Alan E. Wittbecker
The plan relates wilderness to resource use by the cultural values of an optimum human population within a home ecosystem, although that system is connected to others by trade for some necessities or luxuries. Cultural goals are keyed to the traditional idea of physical limits. Five general steps are followed from a comprehensive plan (Wittbecker, 1992).
Off the arctic slope are the Chukchi sea and the Beaufort sea, divided by Point Barrow. The shallow Chukchi covers part of the continental shelf. The Beaufort covers a narrow shelf dropping to the deep (2,400 to 3,600 meters) Canada Basin. Water circulation is dominated by a north then east flow. Beaufort coastal waters have a limited amount of nitrogen and phosphorus; with low light levels, there is low annual primary production.
As light increases in the spring, algae blooms provide nutrition for zooplankton and pelagic crustaceans--copepods, amphipods, shrimp, which support whales--beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and bowhead (Balaena mysticetus)--seals (Phoca hispida, Phoca fasciata, Phoca largha, Erignathus barbatus), and birds. Millions of birds come in the spring-- loons, geese, terns, and gulls; puffins and cormorants nest in colonies. By summer, arctic cod and sculpin come close to shore; cisco and other anadromous fish also travel along the shore.
The climatic zone is arctic, with long, dry, cold winters and short, moist, cool summers. Winter lasts from October to late May; summer is cool, cloudy, and short. With only 12.5 to 37.5 centimeters (5 to 15 inches) of rain, the slope is a cold desert. Day length varies from continuous darkness to continuous light.
Because of the annual low temperatures, the depth of ground that freezes in winter is greater than the depth of ground that thaws in summer, resulting in permanently frozen ground, the permafrost, just below the active layer (freeze-thaw). The permafrost is a complex, dynamically balanced, historical system, with vegetation, substratum, topography, solifluction (soil flow), and animal activity all interacting.
Twenty percent of plant growth is eaten by mammals (there are few plant-eating insects). About 80% of the annual tissue growth returns to the soil when plants or parts die. The material is eaten slowly by microorganisms and fungi, which are fed on by mites, larvae, springtails, and enchytraed worms, and these by birds.
Tundra plant associations are identified by the frequency of the members of a small, specialized flora. Three major categories of associations: wetlands, dominated by grasses, sedges, and rushes; the arctic coastal plain has many almost pure stands of marsh grass (Dupontia fischeri). Drier mesic areas may be characterized by cotton sedge (Eriophorum) tussocks interspersed with lichens, mosses, ericaceous shrubs, and dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa). In the more rolling topography, the tussocks offer havens to small mammals. The fellfields are made up of wind-eroded, frost-heaved, crustose lichen-covered rock fragments, with mats of black lichen (Alectoria) and colonies of Dryas.
There are 574 taxa of vascular plant flora, only 8% of which occur in the plains (90% are found in the foothills). There is low species diversity: 189 species of birds, 24 species of terrestrial mammal fauna (only 5 endemic to tundra), slightly more species of marine mammals.
One basic characteristic of boreal foodwebs is flexibility in the food habits of animals. Boreal feeding niches are broad and flexible, and without the extreme specializations seen in tropical and even temperate foodwebs. Boreal foodwebs, being made up of so few species, are also fragile and undergo dramatic shifts (violent cycles of populations). The tertiary consumers, humans, wolves (Canis lupus), and jaegers, depend on three basic primary consumers of vegetation: micro-tine rodents (Microtus oeconomus), ground squirrels, and caribou (Rangifer tarandus).
Steller's sea cow and the Alaskan musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) were hunted to extinction. The sea otter and walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)were extirpated in some of their ranges. Rare and endangered species include five species of whale, the Arctic peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), Eskimo curlew, and several species of plants.
Hunter-gatherers lived in bands; local bands (micro) formed part of a larger linguistic and breeding community. Local bands gathered regularly into larger group (macro) for ceremonies or food-sharing. Trade between Eskimo groups had been constant, so that the Inupiat had knives, metal vessels, beads, and tobacco before direct contact with Europeans.
The language of the Eskimos of the tundra is Inupiaq, derived from a Proto-Eskimo language. Although Eskimo culture is fairly uniform from Alaska to Greenland, there are differences in tools and hunting techniques, as well as social customs. The primary unit of social life is the nuclear family.
The Inupiat group is a subculture of the Eskimo centered on the arctic slope. All native inhabitants of the North Slope Region are Inupiat (a single inhabitant is an Inupiaq; Eskimo refers to more than one group). Nunamiut means inhabitants of land (inland people); Tagiokmiut means inhabitants of the coast (sea). Eskimo bands identify with geographic areas. Around Barrow are the Nuvukmiut; west are the Utkiagmiut, Kaiaksiravigmiut, and Kallimmiut; east are Negalik, Kaktovigmiut, and Palaktokmiut; further inland are Kugruakmiut, Kuupigimiut, Ikpikpugmiut, Koluguragmiut, Kugmiut, and Utukokmiut.
Eskimos developed a culture that allowed them to survive in an arctic environ-ment. The arctic small-tool tradition was their technological base. Eskimo weapons were fashioned from bone, ivory, and driftwood; all hunting tools were engraved with magic images to encourage the animals to be killed. Eskimos killed caribou, bear, wolves, and other animals. They fished, and hunted waterfowl and seals from kayaks. For hunting whales and walrus, crews of Eskimo hunted in an open-hulled vessel, umiaks, covered in walrus hide.
In the Eskimo world all beings, humans, animals, plants, and stones, have an inner soul (inua) that can transform into other life forms--a walrus might become a seal or a seal a man. The spirit of a slain animal remained alive in the bladder, which was returned to the sea, to be reborn in another animal, during an annual bladder festival.
Traditionally, production was not separated from the domestic functions of families (Sahlins 1968). Activity was home-based. House types were determined by the composition of a household and the anticipated length of residence. For a nuclear or extended family, a caribou skin tent (iccellik), dome-shaped over willow branches, was traditional (requiring 20-23 hides). Snow and moss were packed around the sides. Sod houses were also employed for winter settlements. The snow-block house was built as a one-night shelter. Sleeping bags were made with caribou skin.
For clothing (Hoffman 1976), each adult needed about 20 caribou skins, eight skins for a complete outfit, including parkas (2 each), pants (1), boots, mittens, and gloves. A hunter's kayak took 12 skins; others were needed to cover caches, sleds, and walls. For food, shelter, and tools, each person needed at least skins per year.
The north was first invaded by Europeans in search of right whales, then walrus, bowhead and blue whales. In the 1860s whalers were trading rifles, ammunition, flour, liquor, tobacco, and molasses for caribou meat and furs. Fur traders came later to take their own beaver, wapiti, bear, and muskox. Explorers also decreased populations of caribou, muskox, bears, and walrus to feed their expeditions.
Starting with the gold rush and continuing through the oil rush, hunting rush, and tourist rush, human populations have increased far beyond the carrying capacity of the land to support them. Large permanent supply lines, sometimes inadequate, are needed to support population levels. The Eskimos today have been invaded by a consumptive culture, which is so far unable to adjust its urban industrial world view to environmental limits--even refusing to acknowledge many limits.
There are now eight fairly large, year-round villages in the North Slope region: Kaktovik, near the refuge, Barrow with over 3,500 people, Wainwright, 161 km southwest, and Point Hope, another 161 km southwest; also, Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Nuiqsut, and Point Lay--most with less than 300 people (Figure 1).
As a result of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Eskimos received 17.6 million hectares (44 million acres--10% of the state). Each eligible native received 100 shares in one of 12 corporations (a 13th held emigrant's rights). These shares were to be eligible for sale to non-Natives after 1991, later extended to 1993. The tundra area, including the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) and Arctic Wildlife refuge (ANWR) is controlled by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC); they filed a 23.2 million hectare claim to control the land.
As a business, the Arctic Slope corporation lost $6.9 million in 1982 because of a settlement and decline in construction at Prudhoe Bay and the NPR. It has created subsidiaries: Arctic Slope Alaska General Construction Company, A. S. Consulting Engineers, Eskimos, Inc., which operates gravel pits in Barrow and rents heavy equipment, and Tundra Tours, which owns a hotel and provide bus service to schools. In 1985 Chevron, BP, and ASRC drilled an exploratory well in the refuge; since then, especially after the Valdez spill, the refuge has not be open to further exploration.
The 12 regional native American claims fit native cultures to their ecosystems. They are natural groupings that arose from long-term dwelling. But they only represent the commercial interests of natives. The North Slope region however, is congruent with an intermediate level of Alaskan government, the North Slope Borough. Often the boundaries of boroughs conform to natural geography and seek to interrelate cultural and economic activities. This encourages reliance on regional resources.
Unfortunately, ANCSA did not resolve the issue of native subsistence. The state still asserted its jurisdiction over fish and wildlife. In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands and Conservation Act (ANILCA) increased the size of national parks to 42 million hectares (104 million acres). ANILCA was not able to resolve the subsistence issue either.
Even at low numbers in the arctic, humanity is a pandominant species--a dominant is a species with greater influence than any other in its biotic commu-nity, changing the lives of other species and the character of the habitat. As pandominant, humanity reclaims, overkills, clears, depletes, and wastes at a level that threatens the stability and existence of many systems. One of the ecological consequences of human activity is the degradation of wild habitats for human developments (food, housing, and recreation) and the introduction of novel ele-ments into the biosphere--elements that have not been harmoniously worked in over time. The biomass of the human species, including domestic species, probably far exceeds the biomass of any nondomestic species. The domination of humanity is related to other characteristics as well: A large annual increase (almost 2%), high structural organization (of information and matter), and high energy use.
This dominance has major effects on the North Slope Region: transient pertur-bations in energy relations (from oil spills, burning); chronic shifts of systems (from dams, irrigation, chemical wastes); species manipulation (from the import and export of exotics); and, interference competition with wild species (as opposed to exploitative competition, which can be stabilizing). None of these effects are exclu-sive to humans as a species, but they are excessive, rapid, compounded, and large-scale. With a comprehensive, ecological, long-term plan, changes and impacts can be anticipated and directed.
This thought experiment uses a deductive, synthetic, conceptual model based on data generated from research on biological productivity, the rates of resource use, and cultural valuation. A deductive approach is necessary because accurate measurements of productivities in most ecosystems are lacking and exactness in values is misleading. A synthetic approach is necessary to integrate quantitative and qualitative data. In combining measures of qualitative and quantitative, it is simpler to set aside the first and then to calculate the second. The model must be conceptual because of the inherent fuzziness of the systems.
The wilderness of the North Slope Region is a sum of areas related to land area, ecosystem cycles, productivity, technology, culture, and an optimum human presence. An optimum population is calculated by adding the total annual productivity (in Kcal) to the total annual resources (in Kcal), multiplying that sum by technological and cultural modifier fractions, and dividing that by the annual per capita requirements for food and resources. The available area is obtained by subtracting wilderness areas, conservation areas, and other areas to be reserved from the total area. A technological modifier, based on the use of technology in extending or contracting the food or mineral productivity. and a cultural modifier, based on the application of cultural values in determining area and productivity are applied to calculations. For the total figures for all essentials--food, shelter, clothing, transportation--energy is converted to Kilocalories and placed on an annual budget (averaged over 1, 10, or 100 years). Calculations are used for the purpose of illustra-tion; they are not conclusive or binding.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the far northeast part of the state, comprises 76,000 km2. The mission of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is to safeguard sufficient land to meet people's needs for an area where the entire spectrum of human benefits associated with wild creatures and wild lands are enhanced and "made available." The objectives include protection of the calving grounds of the 100,000 caribou in the porcupine herd (Figure 2).
If both these areas were reclassified as wilderness (Figure 3), then whole ecosystems could be protected. Ecosystem preservation protects entire biotic communities: genes, populations, species, habitats, associated traditional human cultures, and all the processes and interactions. To keep the essential services of nature, from atmospheric cleaning to soil-formation, large reserves are needed. Reserves are critical elements in global element cycles, also. They provide a natural base line for management reference and a unique opportunity for scientific research. Large reserves would increase representation of species and save viable mammalian populations, that is, maintain the integrity of wild gene pools. Such reserves would permit natural processes to occur without human interference. We also need large reserves to derive further benefits from understanding natural processes and direct economic benefits from species. And, for aesthetic purposes: to see and to participate in nature (these being the basis of watching and tourism).
The desired size of the preserve is a complex function of the area's key species, quantity of suitable habitat, and minimum viable numbers of species. Large-bodied vertebrate species tend to have lower population densities, thus a reserve with self-sustaining large-bodied vertebrate populations will likely be adequate for herbi-vores, insectivores, and primary producers. The key mammal species in the North Slope Region are caribou, wolves, fox, lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus, L. sibericus), and microtine rodents (Figure 1).
Determining the minimum number of individuals in a population to guarantee a high probability of survival results in widely varying minimum areas, depending on the key species selected. Carnivores are usually the least dense of species and have the smallest populations. They are also sensitive indicators of ecological integrity. Protection of the rarest elements should provide security for more dense species in an ecosystem.
Each wolf requires a minimum area, for example, as a home range. Since not all wolves in a group breed--some become aunts or uncles and help care for pups--it is necessary to assume at least 3 wolves per breeding unit. Assuming a minimum viable population of 500 (Frankel and Soule), and a requirement of about 80 sq km per wolf, the minimum area for a viable self-sustaining wolf population would be between 39,000 and 78,000 sq km (Frankel and Soule). According to C. M. Schonewald-Cox, even reserves the size of 10,000 to 20,000 sq km (1 to 2 million ha) contain little habitat to accommodate a large population of wolves (1983).
Mech (1970) observed that wolves do not exceed a biomass of 1 wolf (360 kg) per 11,000 kg of prey, without reaching a limit of sustained yield (1/30). The actual ratio was much lower (1/110). Humans in equilibrium probably did not exceed a similar biomass ratio. Burch (1972) estimates the human biomass, at European contact, at about 0.13 kg/sq km in the tundra regions. Klein estimates the biomass of large herbivores (mostly caribou) on the tundra at 17.37 kg/sq km (100 lbs per square mile). Thus, human use was far below the limit of sustained yield (a ratio of 1/133). The low ratio may be explained in part by the fact that both humans and wolves preyed on caribou.
Usually, large carnivores are a sensitive indicator of the carrying capacity. Minimum habitat protection is necessary for the protection of endangered or threatened invertebrates, which are responsible for maintaining basic ecological processes through predation, recycling, and pollination.
Although there have been debates over whether a single large reserve is better than several small ones, the shape and size of North Slope Region wilderness is determined by habitat studies of the unique natural history and conditions. The size should be large enough so that species will not be vulnerable to "extinction vortices" caused by genetic or environmental stochasticity. In this reserve, disturbance from resource reclamation or recreation would probably be the greatest threat.
The recommendation for a North Slope Region reserve is 1 large areas, about 80,000 sq km, buffered by native native cultures (Figure 3). The hunting and gather-ing lifestyle requires huge expanses; the reserve recommendation for native cultures is 100,000 sq km. The reserve would be managed by benign neglect-- despite the fact that many do not list this as a management option. Natural processes, such as fire, wind, or species explosions, would be allowed to operate freely, even if they altered the functioning of the system. The large areas of the proposed reserves would be laid out on top of the petroleum reserve and the wildlife refuge. Larger areas would reduce management costs; smaller reserves in general require more intensive management and habitat manipulation. Saving 190,000 sq km might be economically or politically difficult under the current industrial monolith in much of the U.S., but due to climactic and physical limits northern Alaska is not expected to be a major agricultural or resource contributor. The cost of reserves would be not be high, even in terms of lost potential, when the costs of resource extraction and transportation are considered with the more neglected costs of loss of habitat and local sustenance.
The north-south orientation for the reserves would minimize the dangers from physical and climactic changes. The greenhouse effect could drastically alter the species distributions in reserves, with the loss of many species. Placing the reserves on heterogeneous soil types and topographies increases the chances that the temperature and moisture requirements of species would be met. Simply maximizing the size and number of reserves would enhance long-term survival.
Animal populations vary according to cycles or unknown causes; they move and concentrate or disperse. Because animals fluctuate in such a cyclic manner on the tundra, management by the maximum sustained yield concept is even more difficult and questionable. Furthermore, the range of caribou and birds covers more than one ecosystem; wilderness designation for areas outside the North Slope must be coordinated. Simply setting aside large areas of habitat will result in smaller anthropogenic disturbances and fewer ecological surprises, e.g., as a result of the greenhouse effect.
From the land, people extract materials for food, shelter, and clothing. They put buildings and roads over that land. They dig up tons of gravel for roads. They depend on the plants, animals, resources, and energy.
Plants
The North Slope Region is a tundra. There are no stands of forest,
although there are willows around rivers and streams and the
imported decorative trees and grasses that people have planted and
maintained around their homes and businesses.
Productivity is low and it varies wildly, from high, dry ridges with small scat-tered plants to coastal sedge meadows; from 1 to 100 g C/sq m/yr (measurements of above-ground tissues, the carbon fixed by photosynthesis). The annual above-ground NPP on the polar desert plateau is about 70 kg/ha/yr (or 1.34 x 10 to the 9th J/ha). A large portion of nutrients and primary production is below ground. Arctic willow (Salix arctica) plants produce about 30 kg/ha/yr in the high arctic. For sedge-moss wet meadows, 1502 kg/ha/yr. (or 2.77 x 10 to the 10th J/ha). The gross primary production (GPP) of coastal plain tundra at Barrow is 1550 Kcal/sq m (344 gm/sq m), and the net production ( NPP) is 820 Kcal/sq m (182 g/sq m) (Johnson, 1970). Mean NPP of tundra: 140 g/sq m/yr. GPP for the whole Barrow region, above and below ground was calculated at 465 gdw sq m; NPP was 230 gdw/sq m.
Most of the productivity of plants is not directly usable by humans. Its importance is as support for native mammals. Agriculture has never been self-sustaining due to northern latitudes, severe climate, and thin soils. The Matanuska experiment in the 1930s and 40s was not successful. The Delta Barley project in the 1980s stalled on erodible land. Subsistence homesteaders and gardeners, however, grow a limited variety of produce. Agriculture on the slope is not ecologically appropriate. Perhaps a family urban agriculture might be possible in settlements.
Animals
The original grassland supported good numbers of mammals, from
lemming and to caribou, musk ox, arctic hare, arctic fox, and
wolves. During the long, dark winter, animals either migrate away
(birds, fish, marine mammals), hibernate (grizzly bears--Ursus
arctos, marmots, ground squirrels), or remain active (caribou,
wolves, fox, lemmings, polar bear), if they have physiological
adaptations to severe cold.
Caribou diet varies with place and time of year. In the spring they feed on growing buds and leaves of willow, plants uncovered by snow, and new grass and sedge shoots. More of the same in summer. the bases of grass and sedge plants in fall and winter. Fungi and lichens (not their preferred food) in the winter. There are four caribou herds using the north slope. A 1970 survey of the arctic herd, in the west, estimated a minimum population of 242,000 animals; by 1977 the population had dropped to 75,000 (Klein, 1978). The porcupine herd in the east (Hemming, 1971) has been stable since 1970 at 100,000. A small herd around Teshekpuk lake numbers 500. A central arctic herd, distinguished from the west arctic, numbers 5,000 individuals. The Caribou population has changed dramatically, from 1 million in 1920, to 160 thousand by 1950, and climbing to about 400,000 in 1978.
Small mammals--voles, lemmings, ground squirrels--have a higher biomass and faster reproduction than large grazing mammals. Lemmings at Barrow reach peak densities every 3 to 6 years, declining to near zero between times. Although at each irruption, the lemmings destroy tundra grasses and mosses, they provide food for foxes, weasels, owls, and jaegers. Their grazing and burrowing increases decompo-sition rates, releases nutrients, and in general increases plant growth.
Marine mammals, especially seals and whales, live in or migrate to the area.
The arctic slope has sparse duck populations. Although there are shallow, closely-spaced ponds, they have a low productivity of plants and invertebrates. On the coastal tundra, the summer population of wading birds has been estimated (1974) at 5,500,000. In the eastern part of the Arctic refuge, 400,000 snow geese gather in late summer.
Invertebrates outweigh birds and mammals. Most are nematodes, mites, and springtails feeding on slowly decaying plant fragments (that may be 1-200 years old).
Despite a shift to a cash economy for some materials, Eskimos rely on hunting, whaling, and trapping for much of the food and materials. Point Hope Eskimos took 269,000 kg of game in the year 1960-61: 56% from seals, 22% from whales 19% from caribou, and 3% from fish--for 287 Eskimos and 340 dogs. One hundred gram portions of caribou flesh yields 23.9 g. of protein, 4.7 g of fat; for a Bowhead whale, 25.8 g protein, 2.6 g of fat 14.1 g iron. Adults consumed about 759 kg/yr while dogs got 407 kg/yr. One 5th of food demand was met by imported food. Animals for food use was about the same in 1972-76 (see Table 3). The take for just over 3,000 people averaged 837 pounds per person per year. The NPR-A Work Group calculated 838 pounds per person per year for 1976 and 566 for 1978 (for 3,612 people), averaged over 8 com-munities. This decline may have been because of the decline of the herds or the increase in availability of processed, imported foods.
Domesticated crops and animals have formed the basis of most advanced human civilizations. Neither domestic animals or crops are likely or perhaps even desirable in the boreal tundra. Although the biomass of a system (its stock) can be relatively large, the rate of production (interest) is low in the Arctic. Human use of the stock is often fast. Humans also try to rechannel the energy to more easily usable forms, reindeer for instance. The introduction of reindeer has caused severe oscillations and overgrazing--reindeer do not migrate--which has reduced the carrying capacity for caribou.
Because of the fragility of the tundra system, caribou are the best way of converting minimal solar energy to useful energy. If the caribou could return to half their primeval numbers, they could furnish 6 million kg of meat and fat annually (Kelsall, 1968). Exporting skins or meat out of the area, however, could contribute to destabilizing the ecosystem.
Most food energy goes for respiration or ends up as manure. The 95% loss is acceptable when an animal is raised on rough ground or when native populations, such as caribou, are used for food. Harvesting some wild animals may be a better alternative than agriculture; it would be cheaper than improving the pasture degraded from overuse. Wild species are more appropriate on marginal soils. Raising food animals in cities could be acceptable using wastes and scraps that contain recoverable food, but not be acceptable using whole grain crops or on free range.
Energy
The North Slope Region has sunlight, water, and wind, but not
nearly enough to provide energy to residences and industries.
Hydroelectric power is not well-developed. Wind and solar energy
are not abundant. The big difference between renewable energy
resources and energy use is the quantity of oil. There are large
amounts of gas and oil, and there are known reserves of coal. Coal
estimated at 20% of world resources. Oil (19 billion barrels) and
natural gas (2.9 trillion cubic meters).
The oil alone (19 billion barrels or 798 billion gallons) could last a small North Slope population (7,000), at normal rates (7 gallons per day per person) for a long time (over 44,000 years). The same oil used for the entire state would last over 700 years; but, used for the entire U.S. population (250 million people at 3.5 gallons per day per person), it would only last for two years. As a salable resource, therefore, oil could be depleted very rapidly.
Energy use is increasing 3 times faster than the human population. Much of this energy is used for heating. Some energy is consumed by transportation; over 30 percent of the energy used by one motor vehicle (car, snowmobile, airplane) is from its production, and over 60 percent is used for fuel. People need access to their homes, jobs, and shopping, but the unrestrained use of oil has spread out the patterns of transportation.
Attempts at temperate zone agriculture require excessive energy. Technologies require energy. To produce 1 liter of fuel takes 10,000 Kcal and to run a tractor for an hour uses 90,000 Kcal. To build the tractor takes far more. The industrial revolution increased the quantity of energy, but decreased the variety of energy resources. Energy generation itself consumes the greatest percentage (36) of energy. The main uses of the remaining energy are motor traffic, manufacturing, and residential and commercial heating.
Technology could be developed to tap the flow. The stock should be kept for transitional changes, rather than being burned up. In all processes in which energy is changed, some of it becomes unusable (diffused and very difficult to harness, according to the second law of thermodynamics). Combined systems of wind, water, solar, organic, and fossil fuels for energy could minimize impacts. Singly, these sources may be inadequate in the long-term, but as a mosaic they could meet decentralized needs.
Passive solar heating, combined with superinsulation, would reduce energy costs for individual buildings. Photovoltaic cells could provide back-up electricity and power for vehicles. Local energy projects using geothermal sources, winds, or the sun are preferable, since their operation does not introduce new material to local cycles. All of these sources would be characterized by a small scale. The public service function of nature provides free services to humanity that are essential to civilization. But when the free services are overloaded and breakdown, the public has to pay for repair. Further increase in flows of energy through technology will significantly reduce the capacity of the system to support its human population (even large-scale fusion techniques). The overuse of nonrenewable resources can destroy renewable ones.
Minerals
Because the North Slope Region rests on large deposits of oil, its
mineral wealth is considered to be great. It does have large mineral
deposits, but also high production and transportation costs. There is
gold mining near Juneau, Fairbanks, and Nome. Copper, although
the Kennecott mines closed in the 30s. Molybdenum, near
Ketchikan. Lead, zinc, and silver near Kotzebue. The most common
are listed in Table 6.
Virtually 100 percent of aluminum and manganese used has to be imported from overseas. Cobalt, platinum, tungsten--minerals used in advanced or strategic tech-nologies (in alloys, catalysts, magnets, and electronic devices), are absent in large quantities, and must be imported from other regions in the United States or from outside. If no substitutes are possible in electronic equipment, then these minerals have to be acquired through trade.
For the entire state of Alaska, the census bureau estimates a state population of 633,00 in the year 2,000, almost a 50% increase, with a 100% increase expected by 2020. Several trends in concentration are evident: A long-term trend to larger cities, and a more recent movement from cities to smaller communities.
Calculated Goals
Is 5,700 too many? Or 4,560? How many more could there be? Is
this
number above or below a maximum carrying capacity? (What kind
of freedom do the 230,000 people in Anchorage have?) Can a large
human population function in harmony with the arctic
environment?
An optimum carrying capacity can be calculated for this region. The carrying capacity is the population sustainable on a long-term basis of renewable and nonrenewable resources. For humans, this capacity must include domesticates, as human equivalents, since many domesticates compete for protein consumption. Technology can expand the carrying capacity to some extent, with more efficient use and resource substitution, but also it reduces the capacity with unforeseen effects, from the use of pesticides, for example. As Odum (1971) points out, the optimum is always less than the maximum. Furthermore, the optimum carrying capacity decreases as the per capita use of energy and resources increases. Carrying capacity calculations often just consider food energy, but all needs--clothing, shelter, transportation, information generation, aesthetic satisfaction--must be included. This introduces cultural elements into consideration, so human carrying capacity must be considered as cultural carrying capacity (Hardin, 1987).
Calculating an optimum population based on ecosystem productivity is relatively simple. Based on current caribou populations (180,000 and using maximal ratios--1/30--to simplify the calculation), the North Slope Region could support a optimum of 1,338 people (or an maximum of 6,000). Calculating a population based on seal and caribou populations, and assuming diet is 50% seal, 20% caribou, 20% whale, and 10% fish and fowl, the maximum population is 3,600 people--perhaps 1,500 as optimum.
H. R. Hulet pointed out that a population as a function of wood production would only be 80 percent of that calculated from food production--and the North Slope Region has almost no wood--even though 80% of the households use wood for heating. Furthermore, the population would be even smaller as a function of energy and fertilizer use rates. The rate of aluminum use would support only 40 percent as many. More importantly, these rates are not sustainable, being based on high American standards of consumption. A lack of some resources is not necessarily limiting, since the area can trade with other areas that need oil or tourist activities.
The current levels of population, at relatively high standards, can only be maintained through the constant takeover of natural habitats (for trade materials), or through the drawdown of fossil fuels, or by economically cheating the poor and powerless. Since the quantity of wild lands and fossil fuels is quite limited, either human populations must adjust to renewable resources or technology must provide substitutes, to avoid eventual population problems.
Samuel Eyre also devised a common denominator to consider organic and inorganic assets together. He assigned a nutrition equivalent unit to weights of metal, but this calculation depended on a dollar value for food and minerals. For example, assuming the daily standard adult human nutrition requirement of 3,000 Kilocalories, money income from minerals can be expressed in terms of annual nutrition units. Assuming that caribou meat releases 4 Kilocalories per gram and is 21 percent protein and 15 percent moisture, then 3.25 kilograms of meat yields 3,000 Kilocalories (and sufficient protein), conveniently equal to the daily food requirement of one human being. Twelve medium male caribou (averaged by weight and season) is equivalent to the annual food requirement of 1 person.
Assuming that aluminum sells for $1122.00 per metric ton and caribou sells for $1120.00 per metric ton ($1.12 per kg or $3.00 lb), 1 ton of aluminum costs about the same as 1 ton of caribou meat (see Table 8). If it takes 120 tons of aluminum to meet the needs of the current North Slope Region population of 6,000 (about 0.02 metric ton per person for vehicles, wiring, and cans), then people need to trade the monetary value of 120 tons of meat to get it--enough to feed 100 people--that is 100 fewer people than the area can support if people need to have aluminum things. By the time other trade items are considered, the population is closer to 1,400 than 6,000.
The advantage of community productivity as wealth is that the wealth is sustainable--plants and animals are renewable and minerals can be recycled. The net community production (NCP) takes all of the food chain into account--the hundreds of other species. Technological production (in integrated greenhouses or algae farms) of food has not considered.
Each calculation of a population has become more comprehensive and cautious and has resulted in a smaller number. The target population for planning depends on how cautious the residents are. Should they gamble and go for more people, they might break the system. On the other hand, they might approach some minimum. The likelihood of this possibility is low. The Inupiat did not approach it at 5,000. The minimum number for genetic health, for the entire species, could be 5,000 individuals. For a guarantee of fertility for the species, 25,000, and for a minimum for social contact for the species, 50,000.
People are using 10 to 30 times as many resources as the Eskimos did 160 years earlier, without being 10 to 30 times as happy. Indigenous peoples did not use resources at an accelerating rate. They were limited by their technology, but more importantly by their wants, as taught in myths and stories. High rates are clearly unsustainable. The difference is in modern technology and values.
The Impact of Technology
Eskimo technology is ingenious and elaborate. Many implements
were made out of bone, ivory, and stone; needles, combs, awls,
spoons, cut and shaped with a rotary bow drill. Hunting weapons
included bow and arrow, lances, fish spears, and harpoons.
Household utensils included lamp bowls, pots, cups, bags, buckets,
and storage bags. Like figurines, most all tools were decorated; this
attention probably made them better tools. Many tools have been
adopted by modern expeditions: dog-team sledges, snow goggles,
parkas, fur boots, kayaks, and igloos.
Eskimos adopt new tools when they can. Snowmobiles are replacing dog teams. The cost of owning and operating a snowmobile usually exceeds the monetary income derived from the land. But, since the snowmobile reduces the hunting time, more time is available for wage employment in the industrial culture.
Sometimes the new tools are inappropriate to the Arctic. Many buildings are industrial temperate zone designs; many uniform commercial products are not durable or useful. Imported peaches or bluegrass lawns are luxuries. The waste is dumped in landfills.
Technology can be used to expand or contract resources. Technologies have the capability to minimize the use of resources, but they also have negative effects. Technology has greatly increased the kind and quality of materials used for buildings and machines, especially aluminum and other light metals and silicon constructs. Yet, the scale of technology produces pollution that reduces the productivity of natural and agricultural systems. Unbridled, unconscious technology has given us benefits, but only at the cost of irreplaceable stocks of energy and environmental degradation. Instead of expecting technology to triple or quadruple our wealth, it is more likely that it has barely had a positive effect. Making technology appropriate, responsive, and conscious may go a ways to increasing its positive impact.
Patterns of Technology and Economy
Eskimo cultures have survived for over 10,000 years. They are
durable because their practices are ecological, social, and
economic. They mimic the flexibility of animal and plant
populations with their movements and population. The Inupiat are
generalists. The generalist strategy combines low investment with
high efficiency; it is conservative enough to carry people over
periodic drops in available resources. Lower resource consumption
rates.
The Inupiat are adaptive and have adapted some modern equipment; but these things require cash, which means selling goods or working in a cash economy. Their culture becomes incorporated into a cash economy. Hunters shift from hunting to trapping (e.g., fox) to participate in the cash economy. Trapping, being much more individualistic, weakens cooperative ties and ceremonies. Having motorized transportation permits hunters and trappers to travel further and faster, and to live in fewer villages, with increased population size and density. As Eskimos adapt to new economies, their subsistence and dietary patterns also change.
Energy used to be cycled within the arctic system, with Eskimos as top carni-vores. Much energy now flows from the south in the form of food and materials. Less energy flows from the north in the form of handicrafts and skins.
Odum points out that the human strategy is the opposite of the ecosystem strategy. Ecosystems increase the ratio of biomass to respiration, whereas humanity reverses it--possibly leading to boom and bust oscillations. Since the arctic already has such oscillations, the superimposition of greater oscillations may lead to extinctions or collapse.
Personal transportation, for instance, is problematical, especially motor vehicles. The number of vehicles in the North Slope Region exceeds the number of people, contributing disproportionately to physical and social problems. By allowing changes in distances and by forcing dispersed needs, the vehicle becomes indispensable. Changes in social mores and even physical health result from the embrace of motor transport.
A favorite Inupiat pastime was the telling and retelling of stories. Television also has repetition, but not the same depth of involvement. Radio stimulates images in the way books do, because neither impose images, although neither of these forms may be as involving. Improvements in technology are not necessarily improvements in human existence, but technology must be examined constantly, if people are not to lose some of the characteristics, such as empathy, that they value most highly. Some communities may wish to examine vehicles, computers, and television, and eliminate them or modify their use.
Subsistence hunting depends on very-long-term conservation. The ecosystems have to be kept intact to preserve the full diversity on which the hunters depend. Hunting, without a strong cultural tradition and values, does not automatically result in conservation. Inupiat have learned to use snowmobiles and guns, and have access to processed food.
Where traditional ways have been adequate for 10,000 years, the Inupiat compete for resources with an industrial culture that has no sense. If a culture cannot adapt itself to its ecosystem and abide by its limits, then the culture will perish. Disruption of ecosystem processes, as a result of excessive continuous resource demand, can lead to destabilization or collapse of the ecosystem and extinction or emigration of species.
The Inupiat had limited energy sources, but were able to change or move to avoid declining marginal productivity. In tribal societies, people live by harvesting wild food and the energy of the sun; their populations reflect the productivity of systems controlled by weather, landforms, and local cycles; they adjust to the conditions.
In industrial societies, people work to modify the environment for maximum use. Working for a maximum requires perfect knowledge and perfect action, otherwise there is disturbance and surprise in the forms of extinction, suppression, soil degradation, water pollution, and collapse. Industrial people are unable to chart the chaotic conditions that arise from snow, ice, drought, inversions, cycles, and population variation. But they pretend they can and pursue the maximum management strategy.
Most natives have adapted the infrastructure of the invading culture; they are taught and shown the patterns of consumption and use of an outside culture. They may try to maintain their ancient wisdom formed in a subsistence society that understood snow and permafrost and caribou and whales. They can aim for an optimum use, far below a maximum. In 1982, the council or Arctic Village, an Athapascan Indian community of 120, voted to limit residents to five caribou per person (from the Porcupine herd).Ironically, based on the track record of science and technology in the north, the ancient ways may still prove to be better--capability and flexibility rather than specialization and complexity.
Within unknown limits, all people need to establish a pattern of use that is sustainable and flexible, leaving other possibilities open. The general pattern is: Sustainability within cycles of depression and exuberance, economics fit to the resource base, without external input in energy or money, prevention of unwanted ecological or social costs, and harmonization of cultural differences. The root problem is how to live with technology in a mature manner.
Technological multipliers are efficiencies that allow a limited increase in the carrying capacity of the entire ecological system. The load on the system can be expressed as the resource demand multiplied by number of people. Trade diminishes some resource or food capital, but can be used to avoid some minimums. The Critical Minimum is a factor limiting carrying capacity. It is not known. Assigning a multiplier to the effect of technology is difficult due to the contradictory impacts of technology; here, it is estimated at 2, which is to say that technology has an overall benefit.
The Inupiat developed a cosmology appropriate to the place. Most of the universe was addressed in folklore and did not play a significant role in religious behavior. Religious attitudes, however, played a significant part in hunting. Animals were considered to be endowed with many of the same abilities as humans: the ability to reason, to talk, and to react. Although animals allowed themselves to be taken in a hunt, if insulted or mistreated they would withdraw their presence, to the detriment of human survival. Hunters attempted to placate and compel animals with ritual. The world of animals was considered to be superior to that of humans.
Every individual had power of some sort. Shamans were more intimate with the supernatural world and had greater power. He or she performed acts necessary for the good of the group.
There were elaborately evolved restrictions and taboos relating to the animal world. For instance, weapons made for caribou could not be used on sea beings. Although there was no limit on the number of caribou to be taken, there were restrictions on how the carcasses were to be treated; the heads of dead caribou on a sled were bent upright so they would not hit the ground. By contrast, only five wolf traps could be set at one time (five being enough for a parka); more and the wolves would be offended.
The essence of tribal experience is distilled into metaphors, into myths and stories. Native knowledge exists in a spiritual framework. The country is sacred to the natives. Folklore stresses the Raven (tulugaak) as creator of the world by bringing the land up from water and differentiating night from day. The world itself is considered flat, resting on four wooden pillars.
The Inupiat can not compete against industrial culture, but it has not been completely eliminated either. The monoculture of coke and cars tends to overwhelm the subtle adaptations of the Inupiat. A coherent culture provides a secure platform for exploration and open-mindedness; it provides criteria to judge the Ôspecial effects' like television. A conscious culture, perhaps with elements of native traditions, with appropriate technology and knowledge, could improve and guide the culture of the market place; television, as does telephone and radio, unites people through information, but a strong common culture is indispensable for uniting their hearts.
A good index of the quality of life, according to Athelstan Spilhaus, is the number of choices or alternatives a society provides for its individuals. Western culture has valued the pioneer life of the individual--independent, self-sufficient, free to choose different life styles--but with more people, the choices are being subtracted. The more open spaces are valued, the fewer people the area can support and still have the open spaces.
It may be that the Inupiat of the North Slope Region require 10 times the space as rural settlers; and, it may be that these settlers require 10 times the space as their urban counterparts. Or, it may be that people would prefer to have more discretionary time and less work time, as was possible in archaic societies.
There are numerous advantages of way of life of North Slope Region bands: fewer working hours (about 4 per day); more leisure to talk, sleep, engage in rituals; a diet adapted to conditions; deliberate underproduction, below the maximum levels; deliberate control of population growth below maximum levels; and deliberate under use of resources, resulting in small ratio of people to resources. Subsistence economics means simply that surpluses are not accumulated. This might make bands more vulnerable to food shortages, although the ratio reduces the possibility; furthermore, industrial cultures have far higher incidences of starvation.
Indicators of the quality of life cannot all be expressed numerically; they are elusive. Quality depends more on the spirit of the society than a count of material possessions. Even orthodox ecological criteria are not adequate to evaluate the quality of a particular environment for human life. Nevertheless, a cultural mul-tiplier can be assigned to aesthetic and support space needs; it is estimated at 0.7, which means that the hybrid industrial culture does not satisfy enough needs or requires more space per person.
Alaska's future seems to be dependent on oil. Because of its remote location, harsh climate, rugged terrain, and small population, the Delphi group considers that its future is tied to resource development rather than manufacturing or service. Thus, a development plan seems implicit, but not as a coherent popular strategy with goals and priorities.
The goals of a native-culture dominated society might include: self- determination, population limits, paths of cultural renewal, wilderness limits (more nonhuman creatures), limited resource use (renewable especially), and better communication. Many local limits can be transcended, but global limits perhaps cannot be transcended. Therefore, local cultures are related to some extent, as part of a sum.
The North Slope Region has adequate resources to feed and care for its current population--at a reasonable level. The rates of use of energy and some minerals are far too high. Demands and values are not related closely enough to the particular beauties and limits of the home ecosystem. The explicit goals of the cultures need to be fit within the limits.
Limits of Economics
Sustainable development requires recognition of the large number
of limits. The ecological approach to development makes it
irrelevant to discuss global limits to growth. Local limits are far
more significant. The North Slope Region, for instance, faces very
real limits in rainfall, minerals, and fragility of the landscape.
Every community is forced to accept some upper limit, beyond
which it cannot grow any further. Further growth results in
destruction or disruption of the community itself and the natural
communities on which it depends.
Complex societies depend on production of resources. Increased complexity requires more information processing and more integration of disparate parts. The costs of communication increase. Complex societies need control and specialization. Yet, investment in complexity yields declining marginal returns because of the increasing size of bureaucracies, increasing taxation, and costs of internal control. There is no reason why a culture cannot stabilize at a lower level of complexity.
Limits of Government
The size of communities in the region is small enough for people to
meet and "exercise government" (in James Madison's words).
Kirkpatrick Sale concludes that the optimum size for direct
meeting is 500 (7 of 8 villages are less than 500). Probably
participation becomes more difficult as the size increases. Bryan
and McClaughry suggest 2,500 as a maximum, since in larger
groups people cannot all know one another and the assemblies
become a debating forum for a few. The North Slope is a good
candidate for direct democracy.
Small communities are essential to the democratic ideal. The uniqueness of place gives belonging and identity. The whole community gives meaning and richness to life. The population density of much of the North Slope Region may cause some difficulty, however. People will not be within walking or sledding distance, but may have to travel long distances to meetings or communicate remotely through telephone, computer, paper, or friends.
People will have to impose limits to keep things from growing. They will have to make and enforce limits on immigration and birth, limits on housing and public services. Nature is self- organizing, and, society is self-organizing, but people need to recognize some limits and define others, and then take responsibility for keeping to those limits.
This plan recommends two large wilderness areas (wilderness definition 2) coinciding with the two largest caribou herd migration areas, 80,000 for the west Arctic herd and 80,000 for the Porcupine herd; these sizes should be adequate to preserve the associated predator populations as well.
A culture, like population growth or participation in a foodweb, is an ecological activity. Each culture is value driven; values determine how the culture adapts. The Inupiat way of life is still an ecologically viable way. The values of its way keeps the culture knowledgeable of and adapted to the environment. Instead of adopting the capitalist value system with its addiction to resources, which could degrade and destabilize the Arctic Slope region, the Inupiat must find a political way to subordinate the economy to their traditional culture and keep within the limits for ecological viability. Technology could be directed to use local resources instead of providing a means of importing food and clothing rapidly from other regions. Politicians could be directed to supply local needs instead of trading fish, oil, and copper for money. One immediate strategy would be to seek control of traditional lands. Another would be to seek a steady state population until the caribou herds build up again and then calculate an optimum.
The establishment of the North Slope Region as an independent region would not be unrealistic. The plan recommends 80,000 for a reserve (wilderness definition 3) for the operation of traditional Inupiat culture; this area would overlap about 50% of the two herd wilderness areas (Figure 3).
A number of concrete recommendations can be made to address the wilderness goals of the North Slope Region:
The goal of planning is community success and personal happiness, based on self-reliance in food and shelter, self- sufficiency in food, and self-limitation in size and desires. If human patterns were based on mature ecosystems, civilization would be far more complex; human values would allow for the welfare of humans, animals, plants, and land. The inhabitants have to be wise enough to be disciplined, to leave wilderness for other beings, and yet to make good places for ourselves.
A long time ago, Eskimos lived on an island. No one ever died. No one ever left the island. After a while the island was very crowded with people, and animals were very scarce. Finally, one old woman shouted, "Let there be death, so that there is enough room for all beings." And it came to pass.
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Table 1. Wildlife species
Ecosystem Species Numbers NPR-A Caribou 75,000 Moose 1200 Dall Sheep 400 Wolves 300 Grizzly bear 450 Fox 2,500? ANWR Caribou 100,000 Wolves 60 Grizzly bear 200 ? Dall sheep 600 Moose 600
Table 2 Average Annual Food Harvest in NPR (NPR-A, 1979)
Category Dress weight lbs Animals killed Usable lbs Bear, grizzly 225 14 3,150 Bear, polar 450 30 13,500 Caribou 150 6,850 1,027,500 Moose 700 27 18,900 Sheep, Dall 100 45 4,500 Seal, bearded 340 600 204,000 Seal, hair 72 1,800 129,600 Walrus 600-1000 200 190,000 Whale, beluga 550 20 11,000 Whale, bowhead 27,000 28 756,000 Wildfowl auk, ducks, geese 31,000 Fish char, cod 124,000 Total 2,513,150
Table 3 Harvest estimates at Kaktovik, 1973 (after Alaska Plan. Grp.)
Species weight Number total lb bear, grizzly 225 2 450 bear, polar 450 5 2,250 caribou 100 100 10,000 sheep 100 30 3,000 seal, bear 400 30 12,000 seal, hair 80 75 6,000 walrus 800 1 800 Ptarmigan 1 750 750 Old squaw 1.5 750 1,125 Arctic Char 2,500 2,500 ground squirrel 1 250 250 White fox 60 Wolf 10
Table 4. Ecological Important Areas
Area Attributes Size Teshekpuk Lake Waterfowl, caribou Utukok uplands Caribou calving Colville River Raptor nesting, peregrine, fish, moose Colville delta fish spawning, mammal denning Point Barrow Researched areas Icy Cape waterfowl, shorebirds
Table 5: Energy in the North Slope Region
Form Trillion Kcal Form Trillion Kcal Coal 24.0 Oil na Gas na Organic 1.3 Water na Wind 0.7 Solar 1.2 Geothermal 0.1 Nuclear na Chemical na
Table 6: Minerals in the North Slope Region
Metal Metric tons Metal Metric tons Zinc 24,000,000 Nickel 100,00 Cobalt na Manganese Platinum na Iron 10,000,000 Copper na Lead na Molybdenum na Tungsten na Silver na
Table 7: Cost Equivalencies (December 1991)
Item Cost/unit (USD) Cost/metric ton Wheat $3.90 bu $110.00 Soybeans 5.40 bu 163.00 Sugar 0.21 lb 480.00 Cotton 0.98 lb 2156.00 Lumber (pine) 204.50 1k bd ft 172.00 Oil (Cal crude) 20.39 bbl 132.60 Aluminum 0.51 lb 1122.00 Copper 0.98 lb 2156.00 Caribou meat 3.00 lb 1120.00 Zinc (hi grade) 0.57 lb 1254.00 All prices: Wall Street Journal, 6 December 1991.
Table 8: Per Capita Rates of Use in the North Slope
Used Unit per year Used Unit per year Energy 94 million Kcal Water 2,628,000 liters Food 1 metric ton Wood 4 million Kcal Plastic 15 kg Aluminum .02 metric ton Mercury 0.68 kg Waste 1.04 metric ton Dollars 1,700.00
