How Will We Get There?

Our primary approach is to work with local indigenous populations to understand the needs of wildlife and people and then work with policymakers to ensure conservation, and food and cultural security goals are met.

Our strategies include:

• Help lead the development of an Arctic Waterways Safety Plan to address burgeoning shipping activity.
• Conduct extensive wildlife surveys in the National Petroleum Reserve to advise land managers on how best to mitigate the impacts of development.
• Provide indigenous wildlife agencies the information they need to manage local lands and waters.
• Continue to foster interaction between Russian, American, and Canadian researchers working in the same ecosystem.
• Increase knowledge about how to support healthy wildlife populations in a changing climate.

On Our Strategies

Help Lead the Development of an Arctic Waterways Safety Plan

We are working with the U.S. Coast Guard to convene all stakeholders under the auspices of the Arctic Waterways Safety Committee. This will allow us to develop a plan that will be the go-to document for all maritime activities (both international and domestic) — ensuring responsible behavior around wildlife and maritime subsistence activities.

Conduct Extensive Wildlife Surveys in the National Petroleum Reserve

These ongoing surveys will allow us to better understand a) the habitat needs of key wildlife (e.g., nesting seabirds, wolverines, caribou), and b) how these habitats will change with climatic warming in the Arctic. We can then provide land managers with the information they need to mitigate long-term impacts to wildlife and people as the area is developed, including areas that should be fully protected (e.g. the NPR-A Special Areas) and those areas where time/area restrictions or best practices are sufficient.

Increase Knowledge on How to Support Healthy Wildlife Populations in a Changing Climate

In the Canadian Beaufort Sea, we are collecting baseline acoustic and ecological data on marine mammal movement and foraging activity. This will provide important information on how the coincident impacts of climate change and human development relate to the broader Arctic Beringia ecozone, while forging a strong partnership with the local Inuvialuit.