Integrating traditional practices, livelihoods, and conservation with Indigenous-led furbearer camera trapping

Contemporary conservation goals have a greater chance of success when practitioners collaborate with Indigenous communities. The importance of such collaborations has spurred calls by Western and Indigenous researchers to engage in equitable coproduction of ecological research that integrates multiple ways of knowing. However, Indigenous-led conservation research is exceedingly rare. We conducted a case study, applicable globally, in which an Indigenous community experiencing intense industrial resource extraction used Indigenous knowledge and Western science to examine the impacts on species highly valued by the community, namely, furbearing mesocarnivores. Unique knowledge offered by elders and the community suggested rapid declines in many formerly abundant species. Together, we used camera trapping and statistical modeling to investigate the relative abundance of and response to disturbance in lynx (Lynx canadensis), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), marten (Martes americana), and fisher (Pekania pennanti) in north-central Alberta. Low species abundance presented analytical challenges, necessitating pooling species. Several industrial features were associated with (small) increased relative abundance of furbearers (β range 0.12 to 0.30), whereas several others were associated with negative abundance of furbearers (β range -0.25 to -0.64). As Indigenous communities globally face such industrial pressures, we illustrate how Indigenous-led research design, hypotheses, data collection, and interpretation, coupled with statistical ecological data analysis, can inform pressing conservation decisions. Indigenous Peoples face ongoing challenges accessing essential traditional resources because declining ecosystem functioning is directly linked to Indigenous well-being. Overall, successful conservation and stewardship are often best achieved through such Indigenous-led partnerships that address the joint goals of Indigenous livelihoods and conservation.