| This article, “The Gwich’in: Caribou People,” was originally published in the Winter & Spring of 2002, Issue 150 of Indian Affairs. Minor edits have been made to correct certain terms. In 2002, the Gwich’in Nation was speaking out against oil development in the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, naming what was at stake for their culture, their food system, and their responsibility to the next generations. In the nearly quarter-century since its publication, the landscape surrounding the Porcupine River Caribou Herd — and the federal policies that govern its use — have continued to change. In 2025, federal land management policy shifted again toward expanded oil and gas development in Alaska(1). Large portions of the Alaska Coastal Plain were reopened to leasing, and regulatory protections that had previously limited industrial activity in this region were rolled back. Additional decisions approved expanded development across much of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, further increasing pressure on northern ecosystems(2). |  |
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