The NWSS and partners have transformed the landscape of caribou conservation and provided a case-study for how Indigenous-led conservation can do what western conservation approaches alone could not. The recovery of the Klinse-Za caribou is truly an Indigenous-led conservation success with global implications.
The Klinse-Za caribou recovery program is in a period of transition as it moves from averting caribou extirpation through wolf reductions and maternal penning to creating a self-sustaining caribou population through habitat restoration. Focusing on habitat restoration may involve trade-offs for other culturally significant species, such as moose, and could lead to tensions between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems. Indigenous knowledge from local communities indicates that moose and caribou have long coexisted on these lands, while Western science often suggests that the two species are largely incompatible. These differing perspectives consistently create tensions between knowledge systems, complicating efforts to predict future ecological conditions. However, a deeper exploration of both Indigenous and Western knowledge reveals that the gap may not be as wide as it appears. Moose and caribou might indeed coexist in the Klinse-Za region, albeit at varying densities across space and time, allowing caribou to maintain spatial refuges.
Our work intends to start shedding light on how species communities will respond to shifting vegetation and predator communities. We will do so through a collaborative approach with Western and Indigenous scientists working hand in hand to co-develop knowledge as we have done in the past (Lamb et al. 2022, 2023).
As NWSS embarks on its decades of restoration, likely coinciding with a rapidly changing climate, the landscape, along with its flora and fauna, will undergo significant transformations. The Nations are committed to continuing and, where necessary, restoring the seasonal round. As wildlife adapt to shifting environmental conditions, the seasonal round remains a flexible, adaptive process that responds to the unique dynamics of the local environment. However, to some extent, the Nations have influence over these local conditions through their approach to restoration and decisions about where to implement habitat improvements for other species, such as moose, in different areas..The data we aim to collect will offer insights into how species communities shift over time across a large spatial scale. This information will guide informed decisions on the landscape, ensuring meaningful opportunities to practice the seasonal round and promote culturally significant wildlife abundance.
The communities are committed to the recovery of caribou, the restoration of landscapes damaged by a century of industrial development, and the creation of an environment that sustains the flora and fauna essential to the practice of the seasonal round.. A grid of sensors (cameras) across the landscape will help inform how the species community is distributed across space and how it changes through time. Linking these changes to habitat changes will inform community decision-making regarding what the communities want the habitat to look like in this area. In the short term (1-5 years) we will annually report on activities, and the community will share lessons learned with other communities as the opportunities arise. We plan to eventually publish these findings in a peer-reviewed journal, but this will require accumulating over a decade of data (10+ years). However, if significant events occur, such as the cessation of wolf reduction efforts or a major fire, it could offer opportunities for preliminary insights within a shorter timeframe.
