Local band organization of the Caribou Eater Chipewyan is considered from the period of initial contact in the l8th century to the contemporary period. Consideration is given to the local band in the context of the Chipewyan "nation", the regional band, and to the environment, the most important feature of which was the migratory and nomadic barrenground caribou. The flexibility of bilateral kinship and the fluidity of band membership and boundaries are seen as adaptations to the dynamics of the taiga-tundra ecotone, but which have demonstrated their utility in the modern context.