'Old Crow' has about 282 inhabitants (Yukon Bureau of Statisitics, Dec. 2006), most of them belonging to the
Gwichʼin-speaking
Aboriginal Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. It is situated on the
Porcupine River in the north of
Yukon and is served by the
Old Crow Airport, which is important because it is the only Yukon community that cannot be reached by car.
The people of Old Crow are dependent on the Porcupine
caribou herd for food and clothing. The Porcupine caribou herd migrates to the coastal plain in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in
Alaska to give birth to their young. Most people in Old Crow believe the herd is seriously threatened by
oil-drilling in the ANWR and have been lobbying hard to prevent it.
A large number of apparently
human modified animal bones have been discovered in the Old Crow area that have been dated to 25,000 - 40,000 years ago by
carbon dating, several thousand years earlier than generally accepted human habitation of
North America.
Climate
Old Crow has a dry and cold
subarctic climate. Average annual temperature is −13 °C. Old Crow experiences annual temperature average daily highs of 24 °C in July and average daily lows of −43 °C in January. Record high temperature was 39 °C in August 1935 and the lowest was −66 °C in January 1985. Old Crow has little precipitation with an average annual snowfall of 129 cm and 144 mm of rainfall. Snow can fall in any month. Nevertheless, despite being above the
Arctic Circle, Old Crow is in the subarctic
taiga.
External links
★
Old Crow's official website
★
Old Crow: Land of the Vuntut Gwitch'in
★
Community profile
★
Webpage about the Old Crow Airport on the Canadian Owners & Pilots Association ''Places to Fly'' Airport Directory