Journal Article

Environmental Change and Traditional Use of the Old Crow Flats in Northern Canada: An IPY Opportunity to Meet the Challenges of the New Northern Research Paradigm

Lantz, Trevor, Turner, Kevin W., Humphries, Murray M., Pisaric, Michael F.J., Graupe, Shel, Wesche, Sonia D., Chan, Laurie, Burn, Chris R., Balasubramaniam, Ann M., Cooley, Dorothy, Hall, Roland I., Roy-Leveillee, Pascale, Wolfe, Brent B., Froese, Duane G., Williams, Megan, Porter, Trevor J.

2011

Overview

Here we describe the evolution of a community- researcher partnership that defines the Government of Canada International Polar Year (IPY) investigation on \"Environmental change and traditional use of the Old Crow Flats in northern Canada (Yeendoo Nanh Nakhweenjit K'atr'ahanahtyaa; hereafter referred to as YNNK)\"-one of very few fully endorsed programs led by northern-based individuals or aboriginal organizations in Canada (Church, 2009). The YNNK project, led by the Vuntut Gwitchin Government in collaboration with Yukon Environment, Parks Canada, and a multidisciplinary team of southernbased researchers, focuses on addressing the complexities of climate change impacts on the OCF and the nearby First Nation community of Old Crow. Research expertise spans the disciplines of Quaternary paleontology, dendroclimatology, permafrost science, hydroecology, terrestrial ecology, wildlife biology, community health, and traditional knowledge of the land and its processes. Overarching goals are to (1) document the history of environmental change in the OCF from a unique assemblage of archives that record natural history from the last interglacial to the present; (2) assess the distribution and abundance of vegetation and wildlife and identify the processes linking these to the changing physical environment; (3) evaluate the impact of changes in the physical and biological environment on traditional food sources of the VGFN and community adaptation options; and (4) develop a long-term environmental monitoring program for the OCF conducted by the VGFN through the IPY and into the future. During the community-researcher meeting of winter 2009 in Old Crow, the researchers and their graduate students had a special opportunity to participate in a very successful outreach program. Organized by leaders of the Arctic Health Research Network (including an Old Crow community member), with funding from Health Canada, the \"Our Changing Homelands, Our Changing Lives\" youth conference brought ~25 students from Whitehorse (many originally from Old Crow) to Old Crow to participate in the annual community-researcher meeting. A major focus of the conference was climate change workshops (including Historical Air Photos, Permafrost, Wildlife, Fossils, Tree Rings and Hydrology; Fig. 3) conducted by YNNK team members. Each research team was challenged to construct an interactive, fun workshop that would run for two to three hours and present research in a way that young people could easily understand. The northern students who participated in these workshops became much more aware of both the changes that are occurring in their traditional territory and the natural science approaches researchers are using to understand how the Old Crow Flats landscape is responding to a warming climate. For instance, one of the workshops used sprouts (representing moss) and broccoli (representing trees), among other ingredients, to examine the effects of different surface features on thawing \"ice-cream\" permafrost. This workshop was particularly effective in delivering its scientific message (and made for an interesting post-experiment snack for workshop participants!). Senior members of the community of Old Crow also participated in these workshops and made important contributions. For example, during the Tree Ring workshop, a YNNK coinvestigator was showing samples of tree cores collected from the OCF, all of which displayed remarkably thicker growth rings over the last few decades (as described above). After the presenter explained that these rings are thicker than any other decade since ~AD 1700 because of the positive growth response to recent climate warming, a community elder remarked that his personal experience also told him that changes in the Flats began in the 1950s. Thus, findings from a natural science IPY-supported study and traditional knowledge converged, and the youth who attended the workshop had the special opportunity to experience this firsthand. Committed local leadership combined with the creativity of researchers and their graduate students in workshop design generated considerable energy that translated into a memorable experience for all.

• Publisher: The Arctic Institute of North America,Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary,Arctic Institute of North America
• Subject: Climate change / Collaboration / Communities / Community based instruction / Community involvement / Community-based research / Cooperatives / Environmental aspects / Environmental changes / Environmental impact / Environmental monitoring / Fossils / Funding / Global warming / Hydrology / InfoNorth / Management / Multidisciplinary research / Natural history / Permafrost / Quaternary / Research grants / Social aspects / Students / Studies / Territories / Thawing / Traditional foods / Wetlands / Wildlife