Biodiversity

Biodiversity is critical to our future in the NWT. Managing it for success takes data.

Alongside partners across the NWT, we are investing in grids of remote camera and sound recorders to gather data on our biodiversity.

In the NWT, the main challenges to biodiversity monitoring are the size of the territory and how hard it is to access certain areas. The remote sensors are a way to tackle these challenges.

Currently, we’re focusing our monitoring efforts within protected areas — where the landscape is managed to protect biodiversity – but there is opportunity to expand to other areas.

These protected areas include:

• Ts’udé Nilįné Tuyeta
• Edéhzhíe
• Dınàgà Wek'èhodì
• Thaidene Nëné

Guardians, Indigenous governments, and Indigenous organizations

Sensors are deployed together on trees or specially installed metal posts. Cameras take photos when a large to medium sized animal walks in front of it, while the sound recorders record the soundscape at pre-programmed times and dates. Both types of sensors can be left out on the land for an extended period of time, or moved around regularly.

By deploying both cameras and sound recorders together, a variety of species such birds, frogs, and mammals (e.g. caribou, wolves, bats, etc.) can be detected.

Maintaining biodiversity is critically important for ecosystem health and human health and well-being. With increasing threats from climate change, human disturbance, and industrial development, long-term biodiversity monitoring programs are required to track the state of our environment.

This will allow us to better understand changes in wildlife populations and behaviour, so we can better manage our biodiversity.

This program is community-based and collaborative. Currently, this is a partnership between:

• Canadian Wildlife Service
• Dehcho First Nations
• Government of the Northwest Territories
• K’ahsho Got’ı̨nę Foundation
• Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation
• North Slave Métis Alliance
• Parks Canada
• Sambaa K’e First Nation
• Tłįchǫ Government
• University of British Columbia
• Wilfrid Laurier University
• University of Alberta/Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

The data collected from these cameras and audio recordings will be used to better understand the state of species in the NWT — which will in turn be used to make better decisions about how to manage biodiversity.

It will be shared with all partners, which will in turn provide them with higher quality information to address gaps in knowledge which are a priority for them.

Solutions are being explored to make this information available to the public. For now, if you wish to access data from this project, please contact wildlifeobs@gov.nt.ca.