Introduction
 The forests of the southwest Yukon are important. They offer recreational opportunities, provide habitat for wildlife, and yield fuel and timber.
Forests are, however, sensitive to changes in climate. Indeed, there is growing evidence that southwest Yukon may already be affected by climate change.
In the Haines Junction area, for example, in the past ten or so years, severe spruce bark beetle infestations have killed a large number of white spruce trees. This is a serious problem, because dead trees increase the fire hazard and change economic opportunities. The beetles have thrived because recent warmer winters have not killed them off as in the past. Warm summers allow the beetles to reproduce in only one year, rather than two as before. That means we have more beetles. Then, because summers have been drier, the spruce trees have been weakened and are less able to resist the beetles.
Climate models project that summers in this region will become even warmer and drier. This means that we may expect more forest fires and a longer fire season. In addition, we can expect changes in the kinds and numbers of animals found in the area, slower tree growth, and changes in the flows of streams fed by glaciers or snow melt. A further hazard is that landslides might become larger and more frequent because of the warming and melting of permafrost.
These effects are quite likely to force changes to people's livelihoods and may also affect communities that depend on the land. This raises some serious questions. One question is how to manage forest resources sustainably so that they will continue to provide long-term benefits to the community. This problem is the focus of the research described here.
Healthy forests are the foundation of Strategic Forest Management Plan for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory. Without them, the community cannot rely on this resource to provide benefits over the long term. Since climate change may already be affecting the forests in the region, we need to understand exactly what is happening with the forests. The long-term success of the forest management plan depends on this knowledge.
Given that climate change may already be affecting the forests in the region, it is important to determine how climate change might affect the ability of this plan to achieve its forestry management goals. To ensure that the plan will work in the context of changing climate in the region, there needs to be research on what is known and projected about climate change and other relevant factors that can affect the health of forests.
This web site describes and presents materials developed to support decision-making under the Strategic Forest Management Plan for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory. Here you will find this description of the project, a description of the study area, information about the sources used in this report, the overview report, results of information assessments, a collection or compendium of information sources, descriptions of some climate change scenarios for the southern Yukon, and useful links.
Project goals and objectives
The research project wants to develop knowledge and identify actions that forest managers can consider to help make forests -- and the communities and people who rely on them -- less likely to be affected by the impacts of climate change. The information provided by this project will help the people who will make decisions about forest management by giving them high quality information to base their decisions on. It is particularly important that managers have reliable information because the forests they are managing are important to people and their communities, and people use the forests every day for recreation, subsistence and for wood for various purposes.
This project is the first step in a longer process with three main goals:
- Research the kinds of effects climate change will have on the forests of the southwest Yukon;
- Determine what problems and risks those effects could present to people, communities, and the local environment; and
- Develop ways to adapt to climate and other sorts of change.
As a first step, then, this project will do three things:
- Find, read, assess, and make a database of whatever information is available on climate change, effects of climate change, climate history, forests, etc.;
- Establish a web site, hold meetings, and find other ways to increase awareness of and communicate about the project and climate change effects;
- Create knowledge that forest managers can use to make better decisions about the resources of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation Traditional Territory (CATT) in light of changing climate.
In this next section, we give more details about what have done.
1. Assess available information on climate change and climate impacts
- Make a collection of existing, documented information on climate change for the southwest Yukon;
- Develop databases, lists, or other tools to improve access to scientific and local knowledge;
- Write reports and other documents that summarize local, traditional and scientific information about climate-related trends and climate-change impacts in the southwest Yukon;
- Research, in a broad fashion, which key parts of the environment are most likely to be most affected by climate change;
- Research what climate change will mean to forest managers and how it might make it easier or harder for the forest plan to achieve its goals;
- See what needed information is missing and create a list of information that still needs to be researched.
2. Raise awareness of, and improve collaboration and communication on the project
- Develop several different ways to give people information about what we learn during this project;
- Develop a web site and other electronic documents and databases that can be easily updated so that others can build on what we have done;
- Develop lines of communication about research that helps to support decision making among the people who are doing this kind of research or using the results of it (for example, among CAFN, Alsek Renewable Resources Council, Yukon Government, federal and academic scientists, and local organizations);
- Encourage and help scientists, governments and local communities talk to each other so that they are all better able to assess what climate change impacts are occurring in the southwest Yukon;
- Encourage communication between local people and communities and outside researchers to help build community capacity to do their own research and to be able to work with other researchers in the future; and
- Help to develop and test a way for communities, governments and researchers to jointly develop and work on research projects that could be a model for other northern communities and other research projects.
3. Create knowledge for decision makers
- Talk to people to find out how forest management policies and activities could be changed to make them more able to handle climate change impacts;
- Write a preliminary report that outlines the benefits and drawbacks of different options for adapting to climate change; and
- Attend meetings, etc., and work with forest managers, community leaders and people to help develop and implement the Strategic Forest Management Plan.
Project support
 This project has relied on help from a variety of organizations. In this section we present the people and organizations that gave us information, time, funding or other assistance. We are grateful to them all.
The project team
The Northern Climate ExChange coordinated the project. The project team was made up of local researchers as well as representatives of the:
- Yukon Government and the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (the organizations that are responsible for approving the Strategic Forest Management Plan);
- Alsek Renewable Resources Council (the lead organization for developing the plan);
- Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service); and
- Parks Canada.
Contributions of the team
The project team helped to develop the goals and objectives of the project. They helped to put together a network of researchers. They also read, commented on and approved the project report. Finally, they helped to develop the goals and format of the results workshop.
Some team members and local researchers also researched, wrote or gave input into the overview report. Other experts and scientists gave us information, data, ideas, guidance or advice. They also read the report and commented on its accuracy and completeness.
A complete list of the project team members, people who contributed and other project contact information can be found under Contacts.
Project funding
This project was funded by:
- Environment Canada's Northern Ecosystem Initiative;
- the Northern Climate ExChange; and
- the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network (C-CIARN North).
In addition, it is important to note that the Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) receives its funding from:
- Government of Yukon;
- Government of Canada; and
- Yukon College.
The project manager, who is also the lead author, was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council scholarship.
Project information products and materials
We would like anyone who is interested in our work to be able to learn about the results of this project. We have done this by writing and publishing several different kinds of information sheets, reports and summaries.
Overview report
The key findings or results of our study are presented in the overview report. In the overview, we outline what is known about climate and climate change in the southwest Yukon. We do this by explaining past climate change and variation over time and summarizing what is expected for the future.
The report also describes climate change impacts that we have already seen as well as those we expect that are likely to be important to forest managers. The report finishes up with a first look at the issues caused by changing climate that forest managers will need to consider.
Backgrounders
One of the first steps in this project was to find, read, assess and summarize whatever information is available that is relevant to our project (see Project goals and objectives), particularly on climate change and forest management. This work has been summarized in separate backgrounders.
We describe the results of our research, explain where there are gaps in what is known about climate change and forest management in the southwest Yukon. We also point out the possible effects that climate change will have on forest management as well as other issues that we found during our look through the papers, reports and other information. The report lists the authors and titles, etc., of the published material we find as well as the authors and sources of oral or other traditional Indigenous knowledge, etc., we find.
In general, each report outlines what climate-related changes have already been noticed, what new changes we might expect in the next century, what information is missing and what research still needs to be done, and what we think the effects might be on forest management.
Titles in the backgrounder series
- Climate and climate change in southwest Yukon
- Climate change and the physical environment of southwest Yukon
- Climate change and forest disturbance in southwest Yukon
- Climate change and ecosystem dynamics in southwest Yukon
- Climate change and the local economy
- Climate change and social/cultural values
Compendium of information sources
We have created a searchable database of all the information sources we found and made it available on this web site. The information sources listed in the database are all the sources we found that are both relevant and publicly available.
The information sources listed in the database include scientific papers and reports, as well as local and traditional Indigenous knowledge information. Most of the materials are focused on the southwest Yukon but there are some that are relevant but look at a broader area. There are, therefore, records for journal articles, books, university theses, data collections, conference and workshop papers or proceedings, and government reports.
You can find items in the database by searching on the title of the item, the name of the author, the agency that sponsored the study or a key word. You can access the database here: yukon.taiga.net/swyukon/compendium.
Results workshop
We held a workshop in Haines Junction in Fall 2005 to present our project findings. We will write up the results of the workshop in a separate report. This report will describe what happened during the workshop and what the outcomes were. The report will give us the information we need to start making a research plan that will give us the information and knowledge we need to make good decisions about forest management in the changing climate of southwest Yukon.
NCE newsletter -- Weathering Change
The Northern Climate ExChange (or NCE) regularly publishes a newsletter called Weathering Change. Since it was first published, Weathering Change has been one of the NCE's most important ways of communicating with the public and policy makers. You can find copies of all past newsletters here: yukon.taiga.net/knowledge/initiatives.html.
We plan to publish a special issue of the Weathering Change newsletter on the results of our project.
NCE Bulletin
We plan to publish a bulletin on forest management issues and climate change in the northern boreal forest as part of the Northern Climate ExChange bulletin series. Each of these two-page bulletins gives a quick summary of a single northern climate change topic or issue. You can find all NCE Bulletins here: yukon.taiga.net/knowledge/initiatives/bulletins.html.
Contacts
For more information on this project, please contact:
Project coordinator/lead author
- Aynslie Ogden
Sustainable Forest Management Lab
Faculty of Forestry
University of British Columbia
aogden@interchange.ubc.ca
Members of project team
- Carl Burgess
Forest Management Branch
Department of Energy, Mines and Resources
Government of Yukon
- Amy McKinnon and Susan Desjardins
Alsek Renewable Resource Council
- Roger Brown
Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
- David Henry
Parks Canada
- Jill Johnstone
Carleton University
- Wendy Nixon
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada
- John Streicker
Northern Climate ExChange, Yukon College
Co-authors, backgrounders
- Stan Boutin
- John Clague
- Doug Clark
- Ric Janowicz
- Peter Johnson
- Jill Johnstone
- Maria Leung
- Panya Lipovsky
- Ramona Maraj
- Karen McKenna
- Wendy Nixon
- Mark O'Donoghue
- Aynslie Ogden
- Sharon Smith
- Chris Zdanowicz
Editor/print layout
Website design/maintenance
Local knowledge data compilation
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