Slave Watershed Environmental Effects Program
Paul Jones, with the University of Saskatchewan and Slave River and Delta Partnership
In 2010, the Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) was formed to address the changes people were noticing in their environments and in harvested foods from the watershed. In 2011, community members worked with Paul Jones from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) to collect fish samples to analyze fish health in the Slave River and Delta. In this project, traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) and western science indicators were identified in support of a “two-eyed seeing” approach. As a result of the communities’ interest and involvement in this research, a new partnership was formed between the SRDP, U of S, and Government of Northwest Territories – Environment and Natural Resources to look at the health of the entire ecosystem using a community-based monitoring approach.