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DEHCHO - GREAT RIVER: The State of Science in the Mackenzie Basin (1960-1985)

Date

2016

Authors

Schuster Wallace, Corinne
Cave, Kate
Metcalfe, Chris

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UNU-INWEH

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Technical Report

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Abstract

The Mackenzie Basin is a unique eco-hydrological zone, a vast store of natural resources, and home to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Historically, the Basin has been the subject of political controversy, protection, exploitation, and research in the natural and social sciences. While the Basin’s future is unknown, there are real risks that records documenting past conditions in the Basin will be lost. The goal of this project was to seek out historical documents and data pertaining to the quality of water in the Mackenzie Basin between 1960 and 1985. This initiative, sponsored by The Gordon Foundation, proved to be very timely because of cuts to federal libraries that resulted in the boxing up of large numbers of federal reports and other relevant documents. UNU-INWEH sourced thousands of references from various online databases and private collections. However, hard copies of documents were much more difficult to obtain. While librarians in public libraries and universities were extremely helpful, some documents were stored in locations where access is limited. Other documents could only be ordered through interlibrary loans, which are subject to a maximum number per request and a loan period of two weeks. Thus, the time to source even a small number of documents was in the order of months. There were fortunate developments that mitigated the slow erosion of historical documents. Retiring federal scientists and university professors with personal collections were willing to donate documents in the hope that they would be put to good use and kept safe. This project sheds some light on the importance of historical documents. Trends in development can be aligned with patterns in water quality. Impacts predicted 40 years ago can be evaluated against what actually occurred. On the other hand, some calls for action appear to have gone unheeded. For instance, proposals to develop monitoring programs in the Basin are still being heard more than 40 years after these data gaps were originally recognized. UNU-INWEH feels fortunate to have been involved in this project and to have had an opportunity to evaluate documentation that may have been otherwise lost.

Description

CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/

Keywords

The Mackenzie Basin, Indigenous people, water quality, UNU-INWEH, patterns in water quality

Citation

Schuster-Wallce, C., Cave, K., and Metcalfe, C. 2016. Dehcho - Great River: The State of Science in the Mackenzie Basin (1960-1985). United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canada.

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