Sharing Indigenous Knowledge
Talking circles and mapping exercises
The Indigenous Advisory Council together with the rest of the project team will be making decisions related to the project's climate, river (flows, temperatures, and ice cover), and fish modeling. This modeling will produce projections for a future (2035-2065) time period. During the Inform the Modeling talking circles and mapping exercises, we will be asking questions that will help the project team make these decisions.
Here we describe the goal for each Inform the Modeling talking circle, why we are gathering information, the kinds of questions that will be asked, and how the information will be used. We also discuss how the information gathered will be collected, recorded, stored, and kept confidential. Of the three talking circle topics (Use of Climate Information, River Ice and Flow, and Fish), two of the topics will involve mapping exercises during which participants will be asked to locate river ice transportation corridors and fish habitat on a map.
Use of Climate Information
One goal of the project is to understand how climate might change in the future in Alaska and northwestern Canada and in turn, how this might affect rivers, fish, and communities. Project team members with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) will produce detailed climate models with output that includes air temperature, permafrost, active layer thickness and snow cover. This level of detail will allow the project to represent climate change impacts at the scale of individual communities and river reaches to a degree not previously possible. For more information, please visit our project website.
The project will produce 2-3 future scenarios for the 2035-2065 timeframe. This modeling timeframe decision was based on input from the Indigenous Advisory Council and responses received from a survey that was sent to Alaska Tribal and Yukon First Nation governments and other decision-makers. For more information, please see the summary report of survey results. The future climate scenarios will explore differences in equally likely future conditions. Climate information will be produced for all of Alaska and the Yukon.
Why is the project gathering information on the use of climate information?
Input from you will help us to understand what climate information may help Indigenous communities to plan for future conditions, how best to share that information, and what formats are most useable. This information will be used to develop the most broadly useful data sharing plan.
What types of questions about climate information may be asked?
Who uses climate information in your community?
Where do you get climate information?
How do you use climate information?
What types of climate information have been useful?
What types of climate information have been hard to use?
What types of climate information might be helpful as you plan for the future?
The above are examples of questions that may be asked during the talking circle, however, given the nature of conversations, different questions than those listed may arise. Please note that there will be no mapping exercise associated with the climate talking circle. In line with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, participation and sharing of information is voluntary.
How will the climate information be used?
Knowledge gathered during the climate talking circles will be used to inform the decisions of what climate model output to make available and how. Information shared during the talking circles will also be used in the development of Narratives of Change that describe various possible futures that Indigenous communities in Alaska and the Yukon may face.
River ice and flow through the seasons
A second goal of the Arctic Rivers project is to understand how societally important Alaskan and Yukon river reaches and river ice transportation corridors might be impacted by climate change. Data from a climate model will be fed into river models that will generate potential future (2035-2065) river flows, water temperatures, and ice conditions. Project team members from the University of Colorado - Boulder and the University of Saskatchewan will be modeling river ice dynamics such as the timing of freeze and of break-up. This requires local knowledge of the structure of river channels and banks.
Why is the project gathering information on rivers and river ice corridors?
Although the project will produce climate and river flow data for the major river systems in the study region, we need your help to identify what river ice corridors 1) are of interest and/or concern and 2) have available information such as river channel depth, width, ice thickness, snow depths on ice, and ice cover type (smooth or rough) needed to run the river ice models. In addition, we would like to understand what information related to river flows and ice would most help Indigenous communities with planning for future conditions.
What types of questions about rivers will be asked?
How do people in your community travel over river ice?
What are typical times of year that one can travel over river ice?
Have you observed any changes in river ice?
Which river ice corridors are critical for you?
Are there certain indicators that river ice will be unsafe to travel on? If so, what are those?
How is information about river ice safety communicated throughout your community?
What are the consequences of not being able to travel over river ice?
What kinds of information about river flow and ice corridors would help you plan for the future?
The above are examples of questions that may be asked during the talking circle, however, given the nature of conversations, different questions than those listed may arise. In line with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, participation and sharing of information is voluntary.
Pilot Station, Alaska
How will the river ice and flow information be used?
Knowledge gathered during the river ice and flow talking circles and mapping exercise will inform the decisions of which river reaches and ice corridors to model, what river flow and ice model output to make available and how. Information shared during the talking circles and mapping exercise will also be used in the development of Narratives of Change that describe various possible futures that Indigenous communities in Alaska and the Yukon may face.
Fishing through the seasons
A third goal of the project is to understand how societally important fish habitat along Alaskan and Yukon rivers might be impacted by climate change. Project team members from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center and the University of Colorado - Boulder will use data from the project’s river modeling in a fish model that uses river temperature to estimate fish growth rates and survival during different life stages under historical and future (2035-2065) climate conditions.
Why is the project gathering information on fish?
This information will help us to hone our limited project resources to focus on fish species and critical habitats in the study area. In addition, we would like to understand the types of environmental and biological information related to fish that would most help Indigenous communities with planning for future conditions.
What types of fish and how many fish can the project model?
The project will be able to model freshwater fish species and the freshwater life stages of fish that migrate between rivers and the ocean. The project is not modeling ocean processes and thus cannot provide information on ocean life stages for fish. The exact fish species the project can model will depend on whether or not data are available that are needed by the fish model.
The project will likely be able to model anywhere between 4 and 7 fish species. The exact number depends on a variety of factors including the number of locations of interest and the availability of biological information for species of interest.
What types of questions about fish will be asked?
Which fish species are harvested in your community?
What times of year are those species harvested?
Have you observed any changes to those species (e.g., migration timing, size, habitat use, etc.)?
What characteristics of riverine habitats are important for fish?
Which locations on the map are important for fish spawning, rearing, and as rest areas?
Have new fish species been observed or become more numerous?
What kinds of information about fish and fish habitat would help you plan?
The above are examples of questions that may be asked during the talking circle, however, given the nature of conversations, different questions than those listed may arise. Please note that there will be no mapping exercise associated with the climate talking circle. In line with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, participation and sharing of information is voluntary.
How will the fish information be used?
Knowledge gathered during the fish talking circles and mapping exercise will inform which fish to model, what fish model output to make available and how. Information shared during the talking circles and mapping exercise will also be used in the development of Narratives of Change that describe various possible futures that Indigenous communities in Alaska and the Yukon may face.
How will information be gathered, recorded, stored, and kept confidential
Each Inform the Modeling talking circle and both small and large group discussions for the SWOT activity will have facilitators and notetakers. Facilitators and notetakers will be project team members or trusted and competent colleagues. Facilitators will record notes on flip charts. Notetakers will type notes on a computer. During two of the talking circles (River Ice & Flow and Fish), attendees will be asked to identify locations on maps. During the SWOT roundtables, attendees will be asked to write ideas on sticky notes. None of the talking circles or SWOT activity gatherings will be video or audio-recorded.
Information gathered will be stored in locked cabinets if collected on paper and in password-protected computer files if collected electronically. Information will be kept for at least five years after the project ends. Information will be destroyed when no longer needed.
Information obtained about Summit attendees for this study will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by law. Information that identifies you may be shared with the University of Colorado-Boulder Institutional Review Board, the U.S. Office for Human Research Protections, and others responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations related to research. The reviewers are required to protect your privacy. Your identity will not be given out as part of any publications or presentations from this study unless you specifically ask for or give us permission to attribute knowledge that you provided to you.
How will the information gathered be shared back with you
Three Summit summary reports will be produced:
Arctic Rivers Summit Proceedings (will summarize what happened during the Summit)
Arctic Rivers Summit Inform the Modeling Report (will summarize input provided during the Inform the Modeling talking circles)
Arctic Rivers Summit Action Plans (will document the SWOT Analysis to Action activity for each of the four SWOT topics)
By virtue of your participation in the Summit, you will automatically be a co-author, if you wish, on all three reports, and you will have the opportunity to review the reports and provide input and/or withdraw information as the reports are developed after the Summit. When completed, the reports will be distributed to you via email and will be freely available on the Arctic Rivers Project website. If you request, paper copies or electronic copies on a USB drive can be mailed to you. The project will also host a webinar discussing the reports. Information from the reports may be distributed via the Summit and Arctic River Project’s websites and the project’s email listserv and social media. Information from the Summit may also be included in project presentations and published in peer-reviewed journal articles. We will let you know via email when any presentations including Summit information are occurring or any peer-reviewed journal articles citing Summit-gathered data are published.