This workshop proposal by Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Commission (YRITWC), a coalition of 62 Tribes and first Nations in Alaska and Canada, PI Brian Hirsch and CoPI La'ona DeWilde, is a model for bringing together Tribes and First Nations with western scholars, agency managers, and land users, to explore questions surrounding the local observations of climate change. The main focus of the workshop symposium will be an exploration of changes to the regional beaver population, which is a cornerstone species of commercial and subsistence use, as well as an important symbolic species for local people, and about which there is considerable data on its habitat and hydrological activities in the Yukon watershed. This gathering will supplement significant prior research by the PI, CoPI, and YRITWC staff on beavers, through watershed mapping, literature review, key informant interviews, which will inform hypotheses and discussion questions for the workshop participants. In addition there is an interdisciplinary contribution in this project that brings not only Tribal members and scientist together it brings natural science and social science together methodologically and literally at the workshop.
