Traditional and scientific research of a big burn

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Three years ago, Judith Catholique watched as two moose were cooked in the boiling waters of Great Slave Lake as a forest fire ravaged an area where her community traditionally hunted.

"We saw two moose cooking in the lake," Catholique said, remembering that day in the summer of 1994.

Last month, Catholique and her husband, Lutsel K'E Elder Pierre, were part of a 14-member group examining the affects of that fire.

The massive fire destroyed a 26 sq. km forest area on the Lahochella Peninsula, on the northern shores of Great Slave Lake, almost 300 km north of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories. The camp was set up on Magic Finger Island, a small jut-out of land located a few kilometres away from the fire-ravaged peninsula.

Research into the burn was conducted by a group, including youth from the Lutsel K'E Dene Band staff of the Territorial department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. This is the third year that the research camp has been held.

The research program was initiated by the Lutsel K'E Band in December of 1994, following the big fire season that torched much of the landscape in the Northwest Territories. Elders from the community approached the resources department with concerns about caribou migration, plants, and other wildlife. The government agreed it was a good idea to study the affects of the fire, and created the fire effects monitoring program in the summer of 1995.

The program is unique in that it combines traditional and scientific techniques to monitor the impact of the forest fire.

Catholique said the study is very worthwhile because, "the fire was not good for our people. All that burning - now we can't go and hunt. . . It's all sticks. There used to be a lot of moose around here, now there is nothing."

The study group not only examined the loss of the animals, but also the loss and re-growth of vegetation in the burn area, possible water contamination from the ash, and any changes in temperature and winds.

The Catholiques were at the camp to teach the youth about the traditional use of the plants and herbs they were finding in the burned area. The couple also recounted the history of the area where the fire occured. With teachings of the Elders and the technical instruction received from the government researchers, it was hoped the youth got a wide range of information about the affects of fires on the environment..

Shandel Kisell, a fire resources technician with Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, said the assistance of the Elders at the camp makes the learning more enjoyable for the youth.

"It keeps them involved," she said. "It's not just collecting facts, it's getting the whole community involved," she said.

Kisell said participants were taught that fires aren't always a bad thing.

"The only way an area can regenerate is through a burn," she said, noting that pine cones need tremendous amounts of heat to crack open and release their seeds.

Roping off 10-metre square plots of the burned area, the group recorded plant re-growth and looked for any tracks in the dirt that would indicate wildlife. They then examined similar sized plots in unburned areas as a comparison.

At the end of the 10-day camp, a lot of data was collected, but no wildlife was spotted.

Kisell said the animals will come back, but the area needs to grow some more vegetation first.

Poor weather for the duration of the camp made collecting some data difficult, but the near constant rain should be good for the continued growth of the burned area.

Rita Antoniak, with the Fort Smith Territorial Forest Fire Centre, and an assistant at the camp, said the rains are just part of nature.

"In the life of the North, that's all part of it. The water just flows along with everything else," she said with a smile, despite being one of a dozen people at the camp flooded out of a tent the night before.

The rain didn't dampen the spirits of the Lutsel K'E youth at the camp, either.

Lorna Catholique, one of the youngresearchers, said it was fun and interesting to learn the different techniques of collecting data. She said the group learned quickly.

"It took us a little while, but then we caught on and it was good. After we caught on we started working faster and it didn't take so long."

Delores Michel liked the fact that they all worked as a team to get the data.

"It's interesting and plus it's a bunch of students doing it all together, so its more fun."

Each of the Lutsel K'E youth were paid $10 per hour for their work. Camp organizers said they earned their wages, especially because of the dreary weather.

Despite the rains, Kisell said several plots were examined and documented. The information will be passed back to the community for comparison with the data collected at the previous two camps.

Information collected that could be read immediately was the water quality study. The fire has not affected the oxygen or acidity levels of the pristine northern lake. Another experiment with immediate results was Lorna Catholique's measurements of the relative humidity and the chance of rain.

"We've got a 91 per cent chance of rain," she said after reading the numbers on the barometer, and standing in the middle of the soaked and soggy campsite.

The Lutsel K'E camp is one of two held each year. At the end of July, the program sets up at Powder Lake, just outside of Fort Smith. Another burn area was examined, this time using young people from the Fort Smith area as junior researchers.

The success of the program and the community involvement is expected to keep the camp going for a number of years.

So far this year, the Fort Smith area has had a lot of precipitation, which has brought the decrease fire hazard. In late July, however, they had record high temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius which could easily increase the fire hazard.

The importance of the data collected at these research camps could be useful in examining future forest fires and the effects they have on surroundingcommunities and the environment.