Mapping Vulnerability

Mapping Vulnerability

Researchers Working in Face of Rapid Kugmallit Bay Erosion

Words and Photos by Mike O’Rourke, Postdoctoral Fellow Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre

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.

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.

The village of Kitigaaryuit, looking south.

Areas of cultural significance can take many forms and be valued by people for many reasons. While some of these locations include ancestral and archaeological materials, many more do not.

Some places are considered important for their sheer beauty, some for their spiritual potency and others as reliable harvesting locations to hunt, trap or pick berries.

Places where elders and youth can come together and share land-based knowledge could also be considered to have social and educational value, as related to the intergenerational learning opportunities they provide.

Some places have historical value as locations where the old ways of life were practised, while others are regarded as areas of natural wonder, where evidence of human activity is minimal or absent entirely. Some cultural landscapes have no land at all, consisting entirely of coastal waters, lakes or river courses that might be valued as freshwater sources, travel routes or fishing locations.

Map of the Kugmallit Bay study area.

Efforts at monitoring and protecting such important places often rely on these different ‘value’ perspectives, which land management agencies can apply when setting policies and making decisions about land use and conservation.

The Husky Lakes Special Cultural Area, for example, has been granted special protected status by the Inuvialuit Land Administration. Among the numerous reasons for designating Husky Lakes as a special cultural area are their distinction as a unique landscape feature consisting of a series of saline lakes, their importance as habitat for diverse animal species, their use as a harvesting area and the importance they hold for Inuvialuit in terms of their spiritual and cultural significance in general.

The identification of such ‘cultural landscapes’ or ‘special cultural areas’ is a critical step in the conservation process, and one that requires public input to define what makes those places so special.

Research has recently been conducted into the vulnerability of culturally significant areas within the Kugmallit Bay region, where the East Channel of the Mackenzie River meets the Beaufort Sea. This project used mapping software, commonly referred to as geographic information systems, to assess the risk of coastal erosion to areas of cultural significance.

An example of the Kugmallit Bay erosion model.

The first stage of research involved the development of a model of shoreline change, which was used to highlight areas where erosive forces have historically had the greatest impact. In order to create this model, shoreline positions from 1950, 1972 and 2004 were traced from more than 150 air photos of the Kugmallit Bay region. These digitized shorelines were then used to calculate rates of coastal advance and retreat throughout Kugmallit Bay.

The assessment of cultural landscape significance was based on three primary sources. Place name details shared by Tuktoyaktuk elders in the book ‘Nuna Aliannaittuq: Beautiful Land’ included richly detailed accounts of 80 locations within the Kugmallit Bay study area. Personal memories and anecdotes addressed a range of topics, from ancestral camps and villages to good harvesting areas and wildlife habitat. Significance was also assessed with the aid of the Inuvialuit Community Conservation Plan (ICCP) ‘special use area’ information. A ‘heat map’ of the southern extent of the ISR illustrates the degree of overlap among the ICCP special use areas and clearly highlights both the Kugmallit Bay and Husky Lakes areas as important locations.

The observations of archaeologists who have worked in the region over the past 60-plus years were also applied in assessing the significance of the region, using details recorded in the archaeological sites database and research reports on file with the Northwest Territories Cultural Places Program.

A ‘heat map’ showing the degree of overlap in ICCP special designated areas.

Of the 69 recorded archaeological sites in the study area, 94 per cent have some level of Inuvialuit cultural affiliation. As a result, their use in this research helped increase the time depth of cultural significance assessments without overshadowing the value of areas deemed important to contemporary Inuvialuit.

This project was effective in identifying areas of cultural significance threatened by the impacts of climate change, particularly in the areas of Kitigaaryuit, Tuktoyaktuk and Toker Point. However, while this first stage of research benefitted from the inclusion of Nuna Aliannaittuq place name information, much more can be done to engage a broader range of contemporary Inuvialuit perspectives, specifically as related to cultural landscape valuation and management practice.

Further work is being planned with the Research and Support Services division of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to address this need. This new project, funded by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, will first involve the review and digitization of a large collection of Inuvialuit place names the were recently compiled by Research and Support Services.

Following on this place name research, plans are also being made to conduct a series of community meetings and interview sessions in 2019 that will encourage public input on topics related to heritage value and cultural landscape management. The results of these first two stages of research will then be applied through a season of fieldwork in the summer of 2019, which will take place at an area of cultural significance threatened by coastal erosion.

By incorporating Inuvialuit perspectives as essential aspects of cultural landscape management strategies, management practices are more likely to reflect the desires of Inuvialuit communities, and thereby promote a more socially relevant and culturally appropriate management process.

University of Toronto archaeologist Dr. Max Friesen assessing a house that was heavily disturbed by a thaw slump.

Questions or comments about this project or the upcoming research being planned can be directed to:

Mike O’Rourke, Postdoctoral Fellow Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre michael.orourke@mail.utoronto.ca

The Following sources were used in preparing this article:

- Inuvialuit Land Administration

- Husky Lakes Special Cultural Area Criteria: ILMS Designated Area

- ‘Nuna Aliannaittuq: Beautiful Land’ (Hart 2011)

A fragile comb recovered from an igluryuaq threatened by erosion.