A remote Eskimo village on a tundra-covered island in western Alaska is hoping to counter its steep unemployment rate and achieve greater self-sufficiency through one of its few resources: reindeer meat.
Mekoryuk’s tribal government is expanding its commercial reindeer venture with a herd introduced a century ago to Nunivak Island, 40 miles off the coast in the Bering Sea.
The endeavor includes plans to build a new slaughterhouse with $1.8 million in federal grants and offer reindeer steaks and roasts for sale in urban parts of Alaska such as Anchorage and ultimately the lower 48.
The Cup’ig Eskimo community of 200 had a similar operation in the past, with a regulated slaughterhouse that allowed it to sell reindeer meat to a broad market that included high-end Denver restaurants.
“The idea behind this was to try to re-establish that market and the whole process here,” tribe operations director Dale Smith said.
Reindeer meat is lean and high in essential fatty acids, and it’s considered by some to be superior in taste to its wild migrating cousin, the caribou.
The tribe’s reindeer are among several major herds in greater western Alaska, including the Seward Peninsula, a region farther north that’s home to an estimated 10,000 animals.
The herd on Nunivak, which is slightly bigger than Rhode Island, is estimated at up to 2,500 animals. It is the largest source of reindeer meat sold commercially in the state, according to ecologist Greg Finstad, manager of the University of Alaska Fairbanks reindeer research program.
Construction of the new slaughterhouse is slated to begin by summer in the effort funded by grants from the federal Economic Development Administration.
They also will be able to process the meat into steaks, roasts and the like. Currently, field-dressed reindeer meat from Nunivak is sold under certain restrictions to locals as well as some rural grocery stores.
The expansion is expected to create as many as 20 seasonal winter jobs for locals. Like other remote communities, Mekoryuk, the island’s only town, has limited job opportunities. It had an average unemployment rate of nearly 28 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to the latest data available.
Alaska Commercial Co., which has stores in nearly three dozen remote communities in the state, carries Nunivak’s reindeer meat at 20 of its northernmost stores. The reindeer carcasses are sent in halves to Anchorage, where they are processed into cuts and packaged by AC workers, AC general manager Walter Pickett said.
“Right now, our demand exceeds the supply,” he said, adding the chain would like to buy more reindeer as the supply increases.
Finstad said he applauds the village’s efforts to become less reliant on government.
“Their natural resource is the vegetation on their island, and they’re developing it into a product they can market – reindeer meat,” Finstad said.