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MAPPING VULNERABILITY RESEARCHERS WORKING IN FACE OF RAPID KUGMALLIT BAY EROSION
Sections of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region are disappearing due to erosion, including culturally important sites such as the old village of Kuukpak, which was featured in the Winter 2016 issue of Tusaayaksat.
words and photos by Mike O’Rourke, Postdoctoral Fellow Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
These changes are forecast to become more frequent and severe in the years ahead, and though Kuukpak is a unique cultural landscape in need of further monitoring, there are numerous other locations that are both threatened and valued for a variety of reasons. The entire ISR can be considered a place of great cultural value, reflecting the will of Inuvialuit to secure and exercise collective rights to the management of lands and resources. But shoreline erosion is threatening the stability of cultural landscapes throughout the ISR.
