Study Area: Mulchatna

Author unknown

There is little information available on the Mulchatna Caribou Herd (MCH) prior to 1973. Skoog (1968) hypothesized that in the 1830's "A large caribou population occurred along the Bering Sea coast from Bristol Bay to Norton Sound." Records indicate that this herd ranged from the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers north to the Innoko River and the Taylor Mountains and that caribou calf hides were a major trading item with the Russians in Togiak during the 1800's. This herd reached peak numbers in the 1860's and began declining in the 1870's. Migrations of large numbers of caribou across the Lower Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers ceased in the 1880's, and except for the relatively small migrations recorded in 1966 and 1972 across the Kvichak River, no major movements of this herd were observed until recently. Caribou numbers began increasing again in the Mulchatna area in the early 1930's (Ak. Game Corom. Repts. 1930-39), remaining relatively stable throughout that decade. There were indications that the herd began declining in the late 1930's (Skoog 1968); however, no substantive information was collected between 1940 and 1950 to support this.