Four projects were awarded a total of $30,000 of Species at Risk Stewardship Program funding in 2017-18:
Rusty Blackbird Awareness Campaign (Hay River)
Project lead: Ecology North, Hay River
Species at risk focus: Rusty blackbird
Purpose: Ecology North intends to produce a teacher's guide, classroom learning materials, and a temporary tattoo featuring the rusty blackbird. These activities and materials will bring awareness to the beneficial role that these birds have in our environment and how humans can best support their health and survival. The project has two parts: the South Slave portion (Hay River) of the project will focus on creation of educational content, curriculum connections, and activity development.
Rusty Blackbird Awareness Campaign (Yellowknife)
Project lead: Ecology North, Yellowknife
Species at risk focus: Rusty blackbird
Purpose:Ecology North is creating a teacher's guide, classroom learning materials, and will continue their tradition of creating a temporary tattoo of the rusty blackbird as part of their species at risk collection. These activities and materials will bring awareness to the status of the rusty blackbird in the NWT, how we can protect their habitat, and encourage citizen science (examples: submitting sightings to the GNWT database, keeping monitoring logs for sightings). This project has two parts: Ecology North Yellowknife's portion will focus on the graphic design aspects of this project (design work for teacher's guide, classroom materials, etc.), social media and public outreach, and editing and printing the final teacher's guide and package.
Bats in the Gwich'in Settlement Area
Project lead: Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board
Species at risk focus: Bats
Purpose: Bat surveys in the NWT are sparse, most observations have been in the south, and the northern limits of bats are not clear. This project focuses surveys in the Gwich'in Settlement Area where bats have been reported by community members in previous years. Surveys will focus on zero-crossing static acoustic bat detectors recording echolocation calls of bats in the summer and fall, in roosting and foraging suitable habitats (e.g., trails, ponds, forested areas, rock crevices, buildings).
Mountain Caribou Stewardship Planning
Project lead: Sahtú Renewable Resources Board
Species at risk focus: Mountain caribou
Purpose: This project is a collaboration with the Tulı́t’a Dene Band, Tulı́t’a and Norman Wells Renewable Resource Councils (RRCs), and Ross River Dena Council to develop and promote a Shúhta Ɂepé (Northern Mountain Caribou) Stewardship Plan founded in traditional Dene/Dena principles and values, and consistent with the Environment Canada ‘2012 Management Plan for the Northern Mountain Caribou Population of Woodland Caribou in Canada’.