[7] Due to the remote location and lack of infrastructure in Utqiaġvik (and other areas considered Iñupiat homelands), imported foods in 1961 were both incredibly expensive and inaccessible as the primary source of protein in a person's diet.
[4] Prior to this, the federal government of Mexico argued that poachers from the states of California, Arizona, and Texas were breaking the terms outlined in the 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty.
[9] These treaties were meant to lower rates of poaching of geese and ducks in both Canada and the contiguous United States during critical nesting periods.
[4] It was believed by some Iñupiat that the federal government put an unfair amount emphasis on subsistence hunts in the North, as it would be more difficult to address the politically powerful states of California, Arizona, and Texas.
[2] Following the arrest, warden Harry Pinkham arrived in Utqiaġvik, alongside resident and state legislature politician John Nusunginya.
[4] The Duck-In controversy settled for a few weeks, and in this time the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife continued to believe that they should enforce the treaty and arrest those in Utqiaġvik who broke it.
[3] Ray Trembley, head of the federal agency, broke silence on the Duck-In by saying, "We have our orders, and we will enforce the treaty and will arrest anyone we find taking ducks between now and September 1".
[3] In the weeks following the Duck-In, articles were published in the Washington Post and New York Times, describing the unfair subsistence regulations and voicing support for Alaska Native peoples.
[6] President John F. Kennedy and Secretary Udall received hundreds of letters from across the nation condemning the regulations and enforcement actions by the U.S. Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife.
[6] In March 1962, following nearly a year of pressure from Alaska Natives, Governor Egan, and national press, U.S Fish and Wildlife commissioner Clarence Pautzke instructed enforcement officers to notify subsistence communities of their patrol dates ahead of their visits.
[12] The Barrow Duck-In a highly significant event, as it protected Iñupiat subsistence rights and set a precedent that would influence federal regulatory policies enacted in the 1970s.
Overall, the Duck-In, Project Chariot, and Rampart Dam proposal helped grow Alaska Native solidarity and displayed the effectiveness of grassroots actions against unfair federal regulations.
Fish and Wildlife Service issued an official apology to Alaska Native peoples for the actions game wardens took to implement the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
The apology was delivered in Anchorage, AK at an Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council meeting, where both federal government representatives and Native tribal officials were present.
[16] Sam Cotten, commissioner for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game offered an apology on behalf of ADFG saying, "We recognized that the regulations were wrong, that they prohibited hunting of migratory birds when you needed it most during the springtime.
"[17] Around the same time of the Duck-in, Native groups throughout the United States were also engaging in acts of civil disobedience to protest unfair regulations and bans on subsistence hunting.