Kelp-Fed Beef, Swimming Caribou, Feral Reindeer, and Their Hunters: Island Mammals in a Marine Economy

Katherine Reedy

doi:10.3390/su8020113

Abstract

Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula residents have selectively introduced land mammals to their primarily marine based economy over the past two centuries. This paper describes these many introductions, contexts, and the longer term roles of these cattle, sheep, reindeer, and other land mammals in discrete island settings and the regional food economy based upon interviews in ten communities and comprehensive household surveys in eight of these. Caribou are indigenous and traditionally hunted in other parts of the state but are legally “invasive” in island contexts now managed by the federal government. Access to land and natural resources by Alaska Natives and rural peoples is regulated by state and federal agencies, but Aleutian residents have shaped their environment and engineered food sources to support their communities. This paper demonstrates that hardline approaches to removing invasive land mammal species will have human consequences and an integrated management policy emphasizing food security and conservation that includes reducing the density of these introduced species is most appropriate.

Highlights

In March 2010, former graduate student Crystal Callahan and I were staying in a Port Heiden, Alaska, bed and breakfast working on a subsistence project when the telephone rang
This paper considers the role of introduced land mammals in the region by examining their introduction and development, their local management, local uses and values, and the legal structure around introduced species
Data presented here are from two federally funded research projects addressing the current role of subsistence harvesting for Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands Area residents, the social map of food harvesting and distribution, and how subsistence activities are shaped by other socioeconomic circumstances in eight Aleut/Unangan and Alutiiq communities

Summary

Introduction

In March 2010, former graduate student Crystal Callahan and I were staying in a Port Heiden, Alaska, bed and breakfast working on a subsistence project when the telephone rang. People in Port Heiden knew the young woman, an avid runner, who had traveled to their community to assist their students as a Lake and Peninsula Borough School District employee. This tragedy was not a total surprise to residents. In ongoing interviews for our project, Port Heiden residents had reported being chased by wolves, stalked, losing their dogs, fear of losing children, caribou deaths, few caribou calves surviving, the burden of closed caribou seasons, and the difficulties in hunting wolves.

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Conclusion