Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı
Sahtú Renewable Resources Board

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2014-ongoing Spatial Traditional Knowledge Compilation

This project is part of the Wildlife, Habitat and Harvesting program funded by the Environmental Studies Research Fund. The objective of this work is to address a gap identified in early work on the Spatial State of Knowledge project: the accessibility of previously recorded harvester knowledge to the community and regional organizations mandated to manage resources in the Sahtú Settlement Region.  This includes key place names, ecological knowledge, and land use projects and datasets which define the harvesting landscape. These projects, the existence of which may or may not be common knowledge among decision-making organizations, include documentation of harvester knowledge, knowledge of changes in habitat (both natural and due to earlier exploration and development activities in the study area), and other socio-ecologic topics. Often, the work has been topical, centering on place names, family biographies, characterizing caribou populations and biodiversity, and describing long term changes in ecology and harvesting practices.

As traditionally named places in Dene languages are the framework upon which other types of spatially-oriented, ecological, and traditional use information are structured, this project will bring together little known and recently re-discovered place names datasets, along with more recent place names work.  The names will be assessed through working with linguist(s), and verified with knowledgeable Elders and land-users.  Gaps in existing names and required changes will be assessed through engagement. 

As place names are extremely important as a baseline ecological dataset, and were identified as a gap in early Spatial State of Knowledge work, this project will address this gap and directly increase the available socio-ecological information to regional and community organizations for assessing development.

Team Members

Funders

Environmental Studies Research Fund, Environment and Natural Resources - GNWT

Total Budget

$50,000

2014-ongoing Spatial Data Management

 The objective of this work is to identify, purchase, and operationalize (including customization and any required educational and engagement components) a community-controlled database system to archive and link traditional knowledge materials in various formats (GIS, audio, text, photos, video) as basis for using traditional knowledge materials in research and decision-making.

This project will assess the current data-management needs, and existing and future capacity of appropriate community and regional decision-makers (Renewable Resource Councils and the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board, among others). This includes: engagement with future users of the proposed data management vehicle; identifying possible software choices and configurations; showcasing examples of select software choices with end users, selection and purchase of candidate software; customization and web-enabling; data entry or migration; training and follow-up.

Team Members

Funders

 Environmental Studies Research Fund (ESRF)

Total Budget

 

2014-2015 Spatial State of Knowledge

In early 2014, the SRRB started working on a Spatial State of Knowledge Project to find, and catalogue, maps and computerized mapping files of the Sahtú Settlement Region.

The types of map information that is being sought includes:

  1. Traditional ecological knowledge information;
  2. Wildlife information;
  3. Habitat information.

Many different maps and computer mapping files from research projects through the years are stored in various places – Government, Universities, offices across the Sahtú Settlement Region, and in other places as well. These maps include information on such topic as forests, caribou migration, moose ranges, and traditional place names. A lot of these maps have already been identified and catalogued, and more will be added to the catalogue during 2014-2015. The next steps will be to have the catalogue, and possibly some of the publicly- available mapping files, available on the SRRB website for community/regional organizations and researchers to use.

Team Members

Funders

Environmental Studies Research Fund, Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR, NWT)

Total Budget

$50,000

Acknowledgements 

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Special thanks to the staff at the Aurora Research Institute who provide valuable GIS support.

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