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The Refuge
For hundreds of generations, the Gwich'in people of Alaska and northern Canada have depended on the caribou that migrate through the Arctic Refuge. They believe that they are guardians of the herd, and that the fates of the people and the caribou are forever entwined. For the last 30 years, the Gwich'in have been fighting to preserve a pristine coastal plain where the caribou calve their young, "the Sacred Place Where Life Begins." With their traditional culture threatened by oil extraction and climate change, two Gwich'in women are continuing a decades-long fight of to protect their land and future.
