Nunavut Wildlife Resource and Habitat Values Amendment Section 1: Introduction 1 INTRODUCTION The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) established the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) which is responsible for developing land use plans, policies and objectives. The NPC emphasizes the current and future well-being of the residents and communities of the Nunavut Settlement Area (NSA). The NPC is initiating a land use planning process to ensure the sustainable development of the lands, waters, wildlife and offshore areas of the NSA. This process includes compiling and analyzing information on key aspects of Nunavut’s environment. This will facilitate discussions with communities and planning partners and ensure land use decisions are based on the best available information. Wildlife is a fundamental component of land use planning given its importance to Inuit culture and economy, to the ecology of the region and for its tourism value. This report compiles wildlife resources and habitat values in Nunavut and includes the most current spatial database on Nunavut wildlife. The spatial information and issues identified can be used to determine appropriate zoning and terms for development. 1.1 Objectives The primary objectives of this study are to identify wildlife species important for ecological, social, cultural and economic reasons, review their current status, habitat needs, and challenges and present potential solutions to those challenges. This amendment includes updates to figures from the 2010 Arctic Marine Workshop, recent published literature on the marine mammal, caribou, and muskox focus species, and has included the two proposed national parks and proposed Lancaster Sound Marine Conservation area. February 2012 Project No. 1231-10328 1-1 Nunavut Wildlife Resource and Habitat Values Amendment Section 1: Introduction THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. February 2012 1-2 Project No. 1231-10328 Nunavut Wildlife Resource and Habitat Values Amendment Section 2: Methodology 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Identification of Focal Species and Species Groups A comprehensive list of all fish, birds, aquatic (freshwater and marine), and terrestrial species currently present in Nunavut was compiled. This report contains general descriptions of species groups, and summarizes the number of species, status, distribution, general ecology, habitat requirements, issues, and considerations for land use planning. A short list of culturally, ecologically, and commercially important species was then developed. The focus of the short list is on species of importance for Inuit subsistence use, commercial harvest and harvest viability, species important for outfitting, ecologically sensitive species, and species with special status (e.g., special concern, threatened, endangered, or subject to protection or special commitments) at territorial, federal and international levels. 2.2 Literature Review For each short-listed species, information on current status, distribution, general ecology, key habitat requirements, population status and trends, issues or pressures, and considerations for land use planning was compiled and reviewed. Information was obtained from research reports and progress reports from technical and scientific studies. Additionally, individuals known to be actively completing or undertaking research related to species on the short list were contacted. Sources of information for this report include: Federal Government agencies (e.g., Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) (Environment Canada), Environmental Protection Branch (Environment Canada), Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Natural Resources Canada Federal research institutes (e.g., Bedford Institute, Institute of Ocean Sciences) Government of Nunavut (GN) agencies (e.g., Department of Environment, Wildlife Research Group, Parks) Territorial research organizations and institutes (e.g., Nunavut Research Institute (NRI), Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Beverly and Quamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board, Bathurst Caribou Management Planning Committee) Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB), Regional Wildlife Organizations (RWO) and local Hunter and Trapper Organizations (HTOs) Universities and Colleges (e.g., ArcticNet, Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study (CASES), Nunavut Arctic College, Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS) database, International Polar Year and Arctic Institute of North America) The Inuit, through generations of observations, group animals and plants using practical characteristics such as appearance, behaviour, and relevance to the Inuit. In some cases, Inuit classification is fundamentally different from scientific taxonomy, often including an animal in more February 2012 Project No. 1231-10328 2-1 Nunavut Wildlife Resource and Habitat Values Amendment Section 2: Methodology than one category. For example, ptarmigans (aqiggit), form part of the group of ukiuqtait because they stay in the North all winter; but as herbivores they also belong with the nunatuqtiit. This grouping shows an appreciation by the Inuit for two distinctive features in the ecology of the ptarmigan. In an Arctic environment, these features are more important than the species’ genetic relatedness to other species. The Inuit classification system has been incorporated into the description of short listed species and is included in the spatial database. Each short listed species can be characterized based on traditional Inuit classification in addition to standard scientific classification. By adopting this approach, both western and Inuit perspectives are incorporated into the database and map products. This facilitates the utility of the products during the land use planning process and community planning meetings. 2.3 Spatial Database All spatial data are supplied in both ESRI Shapefile and Geodatabase format. An exception to this is the 1:250,000 scale contour files. The size of the contour files (1GB) makes it impractical to have multiple copies. Therefore, this dataset is provided in Shapefile format only. Spatial data resides in six ESRI personal geodatabases: “NTDB_250K_Base_Date.mdb”—1:250,000 scale contour data acquired from NPC and National Topographic Data Base (NTDB) downloads “Nunavut_Base_Data.mdb”—1:7,000,000 scale base data acquired from Geogratis Atlas of Canada Base Maps “Nunavut_Birds.mdb”—bird spatial data “Nunavut_Fish_Invertebrates.mdb”—fish and invertebrate spatial data “Nunavut_Marine_Mammals.mdb”—marine mammal spatial data “Nunavut_Terrestrial_Mammals.mdb”—terrestrial mammal spatial data. 2.3.1 Metadata and Projection Federal Geographic Data Committee Content (FGDC) compliant metadata are provided for all spatial layers, either in the .xml file in the case of the shapefile or contained within the geodatabase and viewed through ArcCatalog in the case of the feature class data. The metadata are also available in the “Data Dictionary” for all spatial layers. All internally created feature classes are accompanied by metadata created by Jacques Whitford AXYS (JWA). In addition to the “Data Dictionary”, there is an “ArcMap project (.mxd) Dictionary” summarizing each spatial layer used in each ArcMap project. All spatial data are projected to Canada Lambert Conformal Conic, North American Datum 1983 (NAD83). For a listing of Lambert Conformal Conic data parameters, please refer to the spatial metadata information. February 2012 2-2 Project No. 1231-10328 Nunavut Wildlife Resource and Habitat Values Amendment Section 2: Methodology 2.3.2 Spatial Data Creation and Processing 1:250,000 NTDB Base Data The 1:250,000 feature data classes were merged into three feature classes. The first two feature classes contain all NTDB data provided by NPC and were broken down to ease handling due to file sizes. The third feature class contains all NTDB data downloaded by JWA. This version cannot be easily merged into the earlier version due to structural differences. JWA Captured Spatial Data The majority of Nunavut wildlife studies are available in hard copy and do not contain digital data files. As a result, JWA undertook the following process to capture these data: The figure in the report was scanned, creating an image file The image file was loaded into ArcMap and georeferenced The features were captured within ArcMap using heads-up on screen capture techniques Attributes were assigned to each feature The appropriate metadata were created. The process used for data capture is included with the metadata for each file. 2.3.3 Mapping and Figure Production Digital information used to create report maps are included in the accompanying data files. All final map documents (mxds) are included and organized within the structure of the folders. This report includes the following maps (with accompanying digital files): The range and important habitat of each short-listed wildlife species Identification of herds or subpopulations as appropriate Seasonal information (dates, importance) related to range and critical habitat of short-listed species where known and appropriate Range and critical habitat for other species, as appropriate Locations of current commercial wildlife harvesting operations, and potential areas for expansion of existing activities The spatial extent of wildlife data/information used to create each map The spatial extent of wildlife research coverage and gaps in Nunavut. Two 11 x 17” landscape map templates were created in ArcMap; a regional map at the 1:11,000,000 scale and a detailed map