Our findings, along with those of sister projects in two other major watersheds (Amazon, Mekong), confront assumptions that Indigenous-led community-based monitoring efforts are too local to offer insights about large-scale systems. A scalar analysis of these results suggests that the combination of core (common) indicators used across the basin, coupled with others that are meaningful at local level, create a methodological bricolage-a mix of tools, methods, and rules-in-use that are fit together. Specifically, we present and compare the indicators and monitoring methods developed by each of these community-based cases to demonstrate the specificity of place, culture, and context. Here we share the results of 12 community-based, participatory monitoring projects led by Indigenous governments and organizations in the Mackenzie River Basin (2015–2018). Research in large, complex, and dynamic ecosystems suggests a participatory approach to monitoring-that builds on the diverse knowledges, practices, and beliefs of local people-can yield more meaningful outcomes than a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Monitoring methods based on Indigenous knowledge have the potential to contribute to our understanding of large watersheds. In this context, the research approach described in this paper could be used as an example of how to meaningfully bring together place-based Indigenous knowledge and science in addressing an urgent issue of Arctic sustainability. Given the drastic decline of the Bathurst caribou over the last two decades, more research is needed to understand movements and their relationship to population dynamics. This work addresses a gap in scientific data about barren-ground caribou movements at Ɂedacho Kué prior to satellite collar use in 1996 and corroborates previously documented oral histories about the enduring value of Ɂedacho Kué as critical habitat to barren-ground caribou. Key findings include relatively low caribou use at Ɂedacho Kué during the 1930s and late 1960s, with use increasing into the 1970s and peaking in the late 1980s, as well as Elder and hunter reports of no caribou in some years between 20. Findings from oral histories and dendroecology analysis were consistent with one another and with previous dendroecology study in the region, although some discrepancies were detected in data from 1995 – 2006 that require further study to elucidate. This paper describes linkages between knowledge derived from Dënesǫ́łıné oral history and quantitative dendroecological analysis of trample scars on black spruce (Picea mariana) root samples collected at Ɂedacho Kué to provide a better understanding of caribou use at this location. Guided by local Indigenous leaders and Elders, a collaborative research project was developed with the Dënesǫ́łıné people of Łutsël K’e Dëne First Nation (2012 – 14). Human disturbance of barren-ground caribou habitat in northern Canada has emerged as an important focus of study in the last decade particularly in the Bathurst range of the Northwest Territories where caribou populations have declined by more than 95% since the 1980s. For thousands of years Ɂedacho Kué (Artillery Lake, Northwest Territories) has been a key water crossing site for barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus).
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