Tom Gray

Tom Gray is Iñupiaq from White Mountain and Nome, Alaska. Although he did not come from a family of reindeer herders, he started herding in the early 1980's with reindeer he transported to White Mountain from Wales, Alaska. He made a total of seven trips over the years to bring enough reindeer from Wales and Shishmaref to establish a large enough herd in White Mountain. He faced many challenges trying to establish a herd, obtain range for it, and earn enough money to make a living as a herder. He also faced loss of his reindeer herd from infiltration of caribou. In the early 2000s, he was president of the Kawerak Reindeer Herders Association, and has also served as president of the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee, vice-chair of the Seward Peninsula Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council, and a member of the local Fish and Game Advisory Committee and the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group. Tom and his wife, BJ, own Alaskan Northwest Adventures through which they offer eco-tourism based guided fishing and hunting trips and accomodations at a remote lodge on the Niukluk River on the Seward Peninsula.