Boots on the Ground - Caribou Monitoring
Thursday, November 22, 2018 - 15:40 to 15:59 Theatre 3The Boots on the Ground traditional knowledge caribou monitoring program completed its third installment this summer at Koketi (Contwoyto Lake), which sits on the NWT/NU border. Two teams spend 3 weeks each out on the land observing the Bathurst caribou in their natural habitat. Tlicho/Inuit Elders, field guides, wildlife monitors and researchers make up a 5-6 person team. By staying small scale the team is able to easily move across the land or use a boat on the lake to follow the caribou. The program created the ‘we watch everything’ methodology; observations about vegetation, caribou behavior, caribou health and migration routes are recorded along with information on predators, other wildlife and the weather. Of note this year is how a changing climate is bringing new predators to the area, which further increases pressures on caribou. The presentation will explain the program and information gathered.