K athleen Padulo remembers a sight to behold when she was in the Yukon last spring. The Director of Environment for the Chiefs of Ontario was in Old Crow, located 80 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and home of Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, in May to attend the community’s celebration of the porcupine caribou. A commo- tion drew everyone to look at the nearby Porcupine River – a herd was crossing as part of its annual spring migration. “All you saw were the antlers,” Padulo recalled, adding their bodies were mostly underwater. “Everyone came out and started watching. (It was) absolutely amazing.” Padulo was in the community as part of a contingent of First Nations CaribouatRisk ofExtinction preservation of the caribou. “Our life depends on them. Everything we do depends on the caribou.” But the Gwitchin have observed significant changes for the last half- century, in large part due to climate change. “We are at ground zero for climate change in our community,” Netro said. “Our experts and specialists, and hunters-trappers have witnessed changes in the past 50 years. There’s a lot of erosion in traditional territory, and along our river bank which impacts the fish that come up stream.” She added the number of forest fires in their region has also increased. Netro has travelled across the continent advocating and educating researchers and policy-makers on the researchers and advocates through the Assembly of First Nations’ climate change committee to witness the caribou migration – the largest migration of any land animal in the world. The community says up to 180,000 caribou pass through its territory every year. The porcupine caribou are vital to the Gwitchin, a nation that includes more than 8,000 people across Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The porcupine caribou are the major source of meat as well as hide for footwear, mittens, traditional outfits and more. “All the 15 (Gwitchin) communities depend on the caribou for our food sustenance, and everything that affects our way,” said Lorraine Netro, a former Vuntut Gwitchin community leader who advocates for the protection and BY LENNY CARPENTER CARIBOU Tracking threatened caribou populations SUMMER/WINTER 2018/19 – Chiefs of Ontario Advocate magazine   56  l