IThe people of northwestern Alaska have had a long relationship with local popu-, lations of Rangifer tarandus. During the last 200 years this relationship has changed from one of subsistence to overexploitation of caribou (the name for wild reindeer in North America), to commercial livestock production of semi domesticated reindeer and now may be returning to a subsistence economy based on caribou. Reindeer were introduced to Alaska in 1892 because of the disappearance of caribou, a subsistence resource. Until recently, reindeer meat and velvet antler production generated significant employment and revenue important to the economies of rural Alaskan communities. However, from 1976 to 1996 the Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH) increased from about 75,000 to I 463,000 animals. Concurrently, winter range use of the WACH shifted westward onto traditional reindeer ranges of the Seward Peninsula for the first time in over 100 years. This event has produced socio-economic and ecological consequences for the region. Many reindeer lierders have lost 75-100 percent of their herds 1 through comtiiingling and out-migration with wild caribou. This loss, amounting to over 17,CM)0 reindeer, represents a potential economic value of millions of dollars. Many herders have adopted new technologies, such as satellite telemetry and intensive herding to salvage what is left of their herds. Here we discuss the role of grazing animals and patterns of human re.source use in an Arctic system. We then discuss our findings on the effects and changes in management practices brought about by caribou incutsion in the context of the regional economy on the Seward Peninsula.

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Over the last century, reindeer herding has provided a major economic base in Eskimo villages on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, and has come to represent an important dimension of Native cultural identity. As a result of the current population explosion of caribou from the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, along with a shift in the herd's migratory patterns, reindeer ranges that were free of caribou for generations are now being flooded by tens of thousands. Reindeer join these migrating caribou and leave their ranges. As individual herders lose reindeer to the caribou, the impact is felt at the individual, community, and regional level. This paper describes some of the factors that influence modern-day Eskimo herders' ability to cope with this devastating situation. The herders' descriptions of the crisis lead us to a larger and more comprehensive picture of how they understand and respond to the environmental conditions, technology, and economic conditions that they face.

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Non‐climate variables shape vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change. Here, we describe how recent environmental and socio‐economic developments have transformed reindeer herding and perceptions of weather on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. The reindeer industry has shrunk considerably since the early 1990s, when the winter range of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd expanded, and over 17 000 reindeer mixed with migrating caribou and left the region. Socio‐economic and environmental repercussions make the continuation of herding tenuous, and erode the ability of herders to cope with weather variability, among other perturbations. We present a case study of one herder's annual cycle, and juxtapose physical drivers of herding activities, including weather‐station and herder observations of local weather variability, with socio‐economic factors. There is an increased urgency to access and monitor reindeer with caribou present, but herding plans are constrained by lower economic returns and the need to spend more time in non‐herding jobs. Although weather is a greater concern now for immediate herd access, standard weather data are largely irrelevant to the mechanics of herding, whereas variables pertaining to the timing of biotic events (e.g., synchrony of spring break‐up and calving) and visibility are attributed to lost herding opportunities. Short‐term responses to weather conditions stem from more long‐term vulnerability associated with caribou presence, reduced herd size, difficulties affording snowmobile maintenance or crew assistance, and dwindling market opportunities. We emphasize the environmental and socio‐economic interactions that affect vulnerability and adaptive capacity for modern herding.