This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The proposed series of workshops will bring together scientists from the Rocky Mountain Research Station, Colorado State University, USGS, the science team from the Yukon River Intertribal Watershed Council (YRITWC), and Yukon watershed communities - comprised of Cup'ik, Yup'ik, Koyukon and Gwich'in Tribal members to discuss issues, scientific and local, concerning the effect of climate change on the Yukon River watershed. The strategy for the workshop is to bring both scientists and scientific knowledge together with Yukon community members, including YRITWC's local river monitoring capacity and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in order to expand each groups' understanding of the changing ecology of the Yukon River watershed.
YRITWC's member member communities are increasingly interested in the changes they are observing in and along the river, many of which are likely attributable to climate change. This project supports a series of worshops, face to face and electronic, to illuminate research areas of mutual interest and concern for future community/scientist collaborative research projects. In addition to the workshops, the YRITWC has an extensive plan for public outreach and dissemination of knowledge to Yukon communities.
