This project will allow the researcher, an anthropologist at the Museum of the American Indian, to study the environmental adaptation of the Lubicon Lake Cree of the forest in northern Alberta, Canada. The social organization of the group will be analyzed as it relates to their reliance for subsistence on the moose, the primary game animal in the area. Other groups in adjacent areas relied upon Moose and other game as well as fish. These Indians are the last surviving hunting bands in Canada and have continued a fairly traditional economy. The study will examine scientific, government and missionary records pertaining to the Cree and their use of game populations, the archives of the Hudson's Bay company and other records of the fur trade in Winnipeg, and involve ethnographic fieldwork on Cree hunting and social organization. This project is significant because the researcher will obtain information on native subsistence for relatively little cost due to his extensive previous experience with this group. The Indians have developed economic strategies that allowed them to survive in the fragile arctic environment for many years, and improved understanding of these native practices can help more industrialized societies survive and prosper in similar environments.
