Photo: Robert Sarren

Polar bear tracks near the village of Barrow, Alaska.

Iñupiaq Knowledge of Polar Bears

A map-based, story-telling approach integrating Iñupiaq and conventional scientific knowledge about changes to polar bears and their habitat.

Why it Matters

The Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear population, which ranges across the North Slope of Alaska and northwestern Canada, has experienced some of the most significant declines in summer sea ice of any populations in the circumpolar Arctic. While scientific studies of polar bears in this region are limited to a short catch-and-release field season each year, the people who live in this region interact with and observe polar bears year-round.

To integrate Iñupiaq and conventional scientific knowledge about changes to polar bears and their habitat , this Traditional Ecological Knowledge Study was conducted in northern Alaska with Iñupiaq subsistence communities, for whom polar bears have long been a cultural keystone species. The project involved a map-based, story-telling approach with polar bear hunters and cultural experts in each participating village, covering topics such as polar bear habitat and habitat use, local abundance, body condition, feeding, denning, and human-bear interactions.

The Impact

After putting together an initial report, researchers took the results back to the communities to make sure they represented their words and knowledge correctly. The published results give TEK a stronger voice in important decisions that will affect the future of polar bears as well as the Alaska Native people for whom they are so important.

Project Partners

The study was organized by Polar Bears International and led by Dr. Hannah Voorhees. Partners and project advisors included the North Slope Borough of Wildlife Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Northwest Territories Wildlife Management Advisory Council, and Huntington Consulting. Funding was provided by the North Pacific Research Board and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.