Village set to serve up reindeer far and wide

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — 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,” said Dale Smith, the tribe’s operations director.

The earlier operation went downhill after the villager who was considered its driving force died in a 1996 helicopter crash while surveying the island’s far-ranging reindeer. The slaughterhouse fell into disrepair, eventually forcing locals to do their slaughtering out on the tundra and limiting where the meat could be sold.

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.