Climate Change Impacts in the Vuntut Gwitchin Traditional Territory
This project provides information about the sensitivity of culturally important areas to permafrost thaw, impacts on water quality, and changes in hydrology. There are now 24 monitoring sites for hydrology (some of them also monitored for vegetation changes) managed by Brock University, 5 sites for lake bottom temperature managed by Laurentian University, and 8 stations monitoring ground temperature (including 4 in the community) managed by YukonU Research Centre. Our story map shows these sites, some of the landscape changes observed by VGFN’s community members and the work completed so far by the researchers. The monitoring is on-going and all collaborators on this project will keep working on the study sites. To read our complete story map click on the link below, and we hope you’ll enjoy the journey!!!
Permafrost Atlas
This atlas shows permafrost and hazard maps produced for northern communities. The projects focused on two main appraoches.
COMMUNITY APPROACH
The maps presented in this atlas were developed by researchers in partnership with communities. Community members and Elders were involved in meetings and workshops where they provided valuable input for the research and greatly contributed to the work on field. The field work was conducted with field assistant from the communities which ensured complete respect of the land the people’s culture and traditions. These project helped raise awareness of climate change and contributed to build capacity.
SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
Various multidisciplinary methods were used to characterize permafrost and rank its vulnerability to thaw. The common features among all the projects are the use of geological deposit maps and the ground truthing with on the field data collection.