NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Sahtu Settlement Area

Tags: social sciences, traditional knowledge, harvest, mapping

Objective(s): To finalize the Sahtú Settlement Harvest Study and assess future harvest monitoring possibilities as a tool for community empowerment in wildlife management.

Project Description: This project includes five linked components. 1. Finalizing and contextualizing the Sahtú Settlement Harvest Study and assessing future harvest monitoring possibilities with community workshops. Engagement with harvesters in workshops will address the potential of harvest monitoring as a tool for community empowerment in wildlife management and to support and maintain the traditional economy. 2. Repatriation of Dene Mapping Project data and pilot analysis of key species. The Dene Mapping Project work will include updating obsolete digital data and files, and making currently unavailable results from this comprehensive mapping project available to Sahtú communities and resource managers. 3. Preparation of a spatial state of knowledge of the Central Mackenzie Valley/Sahtú Region with a special focus on the area of the shale oil play. This project will focus first on the identification of spatial (mapping) data, and then on making the data available to communities and wildlife managers. 4. A harvester knowledge project focusing on priority species under the Species At Risk Act, including boreal caribou and wolverine, and also exploring harvester perspectives on trends in biodiversity. 5. A traditional knowledge database project, linking all four other components directly in the transmission of data, in some cases newly available, to communities and wildlife managers. Methodology differs by component. 1. Sahtú Settlement Harvest Study component involves standard mathematical calculations, and then facilitated two-day workshops in each of the five Sahtú communities. Day one will review and contextualize previous study data, day two will focus on new possibilities in harvest monitoring. 2. Dene Mapping Project component involves identification of hard-copy maps and research materials by visiting the archives in Yellowknife, and working with a group of original project staff to contextualize it. Project materials such as hard copy maps and cassettes will be digitized, and then conserved for long-term safe storage. 3. Spatial state of knowledge component will involve discussion of available information with relevant professionals and community engagement through specific meetings with Renewable Resource Councils (RRC) to understand community-held data. 4. Harvester knowledge of Species At Risk project will include interviews and/or focus groups to gather information, and harvester verification of final products. 5. Traditional knowledge database project will involve the creation of a web-enabled database by a database programmer to deliver information to appropriate organizations and individuals, with privacy concerns addressed. This project is led by a regional co-management board, and is focused on data from the Sahtu. The project involves several components, two of which include directed community workshops. At workshops, with local facilitators and interpreters. The workshops will be held in each community, and local catering and hospitality will be used. This project involves workshop engagement with community members and harvesters, plus attending RRC meetings. Additionally, various final reports, booklets, and other engagement materials will be sent to all relevant Sahtú co-management boards and RRC’s. Finally, this project is led by a regional co-management board, and standard channels of information delivery will be used: through board members, public meetings, and on their website. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 15, 2015 to December 31, 2015.