Speaker

Erica Olson

Streaming Media

Presentation Abstract

Over the past two centuries, the combined impacts of resource extraction, over-harvesting, and government policy has adversely impacted environmental health within Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations’ (KCFN) territory, and impaired KCFN members’ ability to utilize resources to harvest foods and medicines, and for cultural and other purposes. In response, KCFN has created a Stewardship Program to monitor and safeguard ecological and cultural resources, to document and/or deter human activities, and to establish a presence in the territory. In the first year of the program, Stewardship staff acquired equipment, conducted training, and carried out an initial set of activities, including boat-based patrols of the territory, and baseline ecological monitoring. To ground program development in KCFN community values and priorities, KCFN is (1) engaging community members and leadership to determine the long-term program goals, to document the key issues and concerns the program should address, and to identify core monitoring activities; (2) developing tailored monitoring and analysis plans to meet their data and decision-making needs; and (3) developing a custom data management system for data storage, visualization, analysis, and reporting. We review the process KCFN is undertaking to develop the Stewardship Program and highlight initial insights from the program’s first year.

Session Title

Conservation Through Different Ways of Knowing

Conference Track

SSE2: How We Protect the Salish Sea

Conference Name

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2022 : Online)

Document Type

Event

SSEC Identifier

SSE-traditionals-91

Start Date

27-4-2022 9:45 AM

End Date

27-4-2022 11:15 AM

Type of Presentation

Oral

Genre/Form

conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)

Contributing Repository

Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.

Subjects – Topical (LCSH)

Indians of North America--British Columbia; Traditional ecological knowledge--British Columbia

Geographic Coverage

Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); British Columbia

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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Apr 27th, 9:45 AM Apr 27th, 11:15 AM

Developing the Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations Stewardship Program

Over the past two centuries, the combined impacts of resource extraction, over-harvesting, and government policy has adversely impacted environmental health within Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations’ (KCFN) territory, and impaired KCFN members’ ability to utilize resources to harvest foods and medicines, and for cultural and other purposes. In response, KCFN has created a Stewardship Program to monitor and safeguard ecological and cultural resources, to document and/or deter human activities, and to establish a presence in the territory. In the first year of the program, Stewardship staff acquired equipment, conducted training, and carried out an initial set of activities, including boat-based patrols of the territory, and baseline ecological monitoring. To ground program development in KCFN community values and priorities, KCFN is (1) engaging community members and leadership to determine the long-term program goals, to document the key issues and concerns the program should address, and to identify core monitoring activities; (2) developing tailored monitoring and analysis plans to meet their data and decision-making needs; and (3) developing a custom data management system for data storage, visualization, analysis, and reporting. We review the process KCFN is undertaking to develop the Stewardship Program and highlight initial insights from the program’s first year.