Authors:
Youth contributors: Adrena McDonald, Deagan Lacorne, Ella Bertelsen, Gabriel Brost, Hayden Chapple, Kaize Roach-Ashoona, Leora Rabesca, Neo Barnaby, Kristyanna Camsell, Odin Mcdonald-Silastiak, Peyton Simba
Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI): Dana Redhuis, Assistant Research Scientist in Geospatial Ecology
Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC): Rebecca (Becky) Edwards – Advanced Remote Sensing Analyst, Aaron Sneep – Remote Sensing Analyst
Ecology North: Brandon Pludwinski, Education Program Manager.
Northern Youth Leadership (NYL): Steph Woodworth – Project Director, Nina Slagter – Youth Employee, Goliah Makletzoff-Cazon – Program Coordinator
Videographer: Brandon Mack
August 11
Weather: Smoky and in the 70s F (20s C) all day.
Our first day of camp found me waking up on Steph Woodworth’s couch. Steph is the Project Director for Northern Youth Leadership (NYL), a nonprofit focused on building on-the-land experiences for youth across the Northwest Territories. I blearily got up and went outside to meet Brandon for a run. It was still wild to me how just a few months ago, we had discussed organizing this camp as a hypothetical goal, and now here I was, waking up on a collaborator’s couch, with just a few hours until we met the youth who had been accepted to attend the camp.
We then began the process of getting the equipment together. Becky Edwards, an advanced remote sensing analyst from Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), arrived, and we headed to the storage unit to make sure that we had all of the equipment—canoes, tents, packs for the youth, and all of the food that we needed for the five days that we would be fully out on the land.
We then went to B. Dene Adventures. This is a camp that NYL has partnered with for the past few years on various camps. B. Dene is located right outside of Dettah and has a large space that was perfect for holding some of our larger workshops with the youth.
From there, the youth started to arrive. The next few hours were a blur of introductions, gear checks, and setting up. We ended the day in a circle with the group, sharing introductions and laughs as everyone began to get to know each other.
The night ended with a beautiful sunset and games of flashlight tag.
August 12
Weather: Similar to yesterday, in the 70s F (20s C), though quite a bit more smoky. Nearly 100 fires were active in the NWT during this week, and monitoring FIRMS and the AQI were safety priorities.
This day began with several camp leaders and youth waking up early for a quad ride from B. Dene to the road so we could head over to where the canoes had been stored (at a boat launch in Dettah proper) and paddle them into the bay that the camp lodge was located in. After a lovely meal prepared for us by the B. Dene Adventures staff, the youth geared up for their first big day of paddling. David Brinston from the NWT Recreation and Parks service guided the group in a Paddle Canada tandem canoe course, where the youth learned basic canoe skills and paddle strokes.
The youth went back out on the water after lunch to practice canoe rescues, and everyone was grateful for the chance to get in the water on such a hot, smoky day.
After the day’s paddling was done, the group worked together to create a camp agreement—solidifying group values, community actions, responsibilities, and teamwork structure for the camp.
The day ended on a high note with moose stew for dinner and a successful Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) boundary creation workshop. This workshop, led by Brandon from Ecology North and Becky and Aaron Sneep—a DUC researcher on the Boreal team with Becky—was designed to reflect the ongoing development of IPCA committees in the Northwest Territories, with a focus on the initial step of selecting an IPCA study area.
The youth played the part of different land users as hunters, land guardians, miners, loggers, and outdoor recreation outfitters and used a variety of maps highlighting important areas to decide what to protect. The youth got into character and presented their hypothetical IPCA boundaries to a hypothetical IPCA committee. This workshop highlighted the learnings of passion and politics involved in land-based negotiations, offering valuable insights into the decision-making process. Ultimately, this activity taught the youth to analyze map data and develop informed ideas and opinions that have practical real-world implications.
August 13
Weather: Cloudy and cool, temperature in the 50-60s F (10-15 C)
Today we started out with Ecology North and MTRI’s Models and Mirrors workshop, where we used lasers against mirrors to demonstrate how active sensors collect imagery that is beneficial for wetland monitoring. (The UAVSAR, for example, was collecting imagery for the ABoVE airborne campaign in Yellowknife that day.) The youth had to work to bounce the laser against as many surfaces as possible in order to understand both how an object could be measured through radar and how dynamics such as distance, scattering, and laser strength (an unintentional variable as the batteries in the lasers began to die) affected data collection.
After lunch, the group took part in paddle drills and practiced skills like canoe lifts and how to use throw bags.
DUC then led the group in workshops focused on northern waterfowl after lunch. These activities included wetland identification and measuring the ‘wingspan’ of the participants. The youth had fun learning about which bird they would be based on their ‘wingspan’ (the length of their arms).
These workshops continued after dinner, as youth examined owl pellets. We ended the day with a walk to a nearby wetland and stories around the campfire.
MTRI’s participation in this camp was funded through the NASA ABoVE project: Informing wetland policy and management for waterfowl habitat and other ecosystem services using multi-frequency synthetic aperture radar. PI: Nancy French.