Arctic Meeting

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Arctic Meeting
www.nativeknowledge.org

• Concerns, Causes, Ideas for Action

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Summary areas

• Health of animals
• Imbalance of predators
• Respect for animals
• Health of people
• Sources of contaminants
• Onshore development
• Offshore development
• Climate change
• Use of our knowledge
• Ideas for Action

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Concerns health of animals

• Caribou skinny, sick (pus, tumors), fewer around
  vegetation is slow growing and there may be too
  many caribou
• Caribou with liver that is whitish with cysts on
  it
• Groups of caribou that have died (Nuiqsut, Point
  Hope). Why? Need report.
• Caribou used to be around lakes now fewer
• Moose also used to be around lakes and eat off
  bottom now they taste different

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• Beluga pus
• Polar Bears hungry, skinny
• Grayling taste varies from river to river
• Fish with things ? in their bodies
• Skinnier wolves, wolverines, brown bears

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Concerns health of animals

• What happens when fox, wolf eat caribou with
  cysts on livers had same cysts (see Warrens
  comments)
• Fewer small birds spectacled eiders, phalaropes
• Grayling taste different better in rivers
  further south
• Starving eider ducks (Kaktovik) sensitive to
  long winter this year

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Concerns imbalance with too many predators

• Imbalance in ecosystem with over-populations of
  predators
• Grizzlies eat salmon eggs, decreasing salmon
  population
• Too many seagulls are diminishing the small bird
  populations by eating their eggs including
  Spectacled Eider
• Ravens (Anaktuvuk Pass) also have been eating eggs

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Concerns imbalance with too many predators

• Snow Geese, brants other species of waterfowl
  being killed by fox
• A lot of foxes because they are no longer trapped
• Polar bears getting nearer communities, damage
  camps
• Not allowed to sell polar bear hides
• Should make pelts available to local communities
  first

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Concerns human respect for animals

• Some people disrespect animals like polar bears
  by tranquilizing them and tagging them
• When the caribou gets fat, the collar can choke
  them. Why collar them? Need for a different
  procedure.
• A moose seen from a plane that had died with a
  collar (Kaktovik)

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Concerns respect for animals

• On Barter Island, put collars on grizzlies, they
  said they had a lot of fun doing this.
• Collaring of a grizzlie can be too tight and
  cause them to lack oxygen (and act deranged)
• Animals brain may not work right after being
  tranquilized
• Knowing where fish and animals migrate is good,
  but tagging is disturbing

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Concerns respect for animals

• Young hunters disturbing animals
• Should let first animals past before tagging so
  as not to interrupt migration

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Concerns health of people

• People getting sick after living near dump sites
  that we were not warned about
• Nuclear testing 1947-68 exposures affecting us
  now
• Iodine 131 people used as subjects of
  experiments, dont know if study was finished and
  what results were. Traditional councils need to
  file in court to establish standing on this issue
• Why did 6 people recently die from cancer in
  Anaktuvuk Pass?

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Concerns abandoned sites

• Dew line sites incomplete cleanup stockpiled
  materials falling over
• Metal and drums brought back up by the ice
• Cape Lisburne waste not contained
• Scattered drums left out on the land have
  deteriorated and leak

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Concerns abandoned sites

• Transformers filled with PCPs (PCBs?)
• Materials along coast displaced by storms are
  dangerous
• Military, Coast Guard dumping offshore
• Drums of fuel, unknown chemicals lost in rivers
  in the 40s
• Drums being exposed along river banks (Nuiqsut)

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Concerns natural sources of contaminants

• Colville River basin high source of mercury and
  other heavy metals

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Concerns onshore development

• Past uncontrolled oil development resulted in
  loss of caribou and reindeer and mixing of herds.
  Herders left herds to take employment in the
  villages
• Prudhoe Bay at first no regulations on use of
  sand/gravel to make pads
• Taking gravel from rivers can create dips that
  change the channel and may cause fish to not move
  up to traditional fishing areas. Can be designed
  to create good fish habitat
• Large amounts of water from lakes being used for
  ice roads. Water includes fish fry. How will fish
  survive in winter?

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Concerns onshore development

• Seismic testing in the winter used to kill fish
  (other techniques used now)
• Devastation of fish in some lakes for several
  years our knowledge didnt affect management
• Hunting areas closed due to development
• Industry helping to people upgrade their homes
  (Nuiqsut)
• NPRA choppers are disrupting caribou movements
  (Nuiqsut)
• Ice bridges across rivers should not be used.

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Concerns offshore development

• Offshore activity is increasing. Over time this
  is infringing on our natural resources. Example
  seismic testing east of North Star during time of
  Nuiqsut whaling
• Offshore drilling platform left for 3 years
  (Kaktovik)
• When transporting platform, dumped materials
  (drilling muds, sand) with oil leakage to get it
  unstuck

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Concerns Offshore oil development

• Drilling near Cross Island swift currents and
  deep waters on east? side, bearded seal
• Displacement of whales from offshore activity

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Concerns offshore development

• North Star EIS didnt include biological
  assessments using traditional knowledge of seal,
  polar bears, whales
• West of Wainwright with north,north, west
  winds, it is very dangerous oil industry needs
  to know this
• North Star island is a critical feeding area
  for migrating bowhead
• North Star development coupled with climate
  change will affect Arctic cisco migration Kukpik,
  Colville rivers

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Concerns our communities

• Water contaminated by chlorination treatment
• Contamination of local lakes
• Dumps with no pit liners
• Is the dust we create unhealthy?
• Our foods are good for our bodies (even though
  our kids may say it stinks!)
• Taste of freezer meats different than meats from
  ice cellars
• Abandoned Landfill dont know by whom -
  (Nuiqsut) being exposed that is close to where
  people burbot fish

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Concerns our communities

• Too much focus on money but Iñupiat way of life
  is being passed on
• People throwing cans away when they are out on
  the land
• Sensitivity of our people to environmental change
• Drugs are contaminants we bring to ourselves

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Concerns climate/weather change

• Warmer weather, ocean fish caught in nets spoil
  faster (Kaktovik)
• Erosion of coastline
• Earlier summers, different animals and fish being
  seen
• Heavy waves making travel dangerous (Pt. Hope)
• Different animals and fish being seen
• Meats can get warm and may spoil

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Concerns climate/weather change

• Ozone depletion our area is a most sensitive
  area
• Tundra has changed finding out about these
  changes BEO
• Ice conditions have changed, affecting whaling
  seasons, offshore development
• Erosion along rivers affecting our environment

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Other Concerns

• Long-range pollution Orange clouds of industrial
  activities in Russia.

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Concern use of our knowledge

• Government preference for written testimony when
  people arent comfortable writing.
• We dont see how what we say changes the law,
  management, governments, or corporations

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Ideas for action

• Present our traditional knowledge so that it is
  taken seriously and acted upon
• Talk about our concerns in a way that has legal
  standing
• We need to communicate with our youth in Iñupiaq
  about our traditional ways of living
• Find out more about why these changes are
  happening
• Ongoing program to measure contaminants

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Ideas for Action

• Remember value of our knowledge in what we do
• Not be so lenient on ourselves we get right on
  white people when they dont do things right
• Educate our children in our language about the
  reasons why our ways of life are valuable, like
  the ways we prepare our food
• Learn to read and write in our language and
  document everything on paper and help each other

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Ideas for action

• Continue to use permitting system with public
  hearings
• Money is there to pave streets through BIA and
  DOT.
• Local contracting for clean up activities