Environmental Change and Traditional Use of the Old Crow Flats in Northern Canada: An IPY Opportunity to Meet the Challenges of the New Northern Research Paradigm

Here we describe the evolution of a community- researcher partnership that defines the Government of Canada International Polar Year (IPY) investigation on "Environmental change and traditional use of the Old Crow Flats in northern Canada (Yeendoo Nanh Nakhweenjit K'atr'ahanahtyaa; hereafter referred to as YNNK)"-one of very few fully endorsed programs led by northern-based individuals or aboriginal organizations in Canada (Church, 2009). The YNNK project, led by the Vuntut Gwitchin Government in collaboration with Yukon Environment, Parks Canada, and a multidisciplinary team of southernbased researchers, focuses on addressing the complexities of climate change impacts on the OCF and the nearby First Nation community of Old Crow. Research expertise spans the disciplines of Quaternary paleontology, dendroclimatology, permafrost science, hydroecology, terrestrial ecology, wildlife biology, community health, and traditional knowledge of the land and its processes. Overarching goals are to (1) document the history of environmental change in the OCF from a unique assemblage of archives that record natural history from the last interglacial to the present; (2) assess the distribution and abundance of vegetation and wildlife and identify the processes linking these to the changing physical environment; (3) evaluate the impact of changes in the physical and biological environment on traditional food sources of the VGFN and community adaptation options; and (4) develop a long-term environmental monitoring program for the OCF conducted by the VGFN through the IPY and into the future. During the community-researcher meeting of winter 2009 in Old Crow, the researchers and their graduate students had a special opportunity to participate in a very successful outreach program. Organized by leaders of the Arctic Health Research Network (including an Old Crow community member), with funding from Health Canada, the "Our Changing Homelands, Our Changing Lives" youth conference brought ~25 students from Whitehorse (many originally from Old Crow) to Old Crow to participate in the annual community-researcher meeting. A major focus of the conference was climate change workshops (including Historical Air Photos, Permafrost, Wildlife, Fossils, Tree Rings and Hydrology; Fig. 3) conducted by YNNK team members. Each research team was challenged to construct an interactive, fun workshop that would run for two to three hours and present research in a way that young people could easily