Blueberries 20 KEY FINDING #2 Wood Buffalo Environmental Association Typically, Moose Lake berries had the lowest concentrations of 18 AI Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) 16 Fe trace elements compared to the other sites and the commercial Pb (store bought) samples. Trace elements originate from a variety 14 V of sources, including industrial stacks (V, Pb, Cr), fugitive dust 12 Cr (Al, Fe, Pb, Cr) and general man-made sources (Pb). 10 8 Moose Figure 2. Trace Elements in Blueberries 6 Lake and Cranberries 4 Average Respecting, Recognizing & Incorporating

Value Relative to Moose Lake to Relative Value 2 Aluminum Al Traditional Knowledge in Air Quality Monitoring Moose Lake Firebag Commercial Iron Fe Schott’s Island Target Road Lead Pb The Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) Vanadium V monitors the environment of the Regional Municipality Chromium Cr of Wood Buffalo in north-eastern Alberta. Our Cranberries environmental monitoring work is the most integrated 26 From a total of 28 trace elements measured in 2016, selected 24 and intensive focus on air and terrestrial monitoring in AI results reported for Al, Fe, Pb, V & Cr in comparison to 22 any one area, anywhere in Canada. WBEA is committed Fe commercial berry have been plotted in Figure 2. Data points 20 Pb to reporting accurate and timely high quality data from 18 V in all graphs plotted relative to Moose Lake average. The lower 16 Cr the trace element values, the better. our Air, Terrestrial and Odour Monitoring Programs to 14 ensure regional stakeholders have the information they 12 Blueberry type under study for the TK Berry Health 10 Project. Scientifi c name: Vaccinium myrtilloides need to make informed environmental decisions. Moose 8 Lake Acknowledgements 6 Average 4 The success of the Fort McKay Berry Focus Group Traditional Value Relative to Moose Lake to Relative Value 2 Knowledge (TK) Program has been largely due to the personal investment of the collaborators and a mutual respect for various Moose Lake Target Road ways of knowing. Traditional Knowledge research methods Schott’s Island Commercial involve relationship building and sharing personal perspectives, Traditional Knowledge TWINNING TRADITIONAL stories, and time. WBEA would like to thank all the Fort McKay KNOWLEDGE & WBEA has enjoyed longstanding Berry Focus Group participants for their time and dedication WESTERN SCIENCE relationships with Aboriginal to this project. communities in the RMWB. Since 1997, COMMUNITY-BASED MONITORING WBEA has undertaken various traditional The monitoring design is open and directed by community members knowledge projects in the region, and to ensure that it is relevant and More Information many communities are now interested culturally sensitive. in formally partnering with WBEA on WBEA produced a fi lm of the berry project, available online, other community driven projects. INFORMED CONSENT translated into Cree and Dené: Participants agree to the project and how the information will be used. http://www.wbea.org/resources/videos To help coordinate these partnerships, WBEA established a Traditional PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Visit wbea.org for real-time, local air quality results, Knowledge Committee to help develop Time spent with Traditional and oversee long-term, traditional Knowledge holders ‘doing what Air Quality Health Index readings and much more! they do’. knowledge based, community monitoring programs. INFORMAL INTERVIEWS Asking questions and conducting Left: Cranberry type under study for the TK Berry Health Project. interviews in the fi eld. Scientifi c name: Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. INFORMATION RECORDING Whenever consent is provided, activities and interviews are recorded. VERIFICATION Confi rming with the Located in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the Wood Buffalo Environmental participants that the reporting and Association (WBEA) is an independent, multi-stakeholder, community based, conclusions are accurate. not-for-profi t association made up of 38 member organizations. SHARING Appropriately sharing For more information please contact: the fi ndings of the monitoring Wood Buffalo Environmental Association | #100-330 Thickwood Blvd. with other communities Fort McMurray, AB. Canada T9K 1Y1 | Phone: (780)-799-4420 and stakeholders. Website: www.wbea.org | Email: [email protected] Facebook: www.facebook.com/wbeapage | Twitter: @wbea1 Are the berries good to eat?

WHAT WE LEARNED… Blueberries Fort McKay Berry Focus Group 1.4 KEY FINDING #1 Members of the Fort McKay First Nation came to WBEA in 2010 Moose Lake Average with concerns about changes they had observed in the quantity 1.2 Typically, Moose Lake berries had equal or higher levels of and quality of blueberries and cranberries growing on their health-promoting attributes than the other sites or the 1.0 traditional lands. In response, WBEA worked with the Fort McKay commercial (store bought) samples. These attributes are Sustainability Department, and several interested community 0.8 commonly used in the food industry for assessing health-promoting quality of foods, including berries. members, to establish the Fort McKay Berry Focus Group. Phenolics 0.6 Orac Berry Monitoring Project Design 0.4 Anthocyanins Figure 1. Health-Promoting Attributes in Blueberries Chlor. Acid and Cranberries Value Relative to Moose Lake to Relative Value 0.2 PACs

Gathering berries brings family together. Any sense Moose Lake Firebag Commercial Total Phenolic Content Analysis Antioxidants of alienation and isolation quickly dissipates as Schott’s Island Target Road (PHENOLICS) people actively engage in simple talk. Getting in Oxygen Radical Absorbance Antioxidants touch with the earth fosters an overall sense of Activitiy Measurements (ORAC) Cranberries interconnectedness. Gathering berries helps people Help prevent certain Total Anthocyanins 3.0 diseases, such as cancer, communicate with that quiet stillness where peace (ANTHOCYANINS) Phenolics heart disease. and wisdom dwell. It is through berry picking and 2.5 Orac Chlorogenic Acid Analysis prolonged periods of time out on the land that Anthocyanins Blood pressure lowering. 2.0 Chlor. Acid (CHLOR. ACID) we bond with the natural world. PACs Source: Gathering Berries in Northern Contexts: A Woodlands Cree Metaphor Total Proanthocyanidin analysis Reduced risk of coronary for Community-based Research, Herman J. Michell, PhD First Nations 1.5 (PACs) heart disease. University of Canada 1.0 As noted in Figure 1 above, lab analyses were carried out for fi ve 0.5 health promoting constituents in blueberries and cranberries Through a series of fi eld visits, workshops and meetings, the Fort Moose Lake to Relative Value Moose Lake Average picked in 2016. Data points are plotted relative to the Moose McKay Berry Focus Group designed a community-based project Lake average. The higher the health promoting constituent to share their traditional knowledge and concerns about local Moose Lake Schott’s Island Target Road values, the better. berry populations. Guided by community members, the intent was to “twin” traditional knowledge and western science to monitor berry patches on Fort McKay’s traditional lands.

The Fort McKay Berry Focus Group visited various berry patches, including patches near Moose Lake, to observe the condition and abundance berries, and to pick samples to be sent for laboratory testing. The group also worked with WBEA to install air monitoring equipment at identifi ed berry patches.

Samples collected at berry patches were sent to certifi ed laboratories to for analysis. Blueberry and cranberry samples were analyzed for levels of health-promoting attributes and trace elements. The samples were then compared to store bought blueberries and cranberries.

Top: Blueberries, collected by the Fort McKay Berry Focus Group in the fi eld. Middle: Photo of meteorological equipment and passive monitoring set-up at the Pat Shotts berry patch location. Field Blueberries under study for the TK Berry Health Project. Scientifi c name: Bottom: A member of the WBEA-Fort McKay Berry Focus Group picking berries. Vaccinium myrtilloides