The Dene Mapping Project: Past and Present

Prepared by:
G.G. (Gerry) Tychon 
SPATIAL DATA SYSTEMS Consulting

Presented at the 7th Annual Symposium on Geographic Information Systems in Forestry, Environment and Natural Resources Management, Vancouver, B.C.

Note: The following is a subset of the original paper presented and available publicly. No sensitive data is included with this document.

ABSTRACT

In the Dene culture a great deal of emphasis is placed on the land and environment. It is the traditional land use activities of hunting, trapping, and fishing which have formed the backbone of the Dene economy. In 1974, the Dene Mapping Project was initially started to inventory and document traditional land- related use. There were a number of objectives of the project both cultural and non-cultural. One prime objective was to form the basis of a Land/Geographic Information System to support land claims discussions. A unique information source was used for this project -- hunters and trappers. Hunting and trapping trails provided a geo-coding mechanism with hunting and trapping activities providing land use and resource attributes. This paper presents the history of the Dene Mapping Project. Its goals and objectives; the computer technology which was utilized to meet the objectives and the current status and plans for the future. The information which has been produced by the Dene Mapping Project has been, and is currently being used for boundary negotiations and the land claims process. 

INTRODUCTION

In 1974, the Dene Nation leadership decided to carry out a traditional land use and occupancy study to document the Dene interest in the Northwest Territories. There were a number of objectives of the project both cultural and non-cultural. One prime objective was to form the basis of a land use database to support land claims discussions. This study used a unique information source -- hunters and trappers. Hunting and trapping trails provided a geo-coding mechanism (a way of determining location on the earth), and hunting and trapping activities provided land use and resource attributes. 

In 1981, it was decided to computerize the information collected under the Dene land use and occupancy study. This was known as the Dene Mapping Project. Computing facilities at the University of Alberta were used for this project. Information products generated by the Mapping Project were used by the Dene and Metis in support of land claims negotiations. 

At the present time, it is no longer feasible or desirable to use the computing facilities at the University of Alberta. Reasons for this, fundamentally relate to cost, accessibility, and functionality. Efforts are currently being directed to provide data access and manipulation using micro-computer hardware and software technology. 

THE DENE MAPPING PROJECT: AN OVERVIEW

Historically, the Dene have lived in and used a vast area of northern Canada. This area includes much of the western Northwest Territories, most of the Yukon, and northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. At the beginning of the 20th century, this area even extended into Alaska. 

In the early 1970's, under the leadership of the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories, a research project was funded to document the land-based renewable-resource economy of the Dene. In 1974, a traditional land use and occupancy study was formally initiated based on the trails and activities of hunters and trappers. Approximately 600 trappers were interviewed. This was about 30% of all the Dene/Metis trappers in the Mackenzie River Valley. Information was manually recorded on 150 large mosaic map sheets. Associated with the map information was detailed biographical information on dates and seasons, activities, species of animals, modes of transport, as well as other relevant details. 

A number of communities participated in the land use and occupancy study. These consisted of: 

• Delta Region: Aklavik, Inuvik, Fort McPherson, Arctic Red River. North Mackenzie: Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake, Fort Franklin, Fort Norman. 
• South Mackenzie: Fort Wrigley, Fort Simpson-Jean Marie, Fort Liard, Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake, Fort Providence-Kakisa, Hay River.
• North Slave: Rae, Edzo, Lac La Martre (Marian Lake, Snare Lake), Rae Lakes, Yellowknife, Detah. South Slave: Resolution, Fort Smith, Snowdrift.

For the most part, the map sheets used were 1:250,000 UTM, although some 1:500,000 Transverse Mercator and 1:1,000,000 Lambert Conformal map sheets were also used depending upon availability at the time. 

A variety of information was marked on the map sheets. These included hunting and trapping trails; fishing areas; species sought; the years, seasons, and frequency of use; and in some cases cabins, camps, and important cultural sites. 

The methodology used for data acquisition revolved around a questionnaire and the recording of land use information on topographic maps with a variety of symbology. 

A major objective at this time was to determine the maximum extent of land use and occupancy during the time period 1890 to 1975 (in some communities this was extended to 1983). 

THE DENE MAPPING PROJECT: INITIAL COMPUTERIZATION

In 1981, the Dene Mapping Project was born. The purpose of this project was to computerize the information gathered under the traditional land use and occupancy study previously carried out. 

This project utilized the facilities at the University of Alberta. This primarily consisted on a large mainframe computer (IBM 360 type), early style digitizing tables, and a large colour pen plotter. 

Trails were broken into segments and digitized from the original map sheets used for data acquisition. Trail segments were coded to allow for linkage to individual, community, and map sheet. 

Two primary databases were generated:

1. Trail Database - The trail data consists of digitized lines (trail segments) representing the location of trapper activity. It was initially entered using a "blind digitizing" process. Staff training, digitizing equipment reliability, physical quality of the original paper maps, and the degree trails were offset for easier recognition all affected accuracy. A checking and correction process was used to verify digitizing quality. The end result is digitized trails, which while not spatially precise at small scale applications, have tremendous cultural and historical significance and are more than adequate for land use purposes.
   Information which was digitized from the original map sheets was input at different scales and projections (UTM, Transverse Mercator, and Lambert Conformal). This added some complication since one projection and scale will not match another projection and scale without additional processing. 
2. Biographical/Segment Database - Data associated with the digitized trail data. Is tabular data which was originally coded onto paper forms. There are two distinct sets of tabular data: one containing biographical/use data and the other containing, what is known as, segment data. 

The biographical/use data contains a rich assortment of information. This includes: 

• Community and map source information
• Trapper biographical information
• Dates pertaining to activity, frequency, and seasons. Major season specification was allowed for as well by the month
• Modes of travel and number of people
• Activities undertaken (16 categories)
• Species sought (24+ categories)

Additional non-specific information was also allowed for. 

Related to the biographical/use database was segment data. This was secondary data which provided linkage between the biographical/use data and the actual digitized trail segments. It allowed for a many-to-many relationship to exist. That is, one biographical/use data record can apply to one or more trail segments and one trail segment can refer to one or more biographical/use data records. 

Custom software was designed and implemented to allow for the extraction of trail information based on a relational database query of the biographical/use data. Trail maps could be plotted as well as large grid maps which provided rough thematic style maps.  

As indicated earlier, trails pertaining to an individual were broken into segments since the activities of a given individual often varied. An important consideration of the data computerization process was that DATA NOT BE GENERALIZED OR AGGREGATED PREMATURELY. While data aggregation/generalization would make data input easier, it also would severely impact downstream usability. 

The data tagging and digitizing process required the use of three, two person teams trained in the subject matter and the digitizing services of the Computing Services Department at the University of Alberta. The elapsed time for this phase of the project was about 1-1/2 years. The end result was about 41,000 trail segments and a relational database describing the land use history of approximately 1/3 of all Dene/Metis renewable resource harvesters in the Mackenzie Valley, with information dating from as early as 1890, to recent times. 

By linking the trail segments with the biographical/use information collected it was possible to identify specific hunters/trappers, the communities they lived in, years and seasons that trail segments were used, the frequency of use, methods of travel, activities that took place there, and species sought. It was possible to generate specific harvest activity plots for species such as caribou, beaver, or muskrat, for either an individual or an entire community for a given area and a given time period. 

End products were generated in the form of colour coded overlays which a community could utilize given their existing paper base maps.

THE DENE MAPPING PROJECT: CURRENT SITUATION

Currently, it is no longer feasible or desirable to use the computing facilities at the University of Alberta. Reasons for this, fundamentally relate to cost, accessibility, and functionality. The cost to use the university system and maintain and modify existing custom software is prohibitive. In addition, the computer operating system upon which the current programs are based, is being phased out over the next two years. The issue of hands-on accessibility is also very important as well as added functionality/usability.  

To address the above concerns, efforts are currently being directed to provide data access and manipulation using micro-computer hardware and software technology. In doing so, the desire is to develop a low-cost approach that will allow the Dene to make practical use of the digital map and related data that has been collected over many years at substantial cost, while at the same time not hindering future developments or plans.  

In order to allow for data access to proceed, two important steps had to be accomplished. The first involved platform migration/media conversion. This meant moving the data from the mainframe environment (including converting data formats and file structures) to the micro-computer world. The second step involved designing and implementing custom software which would allow for access to the data. The second step was expanded to put in place software packages and procedures to provide basic data extraction (based on database queries) and for subsequent drawings to be produced of trail segments.  

Integrated Micro-computer System 

The next anticipated step, is an integrated micro-computer based system that will store and maintain the trail and related data. Software components will be needed for map production and map data analysis. Some of the issues which will have to be addressed during this phase include map projection differences of the original trail segment data, proper data modelling, and the obtaining of base data. Since the geographic area of interest is so vast, buying all of the individual base map sheets needed would be prohibitive in cost. Alternatives, such as Digital Chart of the World, are being investigated. 

CONCLUSION

The Dene Mapping Project, utilizing early 1980's computer technology, collected and processed a large volume of traditional land use and occupancy data. Great care was taken to capture this data such that downstream usability would not be hindered. During the years, this data has been used for a number of purposes. These include: 

overlapping Dene/Metis-Inuvialuit land use in the Inuvialuit settlement region, Dene/Metis claims negotiations with the Federal Government, discussion of border placement between Denendeh and Nunavut.

With the data becoming accessible in the micro-computer environment, it is anticipated that a major component will be education. Educational packages on the Dene history and on the traditional and current Dene land use will be available. Research, both ethnohistorical and archaeological, will be facilitated. 

Using this data within a GIS context will allow for better discussion concerning overlapping land use (e.g. involving hydrocarbon/mineral exploration and development) and will enhance land claims negotiations. 

It is anticipated that the traditional land use and occupancy information will form an important component of an overall integrated land information system for the Dene Nation.