Alexie says his favourite part of the animal is “the stomach.” With any luck, community members like Alexie will be able to enjoy vadzaih for years to come. “If you’re a community harvester, the best pieces should be going to those in need, and that was a concern.”ĭespite these challenges, the herd remains healthy. “Some of the harvesters were keeping the best parts for themselves and leaving some of the other parts for the Elders, and that’s not right,” said Kyikavichik. Traditionally, the spoils of a harvest are meant to go back into the community first, especially Elders and those in need. “Once we start getting into that territory, where we’re monetizing the Porcupine caribou herd, the vadzaih, we’re into some very dangerous territory,” said Kyikavichik. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic also presented a new dilemma for harvesters and their communities: Commercial harvesting. Gwich’in Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik, second from right, speaks during a “fireside chat” with Gwich’in leadership on Thursday, Jan. ![]() “We will need to start working with the government to see what we can do to restrict that,” he said. He also agreed about the use of four-wheelers. Speaking after the summit, Kyikavichik said community reaction to the proposed seven to 14-day hunting ban has so far been positive. “If we go after it, and people complain that it’s gone too far, then we haven’t done our jobs,” he said. On the last day of the summit, Gwich’in Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik proposed lobbying for several rules, including a 7 to 14-day hunting ban at the beginning of the season when the vadzaih arrive at the Dempster Highway.īut he said leadership would need the backing of the community to make these measures work. Policy solutions were on the table as well. “No more Ski-Doos, no more four-wheelers. And who wants to see four-wheeler tracks all over the beautiful country that we have?”Īlexie agrees. “And so those four-wheeler tracks stay on the road for a long time. ![]() “Our land is mossy, and moss takes a long time to grow back,” she said. The use of four-wheel vehicles when harvesting was especially contentious.Īlana Francis is a young harvester who spoke up at the summit. ![]() The summit allowed harvesters and other community members to share their wisdom and arrive at new solutions.īy the end of the forum, there was broad agreement among leaders and attendees that keeping the herd healthy is the responsibility of every hunter. Similarly, the collapsing salmon population in the Yukon River has major implications for the health of the herd. “The porcupine herd is probably the one different herd that we have, almost globally at this point, for the large migratory caribou groups,” said Mike Suitor, a wildlife biologist who presented on the health of the herd at the summit.īut the herd is sensitive even to seemingly small changes in its environment: As Suitor explained, the growth of willows in the area attracts moose, which also attract wolves. The Porcupine herd, one of the largest in North America, is in good health: According to a 2017 estimate, the herd had about 218,000 members.īy comparison, other herds in the territory, like the Bathurst and Bluenose West herds, have less than 20,000 members, according to recent estimates. Participants attend a presentation on the first full day of the vadzaih summit on Tuesday, Jan.
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