Introduction

Information Sources

Stop #1
Stop #2
Stop #3
Stop #4
Stop #5 
Stop #6
Stop #7
Stop #8
Stop #9
Stop #10

Appendix 1

Bibliography

Stop # 10. Old Crow

In travelling down the Old Crow River towards Old Crow, the closer we get to the village, the more evident is the impact of humans on the environment. Along the river are signs that correct disposal of garbage will become a more common problem. Visual pollution is already present in a limited way and it will be important to minimize this. Water pollution too may become a problem as more people use the Old Crow River for wilderness travel.

The modern use of the resources of the Old Crow Basin and Vuntut National Park have had relatively little impact on the ecosystem and Vuntut National Park is regarded as one of the most pristine of all Canadian National Parks (Parks Canada 1999). However, there are many specific examples of ecological impacts of past, present, and potential resource use that have become apparent as we finish our journey down the Old Crow River.


Figure 1.10a

Figure 1.10b
Click photos to enlarge and see a series of photos.

History of Old Crow

The Vuntut Gwitchin have used the site of present day Old Crow, near the mouth of the Old Crow River, for many many years, originally as an important fish trap site and later as a gathering spot for families returning from the Old Crow Flats by canoe or raft (see History). When families left Rampart House after an epidemic in 1911, many settled at Old Crow. When a store was built at the Old Crow location in 1912 or so, a new village began to take shape. The shift from seasonal camps to the more stable pattern of settlement at Old Crow was spread out over a period of about 50 years. Among the significant changes were the building of a new church in 1926 and the relocation of the RCMP post from Rampart House in 1928. When people no longer wintered in small camps along the Old Crow and Porcupine Rivers and the federal day school was built in 1950, Old Crow become a year-round community.


Figure 1.10c

Figure 1.10e
Click photos to enlarge and see a series of photos.

Impacts of Human Activities

Although the Vuntut Gwitchin do have the rights to cut trees for cabin construction and traditional land use activities within the Park and Special Management Area, modern forestry practices have little impact on the Special Management Area and Vuntut National Park. The approved forest timber cutting areas are outside the SMA boundaries and the closest timber cutting areas are at the lower Driftwood River and at Lord Creek (VGFNFA 1993). Local management of timber cutting was established in response to the situation in the early 1970s when timber cutting for fuel and construction began to limit the number of large spruce trees near Old Crow (Morlan 1973).

People go out on the land to cut wood for themselves and to sell to the community. Logging can become an ecological problem in that trees may be dragged behind snowmobiles or ATVs and the resultant disturbance of the ground cover can cause damage to the permafrost.

Seismic and sensitivity

Several times in the last thirty years, winter roads have been constructed in the Old Crow area.

A winter road was bladed across the Eagle Plains and into Old Crow village during the winter of 1969-70. This road ran from the Dempster Highway through the Ogilvie Range (Welsh and Rigby 1971). In February 1970 the winter road that was cut through to Old Crow crossed the right bank of the Porcupine River right in the middle of the clearing at the Klo-kut archaeological site that archaeologist Dick Morlan was excavating (Morlan 1973). Most of the site's archaeological potential was left intact, but the modern ecology of the area was drastically altered with the destruction of existing vegetation communities. This disturbance destroyed the possibility of a planned integrated study of paleo- and modern ecology (Morlan 1973).

In the early 1970s when the effect of a pipeline route across Old Crow Basin between Old Crow and the Flats was being assessed, studies were made on the effects of previous disturbance in permafrost terrain at 16 sites in the vicinity of Old Crow (Strang 1973). After assessing the kind and degree of damage caused by different activities, it was concluded that in the Old Crow area, due to careful operating, little environmental harm was done and that the areas of note-worthy damage were not extensive. Of fifteen sites studied where damage was caused by seismic line or similar operations, three suffered severe damage, five suffered slight damage, and seven were "unharmed."


Figure 1.10d. Click photo to enlarge and see a series of photos.

When a disturbance removed the vegetation and organic layers on slopes steeper than 5 percent, the result is a continuing and accelerating combination of thermal and mechanical erosion. The studies noted that the most common causes of serious damage were the exposure of sub-surface ice or frozen soil on sloping ground, and the intersection and diversion of drainage channels (Strang 1973).

Frequent travel on unfrozen wet or poorly drained soils causes extensive damage. Strang's studies showed that serious damage also results from re-use of old seismic lines that were stabilizing. The wet soil and recolonizing vegetation, including sedges, cottongrass, and buttercup seem to be very intolerant of disturbance and a second round of disturbance caused severe problems including rutting, slumping, and erosion (Strang 1973).


Figure 1.10f. Click photo to enlarge and see a series of photos.

The thaw season is the most dangerous time for environmental damage because surface disturbance of a thawing wet soil quickly churns the humus into a mixture with the underlying mineral soil, so that the insulating value of the organic layer is lost. The altered temperature balance leads to melting of the permafrost and consequent erosion (Strang 1973).

Studies in Alaska on the effects of winter vehicle disturbance on tundra plant communities show that the impact persists many years after the original disturbance (Emers et al. 1995, Emers and Jorgenson 1997). The disturbance to the tundra as a result of seismic exploration in northern Alaska was still evident in terms of the active layer and plant communities at least ten years later. Most sites of disturbance were still clearly visible from ground level and from the air, and the soil temperatures and active layer depth had not yet returned to the same values as the surrounding areas. In testimony to the Beaufort Sea EARP Hearings (DIAND 1984) Lazarus Charlie noted that when a seismic line was put through the Old Crow Flats, much damage was caused by caterpillar tractors, the creeks never ran clear again, and the fish did not return.

In tundra areas many hummocks have bare centers or they are covered by a discontinuous, thin organic mat. They are somewhat less sensitive to light disturbance than forested areas because permafrost conditions are adjusted to the discontinuous, thin organic cover (Zoltai and Tarnocai 1974). A small change in the cover would not cause a major reaction. However, in these areas a reduction in the thickness of the active layer (by vehicle traffic or bulldozing) the permafrost table would be lowered, releasing water and leading to thermokarst subsidence. If the massive ice bodies below the surface are exposed to thawing, extensive terrain damage would follow (Zoltai and Tarnocai 1974).

Pollution

Another aspect of environmental damage that is of concern to the Vuntut Gwitchin of Old Crow is the pollution caused by the transport of contaminants from sources across the arctic. The snowcover acts as a repository for pollutants washed out of the atmosphere by precipitation (see Climate).

"...I am very concerned about contaminants in the Arctic. There are a lot of air pollutants that travel from all over the circumpolar north. It comes from Russia and other places that have high levels of pollution. In the winter it gets caught in the Arctic haze and in the summer it settles in the plants" (Gladys Netro in Sherry and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation 1999)

The impact of these pollutants on life is not clear. Some people worry that the changes they see are approaching the times in the future foretold by Archdeacon Robert McDonald. "Someday, there is going to be hard times and you will get not even a caribou, moose and ducks. Only one type of ducks you going to get is loon. The only type of fish you going to get is jackfish. He told people what is going to happen in the future." Lydia Thomas, interviewed in March 1994 during historic sites research for Lapierre House (VGFN 1994).

The same story is told by Norma Kassi, who brings it up to the present. "The water is silent and so crystal clear I can see to the bottom. There used to be so much activity, so much aquatic life - such as insects and little shrimp-like things that are food for other animals like muskrat - that I couldn't see to the bottom. Now I can. And now I see a pair of loons out there, and that's about it" (Kassi 1998).