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Article: Hunting for their future: Alaska's Gwich'in Indians fear that proposed oil drilling on caribou calving grounds could end their ancient culture.
- Article from:
- National Wildlife
- Article date:
- October 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 National Wildlife Federation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Alaska's Gwich'in Indians fear that proposed oil drilling on caribou calving grounds could end their ancient culture
Standing on a knoll in the foothills of the Brooks Range, 120 miles above the Arctic Circle, Kenneth and Caroline Frank point out the first caribou of the fall season drifting by in groups of two and three. Though Kenneth is a hunter, he restrains himself as the animals pass, some no more than 25 yards away. "We should wait," he explains to my wife and me, friends from another culture. "There will be more in a day or so."
The Franks are Gwich'in Athabascan Indians--members of a tribe that has existed here for thousands of years--and letting the ...