UAF Reindeer Research Program

The Northwest Campus on the Seward Peninsula is located on the westernmost coast of Alaska, closer to Russia than to many other UA campuses in the state. Nome is in the heart of the tundra, only 140 miles from the Arctic Circle, and home to domesticated reindeer herds and other wild ungulates such as caribou, musk oxen, and moose that utilize the rich landscape.

Native Alaskans began herding reindeer in this region in the 1890s and the tradition continues to run strong. The wild ungulates are managed as well by corporations and state and federal agencies to ensure sustainable populations and quality habitat. Management of the natural resources of this region is often conducted by personnel educated and trained outside of Alaska.

Many local people have a profound knowledge and interest of the region’s resource base but no formal training in which to participate or contribute to management decisions. Therefore the campus is developing a program of college instruction to teach students, who wish to continue their formal education, skills for employability that will assist in economic and community development of the region, while placing special emphasis on using the region’s rich history, to build a sustainable future through higher learning.

The 30-credit Certificate Program entitled High Latitude Range Management (HLRM) will blend traditional knowledge and contemporary research in the sciences while training students in the ecological concepts of sustained yield and the manipulations and management of animal populations in northern ecosystems.

Students will develop technical knowledge and skills to manage and inventory local natural resources using conventional field-based techniques used by agencies to inventory and monitor plant and animal populations. Courses will be taught through a variety of delivery methods such as intensive face-to-face sessions, field trips, and distance delivery.

General university courses are required for nine of the credits with the remaining twenty-one credits being fulfilled through specific HLRM program courses, which will include Natural History of Alaska (BIOL F104), Natural Resources Conservation and Policy (NRM 101), High Latitude Range Management, Health Issues in Domesticated Herds, Alaskan Ungulate Husbandry, Meat Production, History of Domesticated Alaskan Ungulates, Field Logistics, Field Techniques for Range Management and Report Writing in Range Management.

Currently, HLRM courses are in the University approval process. An intensive field-based course covering topics such as tundra ecosystems, reindeer foraging ecology, plant identification, inventorying and sampling techniques, range management plans, and reindeer handling techniques was taught June 2006 in Nome.

This summer, another 2 credit, week-long intensive will be held in Nome covering Ungulate Husbandry principles and practices.

For more information contact Northwest Campus at 1-800-478-2202.

View the High Latitude Range Management Program Brochure [pdf]