NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Gwich'in Settlement Area, North Slave Region

Tags: berries, Indigenous knowledge

Objective(s): Our objective is to answer two primary research questions: Research Question 1: How can traditional ecological knowledge inform species distribution modeling to predict the occurrence of productive patches? Research Question 2: How might climate change impact the accessibility of northern berries throughout the 21st century?

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 6016. Our objective is to answer two primary research questions: Research Question 1: How can traditional ecological knowledge inform species distribution modeling to predict the occurrence of productive patches? Research Question 2: How might climate change impact the accessibility of northern berries throughout the 21st century? Interview Data Observation data has been collected as a part of the “Indigenous Knowledge of Berries in the Northwest Territories” project, led by Claire Singer No. 1739. During this territory-wide project knowledge holders were interviewed about berries and encouraged to annotate harvest locations on paper maps. In order to responsibly determine what we can use, how we can use it, and what is the best way of displaying the information, we will take part in two separate validation sessions. During these sessions, we will participate in discussions around how the data has been used, how to share the data, what defines accessibility, and how the data can become more universally available to each community. Modeling Past projects aimed to identify environmental determinants of cranberry plant distribution in Canada and Alaska, using various open source environmental layers. In addition to these base layers, our model will include variables recommended by knowledge holders and literature that are specifically important to berry growth in the NWT, such as a 16-day NDVI of peak growing season, permafrost distribution, tree cover percentage, a DEM with improved resolution, topographic aspect, higher-resolution water body data, and areas of regenerative growth (using historical wildfire data). Using interview data as observation points and environmental layers, a distribution model of harvest locations in the Mowhì Gogha Dè Ni?i?tlèè at ~250 m resolution will be generated using MaxEnt modeling in RStudio. Field Observations Once the distribution model is created 3 threshold categories will be used to separate the data: high occurrence, medium occurrence and low occurrence. Within each category, we will randomly select 20 locations for a total of 60 locations. These locations will all be within 2km of highway 9 or highway 3, within 3 hours of Yellowknife. After site selection we will conduct surveys with methodology inspired by Madsen, 1999 who used meandering surveys to assess flower abundance. Using a timer and surveyor, we will allocate 10 minutes to a single point, picking for the entirety of the time within a 50m radius. At the end of the session, we will weigh berries, and use a sieve to identify the percentage of large berries. Analysis The data collected during the field season will be essential in providing a base for assessing our primary research question. By testing the results of our methodology, we will be able to determine how predicted areas of high, medium, and low occurrence performed against real-life harvest scenarios. Knowing this will allow us to determine its usability as a community tool and the accuracy of our methodology. It will also give us a basis to do an assessment of how accessibility of berries may change in this region. We are working closely with Claire Singer, the lead of this project, who has maintained regular contact with members of the Tlicho Government and Wek’èezhìi Renewable Resources Board (Tyanna Steinwand and Aimee Guile). Through an advisory committee made up of 10 different community leaders from across the NWT, we have been able to consensually investigate the current status of berries throughout the region. Our communication plan for this adjacent work includes several stages: initially, we will request input from advisory committee members on recommended practices. In September, we will meet with community members to validate the model with their insights. Following this, we will conduct fieldwork to pick berries and further validate the model. Finally, we will present our results to the Tlicho Government and community members. To this date we have communicated with members from the Tlicho Government and Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board to consult on the proposed field sampling. Additionally, we have recently reached out to the community contacts from Whatì and Behchoko`. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: September 09 - October 15, 2024