@article {25074,
	title = {Report on traditional environmental knowledge input into wildlife habitat reclamation recommendations},
	year = {2006},
	note = {Consulting firm commissioned by CEMA},
	abstract = {This report presents the results of a region-wide consultation program to obtain recommendations from Aboriginal communities regarding reclamation strategies, specifically wildlife habitat reclamation. The importance of integrating invaluable traditional environmental knowledge with western scientific data to inform best reclamation practices is noted as a guiding principle of the study. Workshops to gather traditional environmental knowledge on habitat and advice on current reclamation activities were held in three communities, Anzac, Fort Chipewyan, and Fort McKay, in 2005. Twenty-eight Elders participated in the one-day workshops and were interviewed in small groups on the habitat of 13 species. The 13 species targeted were black bear, beaver, caribou, black-capped chickadee, fisher, lynx, moose, muskrat, great grey owl, rabbit, river otter, toad, and vole. The type of information collected included the interconnectedness of species and habitats, animal habitation of different seasonal and geographic ecosystems, animal dietary and foliage preferences, and animal sensitivity to development. Follow-up verification workshops were also held in the same three communities.The report itself briefly explains the study and its methodology, and then provides a summary of the information gathered at the workshops. The summary information is divided by species, and further categorized into a range of topics, depending on the species. Caribou information includes, for example, foraging characteristics, landscape types preferred, characteristic activities (forage and movement/migration and reproduction/calving), miscellaneous animal behaviour, shared learning, and reclamation limits and challenges. Each of these categories includes a recommendation towards improving reclamation strategies. In addition to the species discussed there is also a section for general information, such as trapping, medicinal plants, observed changes, and the like. The authors recommend that the working group continue discussions with Aboriginal communities due to the sophisticated and detailed nature of traditional environmental knowledge, ever difficult to translate into terms understood by western science. The report concludes that "it is through an exploration of traditional landscape knowledge that complimentary approaches to conserve, sustain and reclaim habitat in the Wood Buffalo Region will be gained."},
	keywords = {traditional environmental knowledge, wildlife habitat reclamation}
}
