The Barrow Duck-In facts for kids
The Barrow Duck-In was a peaceful protest in Utqiaġvik, Alaska in 1961. This town was known as Barrow until 2016. During the Duck-In, the Iñupiat people protested a government ban on hunting ducks. This ban threatened their way of life and their ability to get food.
The Alaskan North Slope is a very remote area. Many people there depend on hunting birds at certain times of the year for food. Before this protest, the government tried to control how the Iñupiat hunted. Over one hundred Iñupiaq people in Utqiaġvik protested these bird hunting rules. The Duck-In was a very important protest. It greatly influenced future rules about hunting for food and laws about Native land rights in Alaska, like the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
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Why Hunting Birds Matters
Before Alaska became a state and before outsiders settled in the Arctic, the Iñupiat people hunted freely. They hunted many animals like the bowhead whale, seals, caribou, birds, and fish. Birds like eiders and geese were very important at certain times of the year.
The Iñupiat have hunted these animals for a very long time. This hunting is done in a way that protects the animals for the future. It is also very important for their culture and way of life. In the Alaskan Arctic, hunting brings the community together. People celebrate and share food. Many Iñupiat dances, songs, and stories are about hunting. They show the special connection the Iñupiat have with Arctic animals, including the eider duck.
In 1961, Utqiaġvik was very remote. It was hard to get food from other places. Imported foods were very expensive and not easy to find. Hunting for food was, and still is, a key way for people in the Arctic to get enough to eat.
Rules for Migratory Birds
In 1918 and 1937, the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States signed agreements. These were called Migratory Bird Treaty Conventions. Their goal was to protect birds that fly long distances across North America.
After much discussion, hunting birds in the spring was officially made illegal in all three countries. These agreements aimed to help protect birds. They also tried to stop sport hunting and collecting eggs for money. The rules made it illegal to hunt ducks from March 10 to September 1 each year. The 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MTBA) stopped the hunting of over 800 types of birds. It also banned collecting their eggs or feathers.
Some Alaska Native people felt these rules did not understand their way of life. They said the treaties did not recognize hunting for food. The Iñupiat only hunted these birds in the spring. This was when the birds flew to the North Slope region. Even though the treaty passed in 1918, it did not affect the region much until Alaska became a state in 1959.
When Alaska became the 49th state, new federal rules threatened the Iñupiat's hunting practices. The state then made it a rule that anyone who hunted out of season would face serious trouble. Before this, the government of Mexico said that hunters from California, Arizona, and Texas were breaking the 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty. These treaties were meant to lower the hunting of geese and ducks in Canada and the U.S. during nesting times. Some Iñupiat believed the government focused too much on their hunting in the North. They felt it was harder for the government to deal with powerful states like California.
The Duck-In Protest
In 1961, the Iñupiat had a tough whaling season. They only caught two whales for food. The shares from these whales meant only about four meals per family in Utqiaġvik. Because of this, people in the community were really looking forward to the spring bird hunt for food.
Sadie Neakok, a resident and city leader in Utqiaġvik, knew her community needed the birds that year. She knew they would have to break the law to hunt. She said the treaty "made criminals of all our people breaking the law." She also said, "Eben Hopson was our senator and I was magistrate when the state made compulsory that anyone who hunted waterfowl out of season would have to be put in jail... And so, Eben and I knew every man, woman, and child who was able to hold a shotgun was guilty of hunting ducks that spring."
On May 20, 1961, a federal game warden took Utqiaġvik resident Tim Pikok into custody. He had hunted three geese out of season. After this, warden Harry Pinkham came to Utqiaġvik with local politician John Nusunginya. Soon after arriving, Pinkham took Nusunginya into custody for hunting and having an eider duck out of season.
In the next few days, the community held a meeting. They wanted to decide what to do. Neakok remembered that the community decided to protest the treaty. Their plan was to overwhelm the government. They wanted to demand that the government take the entire community into custody. They planned for every person in Utqiaġvik to shoot a duck. Then, they would all go to the warden's office with their ducks.
The next day, 138 people from Utqiaġvik lined up outside the warden's office. Each person had a duck they had hunted out of season. Each person also signed a paper saying they had hunted a duck illegally. They asked to be taken into custody. Oliver Leavitt, a whaling captain, hunted eiders with his crew. He gave them to Utqiaġvik residents. Other residents took eiders from their ice cellars for the protest. Leavitt said, "some took two, one for the arrest and one for dinner."
When Warden Pinkham saw the large crowd outside his office, he quickly went to Sadie Neakok's home. Neakok recalled that Pinkham rushed to her home. He asked her what he should do after seeing hundreds of people outside his small office. When Neakok asked Pinkham why he didn't know what to do as a game warden, he said, "I can't handle that much paperwork."
After everyone who had hunted a duck illegally was recorded, state senator Eben Hopson Sr. wrote to Alaska State Governor William Egan. He asked for social welfare officials to come to the North Slope. They would need to care for the many children who would be left without parents if all 138 people were taken into custody.
After Governor Egan was contacted, the Utqiaġvik game wardens realized they could not take nearly the entire community into custody. It was also impossible to arrange for social welfare to fly to the remote town. Instead, the wardens gathered over six hundred pounds of the eider ducks. They took two flights to Fairbanks to store the birds as evidence. Even with these problems, the Secretary of the Interior Stewardt Udall still wanted everyone who had eider ducks illegally to be taken into custody. However, Udall's efforts failed. They would have needed many flights between Fairbanks and Utqiaġvik to move everyone involved.
What Happened Next
The Duck-In issue calmed down for a few weeks. During this time, the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife still believed they should enforce the treaty. They thought they should take those in Utqiaġvik who broke it into custody. Ray Trembley, the head of the federal agency, spoke about the Duck-In. He said, "We have our orders, and we will enforce the treaty and will arrest anyone we find taking ducks between now and September 1."
Even with this resistance from the federal government, leaders from Alaska's state and local governments supported the Iñupiat. The Alaska State Legislature passed a resolution. It showed Alaska's support for Utqiaġvik. Women in Utqiaġvik publicly said that if the men were taken into custody, they would continue to hunt. They would do this to provide for their families and community.
In the weeks after the Duck-In, articles appeared in the Washington Post and New York Times. They described the unfair hunting rules. They also showed support for Alaska Native peoples. President John F. Kennedy and Secretary Udall received hundreds of letters from across the nation. These letters spoke out against the rules and the actions of the U.S. Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife.
Even after a public outcry, the U.S. Attorney General announced he would not take the 138 residents of Utqiaġvik into custody. But he said he would prosecute all future violations. An Alaskan group, including Governor Egan and other state leaders, met with Secretary Udall in Washington D.C. They wanted to show their unhappiness with the rules. Governor Egan asked that the federal government let Native hunters and communities be left alone to hunt for food, "peace and contentment."
In March 1962, after almost a year of pressure from Alaska Natives, Governor Egan, and the national news, U.S Fish and Wildlife commissioner Clarence Pautzke gave new instructions. He told enforcement officers to tell hunting communities when they would visit. This way, local hunters would know when officers would be in town. They could then avoid hunting for those three days. This practice of officers letting communities know about their visits became standard. It continued until 1997, when these hunts were no longer considered illegal.
Bird Hunting Today
Today, Iñupiat people still hunt migratory birds for food. These bird populations are still healthy and plentiful. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and Alaska Native representatives work together to manage these bird populations in the Alaskan Arctic. This group is called the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council (AMBCC). They suggest how many birds can be hunted each year. They also check on eider populations, report on hunting, and teach people across the state.
How the Duck-In Changed Things
The Barrow Duck-In was a very important event. It helped protect the Iñupiat's right to hunt for food. It also set an example that influenced federal rules in the 1970s. The Duck-In, along with other events like Project Chariot and the Rampart Dam proposal, helped Alaska Native people unite. It showed how effective local actions can be against unfair government rules.
In 1971, ten years after the Barrow Duck-In, President Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). This law included rights for Native groups to make their own decisions about their land. ANCSA settled Native land claims in Alaska. It gave over 44 million acres of land back to tribal groups. It also paid $962 million over eleven years from taxes on oil activities in the area. This law created the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. This is a Native corporation on the North Slope of Alaska. It has over 13,000 Iñupiat shareholders and controls 5 million acres of land in the region.
Apology from Governments
In September 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially apologized to Alaska Native peoples. They apologized for how game wardens enforced the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Before the Duck-In, wardens had taken many Alaska Natives into custody for hunting migratory birds for food. Even after the Duck-In, wardens in town meant community members sometimes had to "hide" to hunt during official visits.
The apology was given in Anchorage, Alaska, at an Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council meeting. Both federal government representatives and Native tribal officials were there. Sam Cotten, commissioner for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, also apologized for his department. He said, "We recognized that the regulations were wrong, that they prohibited hunting of migratory birds when you needed it most during the springtime. We got it wrong. We regret that. We caused harm. We're happy that's been resolved."
Other Similar Protests
Around the same time as the Duck-In, Native groups across the United States also protested unfair rules. In the 1960s, during the American Civil Rights Movement, protests happened in Washington state. Local Indigenous groups protested to protect their fishing rights.
These protests were known as the Fish Wars. Native tribes in the Puget Sound area, like the Muckleshoot, Nisqually, and Puyallup, protested. They fished in their traditional waters as an act of defiance. These "fish-in" protests were places where Native people gathered. Activists and community leaders met to plan and build unity. These ideas and local protests later became part of the Red Power Movement.
Important People
- Eben Hopson Sr.
- Sadie Neakok
- John Nusunginya
- William A. Egan
- Stewart Udall
