The porcupine caribou herd are a barren ground caribou (rangifer tarandus) with the longest land mammal migration in the world ~ the migration covers of 1,500 miles or 2,400 km each year ~ they migrate form the arctic lands of Yukon and Alaska to their calving and nursing grounds on the coastal plain of Ivvavik National Park and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ~ the health of the herd is threatened by possible oil and gas development in ANWR near the Prudhoe Bay oil fields
The Gwich'in people of Yukon, NWT and Alaska depend on the caribou for their cultural, physical and spiritual sustenance ~ living in 13 communities throughout the North, the subsistence lifestyle of the Gwich'in is based around the caribou and hunting them during migration
These images were taken during a month long ski and hiking expedition to intercept and follow the herd as they migrate in late winter and spring ~ the expedition started in Old Crow Yukon on skis and finished in Ivvavik National Park
