Here's what the Trump presidency could mean for the Porcupine caribou herd

The Gwich'in say they're prepared to ramp up their efforts to protect the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd in the wake of Donald Trump's re-election — the president-elect has previously promised to reauthorize oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"We're going to be up for a major fight," said Taa'ąįį Ch'igiioonta, a board member with the Gwich'in Council International, which represents 9,000 Gwich'in in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska.

Ch'igiioonta lives in Arctic Village, Alaska, a community along the Porcupine caribou's migration route that shares a close relationship with the herd. He said a key part in preparing for that fight will be for his community to reconnect to their lands and cultural practices.

Each spring, the Porcupine caribou herd migrates over 2,400 kilometres from the Northwest Territories to their calving grounds in the coastal plains of the wildlife refuge — the longest land mammal migration in the world.

The Gwich'in have been safeguarding the wildlife refuge and the Porcupine caribou herd for thousands of years. However, Trump's re-election poses a threat to America's Arctic, said Peter Winsor, the interim director of Alaska's Gwich'in Steering Committee.

"The Gwich'in people have said that this place is sacred," Winsor said. "[They] are intimately dependent on the Porcupine caribou herd, both spiritually and also for the way of living and for their food security."

Oil and gas lease sale required by Trump-era law

During Trump's first term, the U.S. Congress passed a law that required the federal government to hold two oil drilling lease sales for oil and gas drilling within the refuge. The Gwich'in Steering Committee has since been working to permanently remove the threat of oil and gas development in the area.

Despite the Trump-era law and his campaign promises, Winsor said there is currently little interest from oil companies to drill in the wildlife refuge because of the environmental risks it poses.

"There's no need for the U.S. to do risky development of oil and gas in a place where the primary purpose of the refuge is to protect the wildlife," Winsor said.

The Biden administration made efforts to protect the wildlife refuge, including cancelling seven oil and gas leases in 2023. This week, Joe Biden made another attempt to limit oil and gas development before Trump takes office in January.

The 2017 Trump-era law required that the second oil and gas lease sale take place before the end of 2024. The Biden administration will comply with the law, but plans to only offer 400,000 acres of land within the refuge — the smallest acreage the law permits. The plan for the sale, which will be approved in 30 days, also comes with restrictions intended to limit interest from oil and gas companies. 

"It's signalling that the Biden administration really doesn't want any development to happen in the refuge either," said Winsor. 

However, for the Gwich'in, any lease sale for oil and gas drilling in the wildlife refuge is far from ideal. The steering committee is fighting for long-term protections for the refuge so that it can be safeguarded no matter who is running the White House.

"The Arctic is such a sensitive ecosystem due to climate change effects, that any extra pressure on that ecosystem, whether it be industrial development, building of roads, whatever it is, is extremely disruptive," said Winsor. "And for the Gwich'in, it threatens their entire cultural and spiritual existence."

Winsor said the steering committee plans to take legal steps in the next four years to prevent oil and gas development in ANWR under Trump. 

CPAWS Yukon has hope

Laurence Fox, the campaigns co-ordinator with Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Yukon, has been working closely with the Gwich'in to protect the wildlife refuge and the Porcupine caribou herd. 

They say there is hope.

Although not perfect, the Biden administration's plan for the lease sale includes provisions to protect the Porcupine caribou herd. That's a move that the Gwich'in and CPAWS Yukon support, despite their long-term goal of eliminating all oil and gas development in the refuge.

Fox also has faith in the resilience of the Gwich'in and the herd, which has been migrating to the wildlife refuge's coastal plain for over 3,000 years, according to radiocarbon dating. 

"You have incredible people in the Gwich'in, who have an incredible relationship that has lasted for as long as they can recall … with these incredible caribou that have the longest land migration in the world across incredibly harsh terrain," said Fox. 

"I'm probably going to put my money on the thousands of years of relationship and strength and community that comes from that."