Reindeer Bell

Alaska Native people on the Seward Peninsula have harvested foods directly from the land and sea, such as berries, fish, seals, and caribou, for thousands of years. In the late 1800s, caribou numbers declined and reindeer herding was introduced as a supplemental food option through the establishment of the Reindeer Herder Program. Today, some of the cabins and corrals, once frequently used by herders, are slowly decaying into the tundra. It is still possible to hear the clank-clank of a reindeer bell in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, the only national park unit that permits reindeer herding as part of the park's enabling legislation.