This project brings together natural and social sciences researchers and tribal community
partners in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan to better understand toxic contamination
and climate-related changes across the water-rich landscape. The team aims to map
the extent of the region’s mercury and organic toxics, e.g., polychlorinated biphenyl
(PCB) compounds, contamination and fatty acid nutrients in fish in inland lakes, and
concurrently, map tribal harvesting practices, valued resources, and climate-related
changes across the landscape to categorize lakes and specific practices as low, moderate,
or high risk. The project team will also explore particular management and outreach
scenarios in order to minimize contamination risk, respond to climate-related consequences,
and support human-environment relationships that promote the health and wellbeing
of the UP environment and its communities. Finally, the project team’s engagement
in bridging Western and Indigenous sciences and expertise will be assessed to identify
successes and challenges, and to contribute to the growing scholarship in university
and Indigenous community partnerships.
Research Objectives
The three primary project objectives are listed below. Each objective includes a brief
summary of the specific tasks that will be completed by the project team.
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Objective 1: Characterize the extent of contamination of fish by PCBs and mercury
individually and in combination, and the impacts of this contamination and climate-related
changes on social system components.
To complete Objective 1, the tribal landscape system will be illustrated through the
creation of two primary maps: 1) the extent of measured contamination by mercury and
PCB compounds, and 2) the KBIC landscape relationships and practices. The two maps
will be overlain to reveal 1) areas of particular risk and benefit due to contamination
and nutrient levels, respectively, and KBIC harvest practices, as well as 2) place-based
KBIC practices and values, and impacts due to climate-related changes.
To map the extent of contamination and nutrients within the tribal landscape system,
team members will begin by selecting specific water bodies to focus on from the KBIC
priority lakes and retrieve the associated archived fish samples from the GLIFWC mercury
program to analyze for PCBs and other toxic organic compounds, and fatty acids. The
results of the mercury, organic toxics, and fatty acids levels from these specific
lakes will be compiled and analyzed, and then, will be mapped for this region’s landscape.
To map the KBIC landscape relationships and practices, we will use the existing KBIC
data inventory that includes community survey and interview data sets. We will analyze
a synthesis of these data to determine KBIC landscape interactions, including the
uses and values by community members. Of particular interest, we will focus on KBIC
health and wellbeing relationships, specifically noting impacts to place and people
by contamination and climate-related changes in the landscape.
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Objective 2: Evaluate how management actions might impact fish populations and contaminant
concentrations, and identify a core set of ethical principles and best practices important
to restoring and managing the Ojibwa tribal landscape system.
To complete Objective 2, the team will determine a set of management actions to address
contamination and harvest practices as well as the Ojibwa ethical principles that
provide the rationale for these specific abiomagnification). This information will
be used to develop statistical models in order to extrapolate potential contamination
levels in unmonitored water bodies with similar characteristics. It will also be used,
in addition to KBIC lake-specific harvest activity, to evaluate how different management
actions (e.g., various sets of harvesting and stocking activity scenarios) may impact
contamination levels for certain fish populations in KBIC priority lakes.
The results of the management options and scenario analysis will be mapped and shared
with KBIC tribal members through a community forum. In our forum gathering, community
members will assess the relevance and appropriateness of the different actions provided
by the scenarios. As part of this process, our goal is to also determine the ethical
principles underlying the Ojibwa community decisions for landscape relationship restoration
practices. Team members will use existing fish contaminant data for different lakes
to analyze various relationships between fish and contamination levels as well as
lake characteristics such as contaminant loadings into water bodies and the concentration
levels within food webs in different lakes (e.g.,
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Objective 3: Co-create a conceptual tribal landscape system (TLS) model.
To complete Objective 3, the team will co-create, share, and distribute a working
conceptual model of the tribal landscape system (TLS). The starting point for the
working conceptual model of the TLS stems from the elementary model co-created by
many team members; it can be found on the Tribal Landscape System page. The process for building a conceptual model will reflect the growth in our learning
and understanding of the KBIC-based tribal landscape system as the research progresses.
To learn more about this research, our partnership, and its importance, please be
welcome to review a one-page Project Summary and/or visit the project information and abstract provided by the National Science Foundation.
