ANWR: The Great Divide

The renewed debate over drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge hits home for the two Native groups nearest the nature preserve

  • By Scott Wallace
  • Smithsonian magazine, October 2005, Subscribe
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Raymond Tritt
Raymond Tritt, 52, dresses a fallen bull on the spring caribou hunt. Like virtually every Gwich'in man, he still remembers every detail of his first successful hunt, four decades later. The 100,000-plus caribou of the Porcupine River herd are a focal point for the Gwich'in people: they are a main source of sustenance as well as the key element in the group's rituals, dances and stories. "If we lose the caribou," says a tribal elder, "we lose our way of life." (Scott Wallace)

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The Porcupine River caribou herd has become the unlikely focus of one of the most intractable and divisive environmental debates in our nation's history: whether the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, should be opened up for oil exploration. Down in the lower 48, the tangle between oil industry proponents and environmentalists, between Republicans and Democrats and between conservatives and liberals over ANWR centers on issues of energy self-sufficiency versus preservation of a pristine wilderness. But above the Arctic Circle, the debate is less abstract, with two Native Alaskan peoples locked in a complex dispute over oil development on the coastal tundra.

On one side are the militantly traditionalist Gwich'in—7,000 people living in 15 settlements scattered along the caribou's migration route between northeastern Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. On the other are roughly 9,000 Inupiat Eskimo, whose once-ramshackle coastal villages have been transformed into modern communities with schools, clinics and indoor plumbing since oil started flowing from Alaska's North Slope in the late 1970s. Though the coastal plain where oil proponents wish to drill takes up a relatively small corner of the 19.6 million-acre refuge, conservationists describe it as ANWR's most important and environmentally sensitive area. The Gwich'in call it the "sacred place where life begins." An idyllic nursery for the nearly 40,000 caribou calves born here each year, the plain also happens to sit atop what is believed to be billions of barrels of untapped oil.

The Gwich'in fear that drilling in ANWR will put an end to their existence as subsistence caribou hunters, while the Inupiat worry that without development of ANWR's gas and oil reserves, the money to support their modern comforts will disappear. Inupiat Oliver Leavitte says, "We just want our lives to be a lot easier but to still keep our traditions." But Gwich'in Danny Gemmill sums up his people's fears. He pointed north, out over the top of the spruce trees, over the distant Brooks Range, in the direction of the refuge. "No one knows what will happen if they open it up," he said. "Maybe we won't see the caribou again for 1,000 years."


The Porcupine River caribou herd has become the unlikely focus of one of the most intractable and divisive environmental debates in our nation's history: whether the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, should be opened up for oil exploration. Down in the lower 48, the tangle between oil industry proponents and environmentalists, between Republicans and Democrats and between conservatives and liberals over ANWR centers on issues of energy self-sufficiency versus preservation of a pristine wilderness. But above the Arctic Circle, the debate is less abstract, with two Native Alaskan peoples locked in a complex dispute over oil development on the coastal tundra.

On one side are the militantly traditionalist Gwich'in—7,000 people living in 15 settlements scattered along the caribou's migration route between northeastern Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. On the other are roughly 9,000 Inupiat Eskimo, whose once-ramshackle coastal villages have been transformed into modern communities with schools, clinics and indoor plumbing since oil started flowing from Alaska's North Slope in the late 1970s. Though the coastal plain where oil proponents wish to drill takes up a relatively small corner of the 19.6 million-acre refuge, conservationists describe it as ANWR's most important and environmentally sensitive area. The Gwich'in call it the "sacred place where life begins." An idyllic nursery for the nearly 40,000 caribou calves born here each year, the plain also happens to sit atop what is believed to be billions of barrels of untapped oil.

The Gwich'in fear that drilling in ANWR will put an end to their existence as subsistence caribou hunters, while the Inupiat worry that without development of ANWR's gas and oil reserves, the money to support their modern comforts will disappear. Inupiat Oliver Leavitte says, "We just want our lives to be a lot easier but to still keep our traditions." But Gwich'in Danny Gemmill sums up his people's fears. He pointed north, out over the top of the spruce trees, over the distant Brooks Range, in the direction of the refuge. "No one knows what will happen if they open it up," he said. "Maybe we won't see the caribou again for 1,000 years."

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Comments (6)

Only the shift from fossil fuels will make ANWR oil reserves uneconomical. Until a shift away from carbon based energy as the main source of the worlds energy source, this area is a subtantial and viable energy source. Sad but true.

Posted by Ed Willis on September 15,2011 | 08:19 AM

i think the ANRW should be open to more people using the oil it will bebifit more.and if we do it correctly then there will be no harm to the wildlife

Posted by alexandria on September 8,2011 | 04:15 PM

Ah, the traditional native preserving his traditional snowmobile technique...

Posted by TimH on April 8,2009 | 04:12 PM

The ANWR should be left alone. It is time to move away from greenhouse gas producing combustion, and tapping into new oil reserves while also destroying habitat is just a step in the wrong direction. The ANWR oil won't solve any of the economic problems of the United States, and it won't move us any closer to energy independence- these are just things that proponents of energy ventures in the ANWR want us to believe long enough to allow them to start filling their pockets with cash. Preserve the wilderness, and stop burning fuels that make greenhouse gases.

Posted by Regina Barker on February 16,2009 | 06:33 AM

This is an issue that can be debated about for years. There is going to be some people that will not want the caribou population destroyed, along with the land. You will also have some people for the project because the government will gain. I guess like any situation you would have to weigh the pros and cons.

Posted by Joe Mauro on September 26,2008 | 11:49 AM

The ANWR, I believe, should not open up its WildLife preserve for oil exploration. I feel as though we should preserve the land so the caribou could stay in existance, and also respect the traditions of these Native Americans. We need to preserve what we have left of our natural enivironment. Not to mention that the Native Americans have been raped of their land and traditons.

Posted by Toni Mcnelis on September 25,2008 | 07:49 PM



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