Year: 2001
Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to document the traditional environmental and historical knowledge of the FMFN; to identify and map significant sites such as important food and medicinal plant harvest areas, historical gathering places, cabins, hunting and trapping areas, mineral licks, and graves; to identify concerns regarding the proposed pipeline development; to produce a report and maps situating the Corridor Pipeline project in the context of traditional land use in the regional study area and to make recommendations for impact prevention and mitigation; and to protect confidential or sensitive, site-specific information. Traditional land use information was collected through interviews with members of the FMFN, and with trappers whose Registered Fur Management Areas are affected by the proposed pipeline alignment. Interview structure was informal; interviewees were invited to discuss places and issues they identified as important. In general, interviews involved an account of the interviewee's personal and family history; hunting and trapping sites; animals hunted and trapped; plants collected; routes traveled; changes experienced in the interviewee's lifetime; significant sites within the regional study area; and concerns regarding the proposed Corridor Pipeline project and resource development projects in the area more generally. This report presents the traditional knowledge shared by study participants in two ways: organized thematically in the body of the report to illustrate the ways in which local aboriginal people have traditionally used their land base and the concerns they have for the impact of Corridor's proposed project on the land and their traditional way of life; and in the form of edited transcripts from interviews (Appendix A), in order to preserve the quality and details of the knowledge and stories shared by study participants. This report also includes a brief section to provide a background on the values and principles underlying aboriginal traditional environmental knowledge. It also provides a summary of concerns expressed by study participants with regard to potential impacts of the Corridor Pipeline proposed alignment on traditional land use. Concerns expressed by participants such as damage to wildlife habitat and plant populations; impacts to cultural sites and cabins; changes in access to traditional harvest areas; inadequate consultation on the part of industrial developers; and restriction of the traditional land base and practices through the presence of multiple industrial projects. In conclusion, this report offers recommendations for mitigation measures to prevent or minimize potential impacts of the proposed pipeline development. Maps accompanying the text of the report outline the regional study area, the proposed pipeline alignment, and important sites and areas described by study participants. Based on the mapping of these features, areas of high and moderate sensitivity were delineated. These areas should be avoided by development, where possible. Where impacts are inevitable, they should be managed through careful planning and on-going consultation with members of the FMFN and other affected trappers. As an additional source of information appendix B summarizes information (obtained from published literature) on plants used by the Aboriginal people of northern Alberta. Appendix C lists locations of specific features in the study area, such as mineral licks, cabins, spiritual sites, and medicinal plant populations. (To protect the locations of these sensitive sites, Appendix C is not included with this report, but is available upon request from the FMFN).
