Jackie Hrabok, UAF’s Northwest Campus assistant professor of High Latitude
Range Management, hosted and led an international cultural exchange for the
Alaska Reindeer Directors. Delegates were from Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island, the
Kawerak Reindeer Herders Association and the Kawerak Environmental Department.
The goals of the two-week overseas experience Nov. 11-24, 2023, were to
interact with the Indigenous Sami and learn about their livelihood as reindeer
herders north of 69 degree latitude in Finland. They toured reindeer-specific
facilities and had business meetings with key colleagues: commercial
slaughterhouses and a tannery, Sami Education Institute Reindeer Husbandry and
Applied Arts Departments, reindeer roundups, Kutuharju research herd, and the
Finnish Reindeer Herders Association headquarters.
Delegates included Ed Kiokun, Nunivak Island Mekoryuk; Terry Don, CEO of Nunivak Island Mekoryuk; Nathan Baring, director of Kawerak Reindeer Herders Association; and Anahma Shannon, Director of Kawerak Environmental Department.
Delegates have returned home to Alaska with new ideas to increase workforce
development, commercial meat sales, and value-added byproduct production, all
stemming from the development of the Alaska reindeer industry.
If you want to learn more about Alaska’s reindeer industry, check out Part III of Sun and Soil’s podcast “Feeding the Last Frontier: A Reindeer Called Rhonda,” which features Hrabok. She also lists several books that have excellent information on reindeer. Sun and Soil is produced by C.C. Clark and Noah Spickelmier. You can find it:
IG, FB, TikTok: @sunandsoilpodcast
YouTube: @sunandsoil
email: sunandsoilpodcast@gmail.com
website: sunandsoilpod.com
