CARIBOU TRACKS ON COAL SEAMS II | Coal and The Caribou | 2006 | 62x70 inches

The photograph shows tracks on coal seams made by the Western Arctic caribou herd over a very long period - perhaps many centuries or even millenia. These tracks are deeply etched in the coal surface. This also means that the coal is right on the surface and any development here most likely will employ a relatively recent mining process known as mountain-top removal. This type of mining has been used in the Apalachian Mountains that spans several southeastern states of the United States. Only from air can one grasp the magnitude of the devastation, with dark craters and huge black ponds filled with a toxic byproduct called coal slurry. In the Utukok Upland it is not an issue of aesthetic, but ecology, as these vast caribou herd use this area both for calving and post calving aggregation.