakes http//arctic.fws.gov/permpics.htm
  
• These features are dynamic

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permafrost

• ground that has remained frozen for at least two
  years. It forms where the winters are long and
  frigid and the ground is without a thick
  insulating layer of snow.

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Distribution of permafrost zones
http//nsidc.org/noaa/search/indicators/soil_index
.html
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pingoes

• small, cone-shaped hills with hearts of ice.
  Called 'pingoes,' these low mounds are the
  result of permafrost being forced upward by the
  pressure of subterranean water

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• http//sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/permafrost/pingoxs2.jpg

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thermokarst

• a pitted land surface that forms as permafrost
  melts.This typically occurs following some
  disturbance of the overlying vegetation, which
  serves as an important insulator.

Circular thermokarst ponds in peatlands, Hudson
Bay Lowlands, Manitoba. Natural Resources Canada
(http//sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca)
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thermokarst

• View of the base-of-operations for British
  Petroleum in Prudhoe Bay. To prevent melting of
  soil permafrost, base infrastructure is built on
  stilts set in a 4-ft thick gravel pad.

http//soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/gelisols_06.
htm
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Ecological regions and vegetation types
Dry prostrate dwarf-shrub Tundar and
barrens Moist sedge, Dwarf-shrub tundra
(na) Moist tussock-sedge dwarf-shrub tundra (a,
s) Moist tussock-sedge, shrub tundra (ns, na)
Shrub tundra and other shrublands Wet sedge
tundra Water Ice Shadows, no data
Also see http//www.absc.usgs.gov/1002/section2.ht
m
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Key influences on North slope vegetation

• Topography
• Soils acidity (pH) varies considerably, sand
  content and drainage varies
• Climate varies with distance from the coast
• Along the Beaufort Sea coast, July avg T 4-7 ºC
• Coastal plain (inland) July avg T 7-9 ºC
• Foothills July avg T 9-12 ºC

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Kaktovik Weather

• National Weather Service Forecast for Kaktovik,
  Alaska
• http//www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/AKZ204.php?
  warncountyAKC185cityKaktovik