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Anthropogenic Uses and Impact
Yukon Lowland – Kuskokwim Mountains – Lime Hills
Rapid Ecoregional Assessment
Institute of Social and Economic Research
University of Alaska Anchorage
Grouping of MQs
• Socio-economic conditions
• Data reduction
• Identification of domains
• Attempts at deriving common metrics
• Human footprint
• Compilation of human activities – past and present
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Documenting available TEK
• Deriving a method to use available TEK for REA purposes
Socio economic conditions
• Arctic Social Indicators (ASI)
• Domains and indicators identified for assessing conditions in
the circumpolar North
• Identification based on what is important, not what is
available
• Data gaps were acknowledged
• Our approach
• Indicators and proxies
• Data reduction
• A relative comparison for planning and decision-making
purposes
Arctic Social Indicators – Domains
Health
• Infant mortality
• Child mortality
• Access to health
care
• Suicides
• Self-reported
health
• Obesity
• Smoking
Education
• % students in
post-secondary
education
• % postsecondary
education
• % graduates
living in
community
Population &
demographics
• Total
population
• Births
• Deaths
• Net migration
• Population
change
• Age/sex
• Ethnicity
Cultural
well-being
• Language
retention
• % pop
engaged in
subsistence
Material
well-being
• Per capita
household
income
• Net migration
• Subsistence
harvest
Closeness to
nature
• Subsistence
harvest
• Subsistence
consumption
• Households
engaged in
subsistence
Fate
control
• % of Natives in
govt.
• % land locally
controlled
• % of public
expenses raised
locally
• % speAlaskaing
Native language
Arctic Social Indicators –
Overlap of Domains
Health
• Access to health
care
• Self-reported
health
• Obesity
• Smoking
Deaths
Fate control
• % of Natives in
govt.
• % land locally
controlled
• % of public
expenses raised
locally
% speaking
Native
language
Cultural
well-being
Education
• % students in
post-secondary
education
• % postsecondary
education
• % graduates
living in
community
% pop
engaged in
subsistence
Migration
• Total
population
• Births
• Population
change
• Age/sex
• Ethnicity
Population &
demographics
Per capita
household
income
Subsistence
harvest
• Subsistence
consumption
Closeness to
nature
Material wellbeing
Arctic Social Indicators –
Available Data
ASI domain
ISER measure
Source
Health
Injury death rate (average 2003 to 2008)
Population & Demography Native share of population 2010
Vital Statistics
US Census 2010
Population & Demography Population change 2008 to 2012
Material well-being
Total employment 2011
Material well-being
Private sector employment 2011
Material well-being
Nominal diesel fuel price
Alaska Department of Labor, US Census
Alaska Department of Labor, ALARI
Alaska Department of Labor, ALARI
ISER, Alaska Energy Authority, Alaska
Department of Community Economic
Development
Material well-being
Estimated total income
ISER calculations using Alaska Dept of Labor
ALARI data and PFD.
Education
Enrollment K-12 2010-2011
Alaska Department of Early Education and
Development
Education
High school graduation rate (average 2000 to 2011)
Alaska Department of Early Education and
Development
Cultural well-being
% of population speaking language other than English
American Community Survey 2008-2011
% of population using subsistence (various years)
Alaska Department of Fish and Game,
Subsistence Division
Closeness to nature
Per capital subsistence harvest (various years)
Alaska Department of Fish and Game,
Subsistence Division
Fate control
Alcohol Control status
Alaska Beverage Control
Closeness to nature
Principal components analysis
• Material well being
• Places with relatively large populations, high employment,
high income, lower fuel prices
• High cost, high subsistence, language
• High fuel prices, high subsistence harvests, use of Native
language
• Fate control, autonomy
• Alaska Native, strict alcohol control
• Population decline, subsistence, language
• Declining populations, Native language, high subsistence
participation
Material Wellbeing
Most smaller communities grouped
together representing:
• Low levels of material
wellbeing
• High cost of living
• High death rate
• High levels of subsistence use
Larger communities, with their
direct access to larger markets
High cost-death-subsistence
High fuel prices,
High subsistence harvests,
Use of Native language
Autonomy
Percent of the population Alaska Native,
Local option law - alcohol control
Demographics and Subsistence
Decline in population,
Native language,
high subsistence participation
Anthropogenic Footprint
• Includes all human activity
• Major data gaps
• Subsistence use areas
• Other parts under works
• Land status and implications for land management
Communities
Total population just over 5000 (2012)
Four hub communities
• Aniak
• McGrath
• Galena
• Illiamna
Region is landlocked
Two major rivers
(transportation corridors)
• Yukon
• Kuskokwim
Non-river transportation Network
Energy Infrastructure
Mining
Land Status
• Many different categories
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Ownership
Regulation
Monitoring
Other types of jurisdiction
• Working on indentifying appropriate definitions
Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Transformed the MQ (with AMT approval)
• Goals
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Literature review
Annotated Bibliography
MS Access database of documents searchable by CA and CE
Methodology to use TEK in REAs.
TEK - methodology
• Several terms used to identify/describe Traditional
Ecological Knowledge – many of them were used as search
terms
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local ecological knowledge,
indigenous knowledge,
traditional knowledge, and
local knowledge, etc.
• More than150 peer-reviewed articles collected for literature
review, 57 of which pertain to the YKL region
• Bibliography in the works
TEK – Collection methods used
• Structured interviews
• Semi-directed interviews
• Informal discussions
• Group discussions
• Joint site visits (in which both researchers and
interviewees/TEK holders participate)
• Surveys/questionnaires
• Participant observation
TEK – General uses
• To acquire baseline data to restore degraded habitats
• To inform research needs, questions, designs, methodologies
• Used in combination with or comparison to scientific data
(monitoring, GIS, etc.)
• Integrated into community-based natural resource
management or voluntary use of common pool resources
TEK – General uses in the USA
• Used in combination with or comparison to scientific data
(monitoring, GIS, etc.) to promote and enact ecological
restoration
• To inform research needs, questions, designs, methodologies
• Can potentially be used in management
TEK Bibliography
TEK – Data Viewer
TEK – Query and Results
Next steps
• Finalize the socio-economic index variables
• Expand to include all communities in the state
• Clarify the domain definitions
• Clarify interpretation of relative comparisons
• Land use
• Analyze transportation options
• Clarify mining data – ex: placer vs. hard rock mining
• Analyze land status
• TEK
• Develop methodology for using TEK for REA purposes