arctic borderlands ecological knowledge co-opsdw.enr.gov.nt.ca/nwtdp_upload/2001-02community.pdf ·...

Arctic BorderlandsEcological KnowledgeCo-op

Community Reportsfrom the7th Annual Gathering

Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op Report Series: Number 2002-2

Fort McPherson, NTFeb. 28 - March 2, 2002

Report Number 2002-2

Produced by:Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Society91782 Alaska HighwayWhitehorse, YukonCanada Y1A 5B7

February, 2003

AcknowledgementsProceedings: Kirsten Madsen, Aileen Horler, Deborah RobinsonPhotos: Johnny Edwards, Gary Kofinas, Jeff Hamm, Deborah Robinson, Joan Eamer

Table of Contents

Community-based Monitoring Program .................................................................. 1

Report by Annie B. Gordon – Aklavik (Inuvialuit) .................................................... 1

Report by Danny Greenland, presented byJohnny Edwards – Aklavik (Gwich’in) ..................................................................... 6

Report by Connie Stewart- Fort McPherson ......................................................... 10

Report by Randall Tetlichi - Old Crow ................................................................... 14

Report by Joel Tritt - Arctic Village ........................................................................ 16

Participants’ comments on the presentations: ....................................................... 21

Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-opCommunity Reports from 7th Annual Gathering, Fort McPherson, 2002 1

Report by Annie B. Gordon – Aklavik(Inuvialuit)

In January I attended a workshop in Inuvik.I came from our camp on the land wherewe took about five boys to learn what life islike to stay out on the land during thewintertime.

We did this because long ago our eldersused to tell us that January was thehardest month to get over. I guess whatthey mean is, it used to be so cold thatanimals don’t even try to run around asmuch as when it starts to get longerwarmer days.

So we took these boys out to really see forthemselves that what the elders say isreally true and they all had a really goodlearning experience. By traveling andseeing the changes everyday, even thoughthey traveled by skidoo, now a days, wetell them about long ago traveling that wasdone by dog team. It wasn’t as fast astraveling by skidoo, so at least they have agood idea how much difference our life wasthen and now.

So when we came back to town I startedthe interviews, which at the beginning werekind of good. I was able to get a fewpeople, but because some people I wantedto interview went to work, that made it slow

Community-based Monitoring Program

The objective of the Community-based Monitoring Program is to develop and run amonitoring program that is based on local knowledge of the land, plants, animals andcommunity. The program contributes to a regional ecosystem monitoring program that willhelp us all understand changes that are happening on the land. It was the idea of thecommunities that we include traditional knowledge in this monitoring.

This is the sixth year that the program has been running in Aklavik, Old Crow and FortMcPherson and the second year for Arctic Village. Each community monitor interviewsexperts in their community using a questionnaire that asks for observations about weather,berries, caribou, fish, other animals as well as about the communities themselves. Thoseinterviewed receive a gas voucher in payment for their participation.

This year the Community Monitors were Randall Tetlichi (Old Crow), Connie Stewart (FortMcPherson), Annie B. Gordon (Aklavik- Inuvialuit), Danny Greenland (Aklavik – Gwich’in)and Joel Tritt (Arctic Village).

This summary has been compiled from presentations made by the community monitors atthe Coop’s 7th Annual Gathering (March 2002) and from their written reports, based on theinterviews they conducted in the communites.

More information on the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op’s Community-based Monitoring Program can be found at www.taiga.net/coop

Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-opCommunity Reports from 7th Annual Gathering, Fort McPherson, 20022

and some times hard to get anyone duringthe day, so I have to go out in the evening.But I have some good information abouttraveling out on the land.

Some people went only on day trips, somewent occasionally over night. Not too manystay out half of the time. Very few peoplestay out on the land a long time long agobecause of illness or orders to stay in townwhich is hard on people that are use tobeing out on the land most of their lives.Still the few that could go out still try tospend some time staying out.

There are very few elders left and youngpeople don’t try to go out unless their ‘OnThe Land Program’ takes them out.

Now that there are fewer elders on theland, people go out for just a few days. Youwouldn’t see people all summer. Peopleused to go out August and all ofSeptember. No one spends that much timeout anymore.

The younger generation doesn’t know howto hunt. They don’t know how to huntwhale.

Weather

• Everyone reports different weather.Some say it is cold and damp andothers say that it is hot and dry. So thisall depends on where the people arestaying.

• Sometimes it rains a lot on themainland and it stays damp and cold.Further along the coast, it could be niceand warm.

• This year or in the last few years, therehas been a lot of east or southeast

winds which make it hard for traveling orfor people hunting whales when thereare a lot of winds on the ocean. We hada very good fall, good freeze up, lowwater, less overflow, got more snowlater on. Never really had a big wind yet,lots of snow on the willows throughportages.

• People at Shingle Point sighted atornado or funnel cloud in the sky andthey got pictures of it. It’s scary becausewe don’t know what’s going to behappening out there. There are just acouple families out there, at ShinglePoint. There was a bad storm last yearat Shingle. People were air-lifted byhelicopter to the DEW-line site. Thewaves got very high and it was quitedangerous to be there.

Freezeup

• I don’t know how the ocean freezes up,but a few people say they notice a lot ofoverflow on the lower small rivers, alsohigh tide from the ocean.

• Some people say they never had toomany problems going out on the landuntil we started getting more snow. Thenthey noticed the overflow. So they haveto be very careful when traveling, eventhough they say the water was low.When it froze up, more snow made itoverflow in some places.

Permafrost

• People noticed more cut banks from icein the springtime, after the water startsgetting low.


• More people notice more mud slideswhen they were traveling on the Yukoncoast and Herschel Island and so thereis a lot of change.

Berries

• Some report some aqpiks berries butyou have to look for them where youthink the best places could be. You willfind them too dry and sun cooked inopen areas. The good ones were foundin shady areas.

• As for cranberries, there were only avery few. Not really that many. Again,you found them only if you went towhere you thought there was a goodpatch.

Fish

• People say that they really never try tofish that much because they only needto get what they can use.

• Mostly people like to go ice fishing for a

while when it starts getting too cold.When the ice gets too thick they don’t goanymore. Long ago people use to fish alot because they needed to catch fish forthe winter.

Caribou

• It was very hard to do this part of theinterview, as we don’t have caribou tohunt. Maybe we could hunt early in thefall when the caribou first start travelingfrom the Yukon, but sometimes, if theystart while people can use their boats, it

makes it hard because people kill theleading herd so the caribou wouldscatter all over. This makes it hard tohunt.

• This [not shooting the leaders] wasmentioned at the meeting but is notbeing followed. Sometimes it is nothunters from town but hunters from outof town. Hunters that go down to hunt assoon as they hear the caribou areheading up, make it hard for everyonelater on.


• So really, I can’t pinpoint it wherecaribou migrate south or even in thespring when they are migrating north. Idid the best that could be done on thecaribou report.

• The caribou that had been killedseemed to all be in good shape andhealthy.

• There are not very many elders left tohunt the old way, walking to hunt. Youngpeople use skidoos to haul their meat ifthey get a caribou in early spring orearly fall hunt.

Birds

• Some say that there are more ducks,swans and geese being seen, some saythere aren’t too many. It depends wherethey migrate. They seem to havechanged their spring route more to theeast.

• The last couple of springs, some huntersdidn’t go out to Mackenzie because theydidn’t trust the ice to travel. It dependson how you travel to spring geese hunt.You have to be careful how you travel.

• Some grouse and ptarmigan are seenwhen people travel out on the landwhenever they can get the chance totravel.

• Some report they see a few birds ofprey but not too many. It all dependswhere people travel.

• There were very few songbirds noticed.• Even shore birds are hardly seen.

Some say that maybe it gets too cold inspring or late spring but there are veryfew.

Moose

• A lot more moose have been seen inthe Delta in the last few years.

Muskox

• Some people say that they didn’t noticetoo many this year. Maybe they arehigher up on the hills.

Rabbits

• There were hardly any rabbits, only afew. You would be lucky to see any. It’sjust the usual cycle where they areslowly returning now.

Lynx

• People reported few lynx. Some saythat slowly there are getting to be morethis year. There are a very few trappersso we just go by what they tell us.

Bear

• Some say that there are a few bearsaround, some reported hardly any.Maybe there is better food for thembecause they hardly bother the camps.

Wolves

• When there’s no caribou, there are nowolves. People only saw a few. It’s notlike before where at least people saythey run into wolves here and there.

Furbearers


• Very few people are trapping. The onesthat used to do trapping are underdoctor’s care and they don’t go out anddo trapping anymore. So we are gettingless and less people trapping. The priceof gas is so much, it is hard for everyoneto even go out. Some people want to butthey don’t have the equipment.

Mosquitoes

• I don’t think that there is much change.There is always some or lots. Again, itdepends on wet or dry weather. Somesay there are less mosquitoes whenthere is not much rain and some say

kind of lots. We always have mosquitoesanyway, not like caribou where you don’tsee them for a few years.

Whales and Seals

• There was too much east or southeast

winds. As soon as the winds calmeddown, they tried to hunt beluga.Sometimes the hunters have to gofurther out to hunt. It all depends on thetraffic on the ocean. Sometimes it is justthe way the whales travel. Some yearsthey are easy to get.

• There was hardly any hunting onbowheads this year. A few hunters saythat when they travel along the coastthey never saw any. Maybe they areway out. One hunter only reported thefume from the blow so maybe they’re along ways out from the land. There’s noice close anyway.

• Nobody hunts sealson the west side. Maybethere’s some hunting butonly in the springtime ifhunters go out.

Community Observation& Human Activity

• Hardly any people goout to hunt or fish anymorein the summer. People useto make a lot of dry fish anddry meat in the fall. Wedon’t see that done toomuch. Now we’re onlymaking enough for our own

use.

Language

• Very few people are speaking thelanguage. Some speak or just couldunderstand very little. You don’t hearthem talk much anymore because it isnot being spoken in the home where itshould be used. Parents don’t speak or


Participant comments:

• Billy Day added that the elders are worried about the jackfish populations. Peopleused to feed them to their dogs, but now that few people have dogs, the fish aregetting over-populated.

we don’t have many elders anymore tohelp to keep the language alive. It’stotally getting lost.

Important Changes in Local Culture

• In the past few years, language is hardlyspoken anymore. Also even our way oflife on the land is not being doneanymore. Our younger generations arenot being taught or there are hardlyanymore elders alive to teach what andhow we use to live on the land. Drumdancing is getting done less too. Thepeople are not showing interest. Wehave to try to get whatever elders thereare together and get something goingagain soon. We can’t lose any more ofour culture.

• With more oil and gas companiescoming in the Delta or working on theland, there are more jobs for people.Some people are going to upgrading oron the job training. The younger

generations are getting to see that theyneed their education to have better jobsin the future. So they are trying hard tostay in school. As elders we have toencourage our younger people to stay inschool to finish their education so thatthey could get trained for better jobs.

• As well we all know living on the land isnot the same as years ago, back whenour elders made a good living out there.They knew how to live there, not like ouryounger people today. Enoughquestions are asked. People say thatthey should just keep it the same. Theyare satisfied with everything.

• We should have a harvest book forpeople to mark weather or numberanimals if they get any.


Report by Danny Greenland, presentedby Johnny Edwards – Aklavik (Gwich’in)

Weather

• No storms were noted this past year. Itwas a dry summer, as there was notmuch rainfall this year.

• There was calm weather for the mostpart of the summer. No major stormsnoted. The fall was wet. There were notmany differences noted in the change ofweather.

• There was an average freeze up thispast fall. It was a good early freeze upwith little overflow reported. The waterlevels were normal this fall. Freeze upoccurred at normal time of year-earlyOctober.

• The weather was similar to last year.

Warmer conditions between October-December time frame.

• Snowfall seemed to be normal this year.

• It was noted that the winter was much

milder than a few years back.• The fall to the end of December was

milder than usual.

• Other than these few noted conditions,the winter is normal and there haven’tbeen any major storms yet. The monthsof January and February haveexperienced normal winter temperaturesof –35 to –39. We have not experiencedany real cold spells during this timeframe.

Fish

• There was a good fishing season.

• There were lots of whitefish and all inhealthy condition and of average size.

• The coney and crooked-back fish wereall healthy and of normal size. All fishingwas normal this year.

• Char was plentiful and in good conditionaround the Husky River area.

• There was overall good fishing for loche.


About 10% had bad livers, which is thesame as last year. Overall the fishcondition was normal.

• Very few reports of out of the ordinaryparasites or mushiness with fishconditions were noted. It’s the same aslast year.

Berries

• Overall it was not a very good crop thisyear in the Delta region. Not as manyberries as years back.

• Not as many people going out for berrypicking as previous years. Some peoplehave their own berry patch and theyclaim it was okay in comparison toothers who say it was not as good.There were differences noted on berryinformation by the people.

Caribou

• No caribou were shot in the spring. Onehunter got a few around the Yukon/NWT border.

• In the fall time, there were a couple ofsuccessful hunters getting some caribouin the hills up by Husky River.

• Winter hunts in the mountains aboveAklavik were unsuccessful due to thechange in the migration routes and nocaribou were around this year.

• Overall it was a bad year for Aklavikhunters.

• It is not uncommon for the cariboumigration to change every so manyyears when they are coming down into

the delta region. A couple of peoplesuggested they will be back as it hashappened other times before. It isnature’s own way of preserving andmaintaining the ecological cycle.

Birds

• Ducks, swans all appear to be the sameas last year with fewer geese possiblydue to a different migration route.

• Ptarmigan and a few grouse were noted.Not many birds of prey were spotted. Afew eagles were noted around Aklavik. Alot of small songbirds and snowbirdswere observed this year.

Foxes

· Foxes were in abundance and werepresent within town boundaries all falluntil freeze up. This is unusual but it’sthe same as last year.

Moose

• A few were noted around the Deltaregion and they lingered through falluntil to Christmas.

Rabbits

• There were hardly any to very fewrabbits observed this fall until Christmas.

Lynx and Wolves

• There were few signs of them this year.



• Charlie Snowshoe had noticed that a lot of people are dying of cancer and wantedto know if there were there any studies done. Could it have anything to do with theparasites in the whitefish?

• Johnny Edwards replied that he’d been told the parasites are normal and nothingto worry about. But maybe we should ask again.

• Billy Day added that the lake whitefish are good, but not the river ones.

Bears

• There were a few black bears seen nearthe community this year. One grizzlybear was shot near town.

Mosquitoes

• These were normal this year as thereare always lots and bad every year.

Future of Local Economy

• The oil companies are involved with oiland gas exploration in Delta region andthe coastal area. Prospects look healthyfor employment opportunities.

• On the land, activity is not as high as itused to be. The younger generationsare not as active with traditional hunting,trapping and fishing activities.

• There was no trapping going on at thetime of the interviews (late January toFebruary 18th, 2002) however; somehunters stated that they would be doingsome towards the later part of the winteror early spring.

• The local school in conjunction withGNWT Renewable Resources and theRenewable Resources Council of theAklavik Indian Band are focusing onmore “On the Land” projects to preservethe cultural components.


Report by Connie Stewart- FortMcPherson

Weather

• A lot of knowledgeable elders said thatduring the summer of 2001 we had avery hot and dry summer as well as lackof rain.

• The weatheraffected thegrowth of plants.This caused thebirds to moveelsewherebecauseaccording to themany interviewsthat I did, none ofthe intervieweeshad anycomments on thebirds becausethere is nothingaround this year.

• According to the elders, during themonths of September throughDecember we had very warm months.

• In January 2002 we started getting coldweather, which is very unusual, and theyfigure it is because of the environmentalchange.

• It got really cold fast and the eldersmentioned we had a quick freeze up andthere was no overflows apparentlybecause the water levels were really lowup and down the Peel River.

Permafrost• Everyone travels either up or down the

Peel River and they have noticed a lot of

changes with the permafrost.• Some of the changes that they noticed

are a lot of landslides and cut banksalong the sides of the river.

• There are some places that creeks areforming.

• One elder mentioned that somepermafrost has affected the land.

Plants

• In regards to theplants, shrubs andtrees, some peoplesay that they don’tnotice any changesand some say theydo.

• The people thatsay they havenoticed changes inthe plants say thatthe weather got coldtoo fast and that is

why the willows and trees didn’t haveenough time to freeze.

Berries

• Because of the hot and dry summer wehad, the berry season was really bad.All the berries cooked and were alsovery small.

• A lot of the interviewees have their ownberry picking spots up and down thePeel River and on the highways. Thisyear there were absolutely no berriesaround.

• There are some people that I didinterview that said that around theircamp, they did pick a lot of berries that


were in good condition. But they wouldnot say exactly where the berries areand I don’t blame them.

Caribou

• Everyone basically gave the sameinformation on the caribou. The springand fall caribou all migrated southtowards the Yukon. They traveled fromthe coast towards Rock River, past theBlackstone and Ogilvie Rivers and ontowards the south to Old Crow.

• According to the elders they moved fastthis year and they also mentioned thatlately they seem to be changing routesall the time.

• The caribou were in between fat andpoor shape.

Birds

• The observations on different types ofanimals such as ducks, swans, andgeese and as well as different types ofbirds varied.

• Some people didn’t see any this yearand some saw a few.

• But according to the elders, they found itvery unusual because there were nobirds. I sometimes ask the question“why do you think there are no birds?”They responded “environment changeor the lack of food so the birds movedelsewhere.”

Moose

• Some of the observations of the moosewere that there was hardly any, and ifthere was, they got killed by the wolves.

Wolves

• A lot of the people say that we had a lotof wolves around this year. That is whythere were probably no moose.

Trapping

• Majority of the people didn’t trap thisyear because there were no animals totrap.

Community Observation & HumanActivity

• Everyone says that there is hardlyanyone on the land anymore and thereare also the same people hunting andfishing.

• Today we have a lot of training,education and employment in ourcommunity. A lot of the young peopleare turning towards the modern way ofliving and they figure it is because of thehigh cost of living. But a lot of them dounderstand and they don’t blame themfor changing.

• Our local culture has changed drasticallyand a lot of people I interviewed believethat it is due to the effects of alcohol anddrugs, oil and gas industry and also thecost of traveling.

• Effects on our land and animals due tohuman activities are increasing due tosnowmobile use while hunting. Theskidoos make tracks all over and noise.The gas makes exhaust. The semitrucks have a big effect as well becausethey travel back and forth on thehighway and that also scares a lot of thecaribou away. That is probably why theirmigration routes always change.



• There was a lengthy discussion about doing interviews in English vs. Gwich’in. Anumber of people felt that a lot would be lost in this kind of information if it isgathered from elders in English instead of in Gwich’in.

• Barry Greenland: You get a better understanding if it’s in Gwich’in. I was lucky tohave my mother and aunt there to tell me how it was, how different it was out onthe land. Today’s lifestyle is easier compared to how it was then. I’m glad I wasborn in 1970 and I didn’t have to go through that. If we do these stories in ourlanguage, you’re going to see big changes. In the weather, in the plants, what theygot out on the land was their doctor. I’m thankful to hear that stuff. It was rough, butas people living out on the land, that was their home.

• Charlie Snowshoe: I’m curious, one time people used to go after herring – that guyused to get more than enough herring to feed all the dogs. Now there’s no herringfor the last few years. That’s something funny. We should really look into whythere’s no herring. The temperature of the water is changing.

Connie reported that when she asked thequestion, ”What else is affecting thecaribou?”, the concern of the majority of theinterviewees was the effects of the younghunters. The young hunters are noteducated enough about the caribou andhow important it is to us. When they gohunting, they shoot everything and don’ttake what they need. They take more.

A few elders told Connie that they figurethat we are going to have a flood this yearbecause of the lack of snow. Andapparently, to them, that is going to be goodbecause we are then going to get our plantsand animals back.

Connie also said that one elder told her thatmaybe the reason why we don’t seeanimals anymore is because no one is outon the land anymore. “Today you can’t doanything without money. Our young peoplerespect our elders – but at the same time ifyou want somebody to take the young

people out on the land, you have to paythem.”

People also mentioned that fish are sick.You know the children here – nowadays thefish, they wouldn’t even eat it. They say thefish are sick. You have to really tell them, it’snot sick. Most of the kids are like that, sothey don’t eat wild food.

Connie concluded by saying that doing theinterviews was interesting. She learned a lotand it was good to visit with the elders. Itwas a really good experience. You don’t getto sit around like that with them anymore.It’s good to get younger people to do theseinterviews, because there are so manythings we can learn. You get a lot ofknowledge from the elders. The old people,some don’t even get to go outside anymore.They don’t even know where people live.She said, “I don’t interview them, I just sitand talk to them. Sometimes I have to tellthem what’s going on out there.”


Berries• This year the berries are very few

because of the weather. This springwas cold. It had no rain until late. Sothe berries didn’t have a chance togrow and whatever had a chance tostart growing froze on July 6th when wehad a snowstorm.

• So the berries either froze or diedbecause of the hot weather we had inJuly with no rain.

• The ground was very dry and dusty.Some of the berries that did well werethe ones that were in the shade.

• Most of the berries that survivedwere small but tasted good.

Fish• In Old Crow the people fish in

the spring for whatever they cancatch. In the spring we catchwhitefish, crooked-backs, coney,suckers, jackfish, and grayling.We catch these fish to eat andfeed the dogs.

• This year the fish numbers weredown. In July the people fish forChinook. The run was normaltime but not too many fish thisyear. The fish was in goodshape. The people averageabout ten (10) salmon each.

• The dog salmon was normal thisyear. It was a good run and the peoplecaught what they needed. These fishare in good shape with no signs ofsickness. It was a good fall.

Caribou• This year because there was a lot of

snow, the spring caribou migrationwas slow and late.

• As a result, it caused a lot calves to

be born before reaching the calvinggrounds. A lot of the calves didn’tmake across the Porcupine River.They drowned or were killed byeagles, bears, wolves, etc. and thecold weather.

• Because of the spring conditions, thecaribou were in very poor condition butthey still tasted good.

• The caribou this year returned fromthe calving grounds about August 25th

of 2001. They crossed up thePorcupine and the Bell Rivers about90-100 miles. There was a lot of

caribou at that time, in mixed groups.• In September more caribou crossed at

the Porcupine (about 60 miles up theriver). The caribou this year werepretty scattered. No one saw any bigbunches like in the past.

• The caribou in August, September andhalf of October were pretty fat, in goodshape and tasted good. There were nounhealthy caribou reported.


Report by Randall Tetlichi - Old Crow

Randall commented that most people areaware of the interviews but still ask, “Howcome we are doing it?” Some people arenot aware of the interviews and they askquestions of “How come?” too.

Weather

• The weather in Old Crow is changingrapidly each year. It is getting warmerand warmer with all the seasons.Compared to five years ago, thetemperature has risen a lot, the coldspells are shorter and the warm weatheris longer.

• In terms of cold and warm weather, it islike a teeter-totter. It goes up and down.This year in 2001, we had a snowstormin July 6 to 9, 2001. This was unusual.

• In May and June we had warm weather,a bit cool and windy. July and August,we had wet, warm, moist and windyweather. In September and October itwas very dry, cool and lots of frost onthe ground.

• We had our first snow in October. Wehad little snow in November andDecember 2001.

• The freeze up this year was late andslow. The weather was warm, with verylittle snow, which made it hard to travelout on the land.

• The river finally froze in late November.It was unsafe to travel on the river untillate December 2001.

• Overflow this year was very limited.There was more on the lakes than therivers.

• The water levels on the Porcupine Riverwere good. It made travel easy. Thewater levels on the Bell, Crow and EagleRivers were low and it made it hard totravel.

• In the winter of 2001, we had lots andlots of snow. From September toDecember 2001, we had no snow.

Permafrost

• The permafrost has been melting at afast rate in the last five years. We seethis when we travel along the rivers- theCrow, Bell, Porcupine, Eagle andWhitestone. There are a lot of landslidesand erosion of the riverbanks and newchannels in the rivers.

• We also see landslides up themountains when we travel by skidoos.

• We also see that the lakes are rapidlyturning into meadows.

• The banks are falling in fast and thewater levels are going down.

• A few people reported seeing cariboukilled along the Porcupine River and atCrow Flats mostly by wolves and bears.

• A lot of cow caribou were seen withoutcalves during the fall migration. Peoplesuspect that it was because of calvingearly and that the calves were taken bynature or predators.


• This year some of the caribou winteredat Crow Flats because of unknownreasons. The caribou were pretty fat andtasty. About 60 caribou were taken fromthis herd.

• This year the caribou rutted in the OldCrow Range from October to the lastweek in November 2001.

Birds

• Last spring there were less swans,geese and black ducks in the Old Crowarea. There were less than most years.The people didn’t get enough to meettheir needs. This also includes all otherducks.

• There were also no Ptarmigan, but moregrouse in the Old Crow region.

• There also seems to be more birds ofprey in the Old crow region. People areseeing more of these than in the past.

• There were also less small birds in theOld Crow area. We couldn’t enjoy thesounds of small birds because therewere none. This is not normal. It is theworst. There were no ducks, swans, orgeese all summer and fall. It is sad.

Moose

• The moose population is alsodecreasing. About six moose were killedlast fall. No one knows where all themoose went.

Muskox

• A few muskox have been spotted downriver from Old Crow in December 2001.These animals have started coming intothe Old Crow region within the last fiveyears.

Rabbits

• The rabbits have disappeared.

Bears and Wolves

• There also seems to be more bears andwolves in the Old Crow region forreasons unknown.

Mosquitoes

• Of course there were plenty ofmosquitoes, insects and flies.

Community Observation & HumanActivity

• This year there were only two peoplethat went trapping or did some trappingform Old crow. This way of life is rapidlydisappearing.

• In terms of hunting and fishing in the OldCrow region, these activities are aboutthe same as any other year.

• The economy in Old Crow is nil. There isnothing happening. People are lostwithout employment. People depend onthe natural resources to survive. Notmany people are furthering theireducation and training either, becausethey are not supported financially.


Language

• Half of the people speak their nativelanguage. The other half doesn’t speakor understand. Our language is lost.

Important Changes in Local Culture

• In the last two years we are seeing lessand less people going out on the landfor the period of eight weeks or more.

• People are depending more on themodern technology, to survive, waitaround for jobs, hanging onto jobs,

satellite phones/dishes, processedfoods, sweets, furniture andentertainment. We are losing ourcreativeness and culture. This is thechange.

• The technology that we use today tohunt, the people we bring in to see andwork, and the people we bring in todevelop, all affect the food chain of allthe animals, plant life, water fowl, fish,water, air and the land. These affect theanimals and affect subsistenceactivities. We use man-made power toover power the animals and we forgetour own. All in all we are destroying thevery purpose that we were created for.


Report by Joel Tritt - Arctic Village

Joel began with a brief history of ArcticVillage: I grew up in the old ways. When Iwent to school as a beginner that was thefirst time I heard English. The first time thesnowmobile came around was in the ’60s.In the ’50s we had dog teams, lived the oldways. Planes came around once a month,then once a week, and finally everyday.

Eighty percent of us still speak thelanguage. That’s of the people over thirty.When we do interviews with the elders, it isvery hard for them to understand English,especially the hard words. They make ithard to understand the whole paragraph.

Even I have a hard timeunderstanding it. I advise that thereshould be a native-speaking personthere when the interviews are done toget the story right. With hard orcomplicated issues it simply isn’tpossible to understand each other. Iknow this because I was born right inthe middle.

Weather

• At the beginning of this summerthe weather was kind of warm,calm with a few storms andsomewhat wet.

• It continued the same into July and itwas quite dry. We had some hail thelast of July as it has been in the lastthree years. In the late summer wehad some more rain.

• In the fall it was drier with a little bit ofsnow. November and December itwas cold and dry with a little snow.

• Freeze up this year was later than inmost other years with average freezeup and not much overflow.

• It seems like there’s more deep snow,and more wet. Overall it remains thesame, not much change. ArcticVillage is a very cold area. We don’thave all the lakes. It’s very coldaround there. During the spring itmelts very slowly, snow goes awayaround the end of May. The climate isvery different up there.

Water Level

• Water was lower and morepermafrost is melting. People saidthat it was easier to dig graves andthe airport runway was wavy. Therewere more cave-ins along the river.The vegetation was getting thicker.The spruce trees are turning red anddrying.


Berries

• Few people went salmonberrypicking. The quality reported wasaverage. Some people wentcranberry picking and the reportsvaried. Some said that there werelots and others said that there werefew. Some said that they were juicyand some said they were dry.

Fish

• The low water makes ithard for fishing insome places. Just afew people put outnets, but when theyhave got enough,other people go andpick the nets too.

• A couple of peopleinterviewed thoughtthat there were morejackfish, and big onesthis year. One personthought that the lowwater levels were goodfor jackfish, because itgave them anadvantage over other fish when hunting.

Caribou

• In spring there weren’t too many caribouaround. In the fall some people reportedthat they were close by and some saidthey weren’t close.

• Some people reported the caribou werein good shape and there were some thatwere skinny and some that were fat.

Some reported that there are lumps inthe lungs. Caribou rutted on the otherside of Old John Lake. At the end ofOctober the caribou appearedabundantly.

• Caribou were affected by there notbeing much snow, lots of wolves and,as always, by human activities.

• Caribou was similar to last year. Somechanges that peoplenoticed are erraticbehavior and migrationroute.

Birds

• Observations variedfrom being fewer ducksand geese to tworeports that they areabout the same.

• Swans are aboutthe same but somepeople reported seeingmore swans this year.

• Ptarmiganobservations are about

the same also.

• A few people said there were morehawks than eagles.

• Some people felt that there were fewersmall birds and other people saw birdsthey have never seen before.


Moose

• A couple people reported that therewere less moose and a couple othersreported that there were more moose.

Muskox

• One person reported seeing muskox.

Rabbits

• Some people reported that there werelots of rabbits around and then therewere a few reports that there were fewand none at all.

Bear

• Some people mentioned that there weresome bears around and a few peoplereported a lot of bears are around.

Wolves

• Half of the people reported that therewere lots of wolves. There were reportsof wolves in the side of the valley andalso a couple of dogs disappeared.

Trapping

• Hardly anyone traps but a couple that dosaid that the fur is in good fair shapeand the prices were okay.

Mosquitoes

• Naturally they are abundant when it israiny and wet. There are few when it isdry. There are also more mosquitoes inthe thicket and few in the barren area.

Community Observations and HumanActivities

• Many people reported that the activitiesremain the same. A couple mentionedthat young people know less.

• A couple of people felt that educationshould be improved.

• The young people don’t speak thelanguage and are more into the westernculture than the traditional culture.

• Traditional subsistence culture remainsthe same.

• Tourism is increasing.

• There is no change in oil and gasexploration at this time.

• Research on the lands is about thesame.

• There is more trash and garbage beingfound in the landing strip and the localcamping area.

Airport and Helicopter Traffic

• Many people reported an increase inplanes chasing caribou and sportshunters are increasing. There is also anincrease in snow machines and fourwheelers.

• About airstrips in the bush: The smallplanes, often with sports hunters, landeverywhere. It’s hard to detect themsometimes, and we only see them whenwe accidentally run into them.



• Joanne Gustafson said that US Fish and Wildlife Service is monitoring theseairstrips closely. They are a big concern in many parts of village Alaska.

• Joel expressed concern that even though they reported planes sometimes, nothingever came of it.

• Bev Reitz said that actually, anyone can land where they want to. We’re trying toaddress that. We’re trying to monitor the commercial guides. We’re trying to comeup with stipulations for the commercial hunting operators.


Participants’ comments on thepresentations:

• Billy Day: Barry Greenland madecomments about the harsh lives thatelders used to live. But myself, JohnCarmichael, and others, don’t talk abouthow harsh it was, but about the good oldtimes. When you get to our age, you callthem good times. My mother, lookingback to her elders about 100 years ago,said that if you had three dogs, youwere rich. She had just one dog, andthey had to help them through deepsnow. But she never talked about itbeing hard or harsh.

• Mike Gill asked if last spring wasdifferent for birds. Randall relied that, “Itwas the worst ever. How come, I don’tknow.”

A number of people had questions andconcerns about muskox and how they getalong with caribou.

• Gary Kofinas: Part of the history is thatthey existed in Alaska in the 1800s, theyhad musk ox but were killed off. That’swhy they were bringing them in. Theyused to live together with caribou, butwhen people got guns, they were huntedout.

• Ian McDonald: the Wildlife ManagementAdvisory Council (North Slope) isdeveloping a harvest plan and is movingtowards making recommendation for aharvest quota. There are a lot ofconcerns about caribou and muskox.There are some collars on animals now.It’s an ongoing issue. (Ian)

• Charlie Snowshoe: Scientists say thatmuskox and caribou do get along. So

there’s a difference of looking at it. Backin the ’60s elders said that muskoxwould scare caribou away. We don’twant to see them get away. We knowmuskox have already caused problems.Get them in a net and send them back!

• Annie B. Gordon: I cooked muskox meatfor a meeting in Aklavik, and theyenjoyed it.

• Joel Tritt: Arctic Village gets a few, butwe’re not allowed to shoot them.

Ground squirrels:

• Billy Day: Years ago along the coastthere used to be squirrels running allaround when you set up camp. The lastcouple of years at our whaling campthere are hardly any.

• People from Aklavik, Old Crow andArctic Village all said that there arefewer now than in the past, since the1970s.

• Herbert Felix said they always have anabundance.

William Teya asked, “We used to see redroses. Where did they go?”

Moose:

• Billy Day: People talked this morningabout moose. On the delta side ofInuvik, there are lots of moose comingup to the delta. Back in the 1940s therewere lots but up in the hills. Now peopleare hunting all summer in the delta. Thelast ten years they come into the delta.People would rather have caribou than


moose. For about 60 years we didn’thave any caribou, so that could be onereason the moose population was down.

• William Teya: This time of year, cowmoose are fat.

• Danny A. Gordon: After a fire 10 yearsago, there are a lot more moose.

• Joel: In our area, the Yukon flats, thepopulation is mostly down.

Caribou:

• Billy Day: Some people went out fromInuvik and got caribou in really poorshape. But my sons got nine and theywere all really in good shape.

• Joel Tritt: It depends what type ofcaribou they are. The young men areskinny at this time of year.

Fish:• Joel: Some people talked about

whitefish being in good shape. Someone

said they found wormy whitefish.

• Maureen Clark: There’s an increase inherring in Tsiigehtchic. People don’t carefor it much, but they give it to dogs.Other people can’t feed herring to theirskidoos so they don’t like it.

· Billy Day: There are a lot of herring but alot of times people are not there at theright times, they might be off whaling.They come back in late July or earlyAugust and say they’re not there. Then

a week later they show up.

· Melanie Toyne: Fisheries foundout that this year people werecatching lots of herring, second towhitefish.

Weather:

· Maureen Clark: There werefunnel clouds that took offtreetops. The town got pitch blackwhen that was happening. Wehad lightening showers where thetwo rivers meet all the way upnorth until the Yukon. Tsiigehtchicshould have been burning, therewas lightening all over the place!

It was just lit up.

• Joel Tritt: In ’97 we had hail. In the lastfor 4 years we’ve had hail, some of itgolf ball size.

• Maureen Clark: We usually take backchannels when going upriver, but thisyear they were closed off, we thoughtbecause of landslides. This yearseemed there were more than normal.

arctic borderlands ecological knowledge co-opsdw.enr.gov.nt.ca/nwtdp_upload/2001-02community.pdf ·...

Documents