Central Arctic caribou herd numbers highest ever

Kay Cashman

Pat Valkenberg, a research coordinator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, told PNA Dec. 20 that a recent count of the Central Arctic caribou herd shows herd numbers at their highest level ever.

“The herd is now at 27,128 animals,” Valkenberg said. That compares with 19,700 in 1997 and a previous high of 24,000 in 1992.

“We don’t really know why the herd has increased,” he said.

When asked whether Alaska’s caribou herd numbers are part of a natural fluctuating cycle, Valkenberg said it is one of the issues that caribou biologists periodically debate: “In Alaska, in North America, some of the herds do appear to go up and down — some on a 20 year cycle ... other herds fluctuate fairly erratically. Other herds, such as the Porcupine, have been remarkably stable,” Valkenberg said.

Caribou biologists agree that the fluctuations in herd numbers are at least partially weather-related, Valkenberg said. “And there’s no doubt that predation, especially wolf predation, plays a pretty big role. ... Most of the Arctic herds have an effective way of beating predation. They calve up on the North Slope, away from where most wolves are.”