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About the project
About "Human Role in Reindeer / Caribou Systems"
Disclaimer: The material on this website is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This project is an outgrowth of an International Workshop on The Human Role in Reindeer/Caribou Systems: Coping with Threats to Environmental Security in Northern Landscapes organized by Institute of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College and Arctic Centre and hosted by the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi, Finland, 10-14 February 1999 (the website of the conference is available at http://www.rangifer.net/rangifer/conf/).
Caribou and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) play a crucial role in human habitation of the Arctic by providing food, shelter, and transportation. The animals are central to the cultures of many indigenous peoples, including the Chukchi, Cree, Dene, Even, Evenki, Gwich'in, Innu, Inuit, Metis, Nenets, Saami, Sakha (Yakut), Yukagir, and Yupiit. Changes in caribou and reindeer systems that may adversely impact these and other arctic residents include reductions in grazing land and resources as a result of large-scale development by mining and hydrocarbon industries, habitat alteration due to global warming and pollution, and shifts from subsistence hunting and herding to commercial herding. Fundamental changes in economic, political, and legal structures also affect indigenous peoples and their use of natural resources.The effects of these changes on caribou and reindeer systems and their relationship to indigenous peoples are potentially extreme, but have received little scientific study.

The Human Role in Reindeer/Caribou Systems workshop's objectives were to produce three main products:

(1) a comprehensive science plan which identifies the gaps in prior research and existing cooperative arrangements and proposes a strategy to fill the gaps;

(2) a special publication with papers from the plenary speakers and contributing authors, and

(3) a network that combines scientists, the user community, and those engaged in managing and protecting reindeer/caribou systems.

This website will facilitate the realization of goals (1) and (3). Here you will find the research plan and a network of scientists, users, and those engaged in managing and protecting reindeer/caribou systems.

In addition to these, on this website you will find links to past and ongoing research projects on reindeer/caribou, links to various pages and sites with information on Rangifer tarandus, detailed profile of caribou herds, announcements about current events and news on caribou, and much more useful and interesting information.

This website is created and maintained by the Institute of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College. The Institute has also maintained a comprehensive website on the Rovaniemi Conference. This website (available at http://www.rangifer.net/rangifer/conf) is itself a very useful resource to caribou and reindeer. In addition to administrative information, there you will find a collection of over 40 abstracts and articles sent for the conference, photo gallery of the conference, other useful information.


Funding sources

The Human Role in Reindeer/Caribou Systems project has been funded by:

The creation of this website became possible thanks to funding from the The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.


Steering committee

-Gary Kofinas, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
-David Klein, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
-Bruce Forbes, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Finland
-Leonid Baskin, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russia
-Gail Fondahl, Univ. of Northern British Columbia, Canada
-Brad Griffith, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks,Fairbanks, AK, USA
-Kostantine Klokov, Group of Ethno-Ecological Problems, Institute of Geography, St. Petersburg, Russia
-Yulian Konstantinov, Institute for Anthropological Field Research, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria
-Don Russell, Canadian Wildlife Service, (and CAFF Rangifer Monitoring Network Leader) Environment Canada, Yukon Territory, Canada
-Raymond Stoney, Western Arctic Herd Co-Management Board, Old Crow, Yukon, Canada
-Margarita Magomedova, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
-Gail Osherenko, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
-James Overland, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory/NOAA
-Joe Tetchli, Porcupine Caribou Management Board , Canada


People behind the scenes
Project oversight
Gary Kofinas, Assistant Professor of Resource Policy and Management, Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Natural Resources, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Kofinas received his PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies in Resource Management Science from the University of British Columbia. He has conducted comparative research on the role that communities play in caribou co-management systems in Alaska and Canada and participated in several international research projects. He has been designing and implementing community based ecosystem monitoring.
Research of internet resources, site maintenance
Edie Barbour, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Original drawings - home page
Doug Urquhart, Caribou researcher, wildlife biologist.
About Human Role in Reindeer/Caribou Systems
Funding sources
Steering Committee
People behind the scenes