Environmental Knowledge

Environmental Knowledge

Cillaput: Our Weather, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Weather Station Network

map of cillaput project area
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
OBSERVATION PLATFORM
Topics
Weather
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2017 - Ongoing
Status
Ongoing

Cillaput: Our Weather provides access to current weather conditions in the villages of Chevak and Kotlik located in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of western Alaska. Measurements include air temperature, humidity, wind speed, snow depth, rainfall, solar radiation, and soil and surface temperatures. The weather stations were established in November 2017 and are running continuously.

Local Observations from the Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONet) and Alaska Arctic Observatory & Knowledge Hub (AAOKH)

ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
OBSERVATION PLATFORM
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Environmental features & use
Place names
Trails
Indigenous knowledge
Marine conditions
Ocean currents
Polynyas
Sea ice
Weather
Wildlife observations
Marine mammals
Birds
Fish
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2006 - Ongoing
Status
Ongoing

This data set contains observations of sea ice, weather, and wildlife collected by Indigenous Inupiaq and Yup'ik sea ice experts in several communities along the northern and western coasts of Alaska, beginning in 2006. This information is generously shared with the public by the observers and the communities within which the observers reside.

Nunaput: Our Land, Community Atlas for Chevak, Alaska

Nunaput public atlas screenshot
ELOKA Product Types
ATLASES & MAPS
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Environmental features & use
Place names
Plants
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2017 - Ongoing
Status
Ongoing

The Nunaput Atlas is a community-driven, interactive, online atlas for the Chevak (Alaska) Traditional Council and Chevak community members to create a record of observations, knowledge, and to share stories about their land. The Nunaput Atlas is being developed in collaboration with the community and the US Geological Survey.

PISUNA-net

Fishermen's catch - PISUNA-net
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
OBSERVATION PLATFORM
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Food security and sovereignty
Indigenous knowledge
Wildlife management & animal husbandry
Reindeer herding
Wildlife observations
Marine mammals
Birds
Fish
Geographic Area
Greenland
Time Period
2009 - Ongoing
Status
Ongoing

Building from the development of the Alaska Arctic Observatory & Knowledge Hub (AAOKH) community observations platform, the PISUNA-Net observations database was developed to record, archive, and share Indigenous and local knowledge and expertise on natural resources and resource use on the western and northern coasts of Greenland. Observations begin in May 2009 through the present.

Yup'ik Environmental Knowledge Project Atlas

Screenshot of Yup'ik Atlas - annual temperature page
ELOKA Product Types
ATLASES & MAPS
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Environmental features & use
Place names
Indigenous knowledge
Oral history
Stories
Youth involvement
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2000 - ongoing
Status
Ongoing

Since 2000, Calista Education and Culture (CEC) has worked with elders from the Alaskan communities of Kotlik, Emmonak, Alakanuk, Nunam Iqua, Newtok, Tununak, Toksook Bay, Nightmute, Chefornak, Kwigillingok, and Kongiganak to document Yup'ik place names.

Yup'ik Environmental Knowledge Project

Lawrence Edmund, Mark John, and Denis Sheldon at Akuluraq Slough, August 2011.
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Environmental features & use
Place names
Indigenous knowledge
Oral history
Stories
Youth involvement
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Status
Ongoing

Explore Yup'ik environmental knowledge of their land, named places, maps, language and values.

Since 2000, the Calista Elders Council (CEC) staff has worked with elders from Bering Sea coastal communities to document Yup'ik place names. Elders have been eager to teach young people their rich history and named places of their homeland, including camp and settlement sites, rivers, sloughs, rocks, ponds, even sandbars and underwater channels. More than 3,000 names have been identified with Yup'ik views on the importance of place names, the land, values, and language.

Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring in a Changing Arctic (Arctic CBM)

Screenshot of the Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring in a Changing Arctic
ELOKA Product Types
ATLASES & MAPS
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Environmental features & use
Place names
Food security and sovereignty
Health
Indigenous knowledge
Geographic Area
Canada (Nunavut Territory)
Circumpolar region
Greenland
Russian Federation
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2013 - 2016
Status
Complete

This atlas showcases Arctic communities actively involved in observing social and environmental change. It was designed to highlight the many community-based monitoring (CBM) and traditional knowledge (TK) initiatives across the circumpolar region.

Baffin Bay Region Narwhal Tusk Research

narwhals surface through an ice lead to breathe
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Indigenous knowledge
Wildlife observations
Marine mammals
Geographic Area
Canada (Nunavut Territory)
Greenland
Time Period
2000-2010
Status
Complete
Scientists have partnered with various Arctic communities to understand the purpose of the narwhal’s tusk. By combining scientific research with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or Inuit knowledge, researchers hope to learn why narwhals have tusks and how they use them.

Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network

 Indigenous Food Knowledges Network website
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Food security and sovereignty
Health
Indigenous knowledge
Geographic Area
Canada (Nunavut Territory)
Circumpolar region
Greenland
Russian Federation
United States (Alaska)
United States (Southwest)
Time Period
2017 - Ongoing
Status
Complete

The Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network is interested in ethically collecting, sharing, accessing, and visualizing data and documented Indigenous Knowledge to address food sovereignty. The core network members are Indigenous people, supported by researchers with a similar vision. They focus on two regions—the Arctic and the US Southwest—to broaden perspectives and build collaborations to offer personal experiences for food sovereignty in these regions.

Plants at the End of the World: Beringian Ethnobotany

Claytonia acutifolia
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Food security and sovereignty
Indigenous knowledge
Plants
Geographic Area
Circumpolar region
Russian Federation
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2013 - 2022
Status
Complete

This site includes a visual catalog of Beringian plants accompanied by information about the traditional ways people in Western Alaska and Chukotka, Russia, use plants for food medicine and other purposes.

Sea Ice in the Belcher Islands, Nunavut, Canada

Map of Sanikiluaq which is located on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay.
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Marine conditions
Ocean currents
Polynyas
Sea ice
Geographic Area
Canada (Nunavut Territory)
Time Period
1997 - 2009
Status
Complete
Includes local hunters' descriptions of sea ice conditions over time on the Belcher Islands in southeastern Hudson Bay. The interviews and maps were collected by the Sanikiluaq Sea Ice Project .

Snowchange Oral History - Work Among the Kolyma River Indigenous Societies in Siberia, Russia

women standing outside of camp in Russia
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Environmental features & use
Place names
Indigenous knowledge
Terrestrial conditions
Permafrost
Wildlife management & animal husbandry
Reindeer herding
Wildlife observations
Fish
Geographic Area
Russian Federation
Time Period
1930 - 2009
Status
Complete

Geographic and environmental information from residents of two Indigenous Chukchi communities in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russian Federation, practicing seasonal nomadic reindeer herding and other subsistence activities.

The Northern Bering Sea: Our Way of Life

Northern Bering Sea: Our way of life
ELOKA Product Types
ATLASES & MAPS
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Environmental features & use
Food security and sovereignty
Indigenous knowledge
Marine conditions
Sea ice
Wildlife observations
Marine mammals
Birds
Fish
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2011
Status
Complete

The purpose of The Northern Bering Sea: Our Way of Life is to show extensive areas where Alaska Native hunters and local fishermen harvest ocean resources, and the marine waters important to the resources we rely on. It illustrates that the whole northern Bering Sea is the storehouse that supports our way of life.

Voices from the Frontlines of a Changing Bering Sea

Voices from the frontlines of a changing Bering sea banner
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Food security and sovereignty
Indigenous knowledge
Stories
Infrastructure and development impacts
Marine conditions
Weather
Wildlife observations
Geographic Area
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
2019 - 2021
Status
Complete

The Bering Sea is home to over 70 Indigenous communities of the Iñupiat, Central Yup’ik, Cup’ik, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Unangan, and Chukchi Peoples. In recent years, the Bering Sea has experienced unprecedented declines in sea ice, threatening community food security, infrastructure, and travel. In winters 2018 and 2019, sea ice coverage was by far the lowest observed in at least the last 160 years.

Waking the Bear: Understanding Circumpolar Bear Ceremonialism

Grizzly Bear in Bridger-Teton National Forest.
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Indigenous knowledge
Oral history
Stories
Wildlife observations
Geographic Area
Russian Federation
Time Period
1995 - 2020
Status
Complete
This website describes the bear ceremonies of Siberian people, the Mansi and the Khanty, through a rich narrative illustrated by photos, videos, and audio recordings.

When the Weather is Uggianaqtuq: Inuit Observations of Environmental Change

Uggianaqtuq map
ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
OBSERVATION PLATFORM
ORAL HISTORIES
Geographic Area
Canada (Nunavut Territory)
Time Period
1920 - 2001
Status
Retired

In this interactive, multi-media CD-ROM, Inuit from two Inuit communities in Nunavut, Canada, share their observations and perspectives on recent environmental changes. 

Gwich'in Place Names Atlas

gwichin atlas area
ELOKA Product Types
ATLASES & MAPS
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Topics
Environmental features & use
Place names
Settlements
Geographic Area
Canada (Yukon Territory)
United States (Alaska)
Time Period
Pre-history to present
Status
Not Released to Public

Gwich’in Nąįį Googindì’ K’ìt / Gwich’in Place Names Atlas is a project that has developed an interactive, online Atlas of Gwich’in place names and stories. Working with Gwich’in communities and partners, ELOKA is developing the atlas so that knowledge of the land passed from generation to generation can be preserved and shared. 

Topics: Traditional place names, including environmental features and settlements

Geographic areas: Yukon Territory, Alaska, and surrounding area.

Voices from the Bay Data Preservation

ELOKA Product Types
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
ORAL HISTORIES
Topics
Community-based monitoring
Indigenous knowledge
Wildlife observations
Geographic Area
Canada (Nunavut Territory)
Time Period
1999 - 2018
Status
Not Released to Public
A project to organize, document, and preserve source data and materials from a 1997 publication, Voices from the Bay: Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Inuit and Cree in the Hudson Bay Bioregion, into a digital repository for the Sanikiluaq community.
 
 
ELOKA is generously supported by the US National Science Foundation through awards 2032423, 2032417, 2032419, and 2032445. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.