Herding Reindeer in Alaska: Ongtowasruk Reindeer Herd

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Alaska has the most rangeland of any state in the U.S. at 233 million acres. Most of those rangelands are tundra-a vast, treeless landscape characterized by an extremely cold climate, low precipitation, and permafrost soils. Permafrost is ground that remains frozen for two or more consecutive years.

But despite the harsh climate, tundra provides a vital ecosystem that supports people and wildlife including caribou, musk ox, bears, foxes, wolves, and millions of migratory birds. Low-lying vegetation on the tundra such as mosses, sedges, and lichens provide critical food sources for grazing animals, particularly for reindeer.

Alaska is home to 22,000 to 25,000 domesticated reindeer, owned and managed by 16 different individuals and entities. Together these pastoralists graze more than 20 million acres of rangeland from the southern and western Aleutian Islands to the far northern and western reaches of Alaska, including the Seward Peninsula, the Pribilof Islands, and the Bering Sea Islands of Nunivak and St. Lawrence Island.

Reindeer were brought to Alaska in the late 1890's and are native to Siberia and parts of northern Europe. Although technically the same species as the North American caribou, reindeer have been bred for different characteristics over the last several thousand years, including being more sedentary and having strong site fidelity to a home range. Reindeer are smaller than caribou, fawn three weeks earlier than caribou, and will tame down quickly with some herding and handling.

Pictured: Lisa at break time during a corral event. Photo courtesy of Lisa Ongtowasruk.

Continuing a Family Legacy

Lisa Ongtowasruk is a third-generation reindeer herder who grew up on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula, in the native village of Wales. Wales is 30 miles from Big Diomede Island, which is part of Russia. It's a rural, remote, subsistence community not connected to the road system and only accessible by boat or plane.

Lisa has been immersed in reindeer since she was a baby. Her childhood memories are filled with participating in corralling events that her grandma Faye used to hold. She recently took on the role of being a reindeer herd owner from her uncle Davis within the last four years.

Lisa's late uncle Norman Ongtowasruk received a loan for the herd in 1971. Her grandpa Clarence Ongtowasruk continued ownership after uncle Norman passed away, until his own passing. Her grandma Faye then held ownership and due to her age, she transferred the herd to Lisa's uncle Davis Ongtowasruk. Due to health reasons, her uncle transferred the herd to Lisa to continue ownership within the family name.

Lisa considers herself relatively new to being a herd owner. She is confident and full of youthful energy, and she is excited to move forward with the management and herding of the reindeer with her partner Donnie.

"I'm thankful for the support of my partner Donnie Pootoogooluk Sr. to ensure our family has reindeer on our permitted grazing range," Lisa said. "I'm also thankful for the support and advice from my uncle Davis who entrusted me to keep the herd in our family's name and on the range."

Day after day, Lisa's commitment to preserve her family's legacy motivates her to keep herding.

"My dad was the one who embedded into me the importance of our Ongtowasruk reindeer herd for our family," Lisa said. "He knows I'm dependent on the meat, and he knew my kids would be too. His dream was to become the owner of a herd and move into a house on a sled to live year-round with the herd. I am here to make sure our family has reindeer and the herd will always be the Ongtowasruk reindeer herd."

Pictured: Grandpa Clarence in the corralling area. Photo courtesy of Lisa Ongtowasruk.

Corralling the Herd

Lisa manages a healthy sized herd of reindeer on roughly 600,000 acres of wide, open tundra - all unfenced. The animals are generally out on the range all year long, except for a few times a year in the summer when they are corralled into an enclosed area for human handling.

They use four wheelers to herd the animals, or boats if they are near the coast. Sometimes they use drones or helicopters, and of course there's always the opportunity to herd on foot.

Corralling is always an exciting event requiring the entire family and the community-including the children. Anywhere from 30 to 50 people come out to help handle the reindeer, doing various jobs such as wrestling the animals, manning the chutes, holding down animals, loading taggers, tagging fawns, cutting antlers, giving inoculations, repairing equipment and much more.

"It's one of the most exciting and busiest times of the year, we constantly go from repairs to handling," Lisa said. "I most enjoy seeing everyone learn to work together."

"The kids love it," she added. "They like to handle the fawns and sit on them to hold them down when we tag. When I was a kid, fawn grabbing was my favorite."

Pictured: Reindeer inside the corralling area. Photo courtesy of Lisa Ongtowasruk. Pictured: Lisa's son Donnie Jr. learns how to wrestle a fawn with his father Donnie Sr. Photo courtesy of Lisa Ongtowasruk.

Providing Food Security

Lisa's herd feeds well over 1,000 people in a year between sales, barter, and donating meat to elders, extended family, and community gatherings like Thanksgiving. She sells anywhere from 20 to 50 deer annually. Meat is also traded for labor to compensate workers at the corral handlings.

With their remote location, slaughtering facilities are non-existent, so buyers typically butcher and process the animal themselves or arrange to have someone process it.

In addition to providing meat, they also cut antlers which are a rare and highly valued commodity in some cultures around the world.

Pictured: Frank the Steer, a rare and highly valued white reindeer, is part of the Ongtowasruk Reindeer Herd in Wales, Alaska. Photo courtesy of Lisa Ongtowasruk.

Managing the Rangeland

One of Lisa's many duties as a pastoralist are to conserve the rangelands that her animals graze by making informed management decisions. Her Grandmother and Uncle worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for more than 40 years to obtain technical and financial assistance to improve and sustain rangeland health.

Lisa met the NRCS State Rangeland Specialist Karin Sonnen at the annual Reindeer Herders Meeting in Nome, Alaska, and enlisted her help. NRCS staff are providing technical assistance to help Lisa develop a conservation plan to ensure her land and herd are sustainable. The conservation plan will help Lisa achieve her goals for the operation while addressing natural resource concerns on the land, such as improving forage productivity, soil health, and rangeland sustainability.

NRCS staff visited her operation in late summer of 2025 to complete a range inventory on more than 500,000 acres of rangeland. Karin led the inventory with help from Emily Donaldson, Natural Resources Specialist and Josh Schrecengost, State Resource Conservationist.

Getting to bush Alaska is difficult, and getting to Shishmaref, where Lisa is based out of, is even harder. Accessing rangelands in Alaska often requires travel by helicopter, as the ranges are commonly over one million acres in size with no roads or trails through them. Getting a helicopter to remote locations adds another challenging element with the harsh weather that the area commonly experiences. But it came together, with only one weather day sidelining the crew, and they successfully completed the field inventory.

"In the short time I've been working with NRCS, the benefits are the expertise and knowledge about rangeland conservation," Lisa said.

As Lisa continues her journey working with NRCS, she is excited to build upon the legacy of her grandparents to sustain a healthy herd and healthy lands for future generations.

Pictured: State Rangeland Specialist Karin Sonnen (left) and Natural Resources Specialist Emily Donaldson (right) conduct a range inventory in 2025. NRCS photo by Josh Schrecengost.

Written by Karin Sonnen, NRCS Alaska State Rangeland Specialist, and Tracy Robillard, NRCS Alaska Public Affairs Specialist.