Building Capacity and Potential for Meaningful Ecological Reclamation Through Indigenous and Community Led Native Seed Supply System in the Yukon

This research project focuses on helping Indigenous communities and local groups in the Yukon region develop their own systems for growing and supplying native plant seeds. These systems are important because they can help restore lands that have been damaged by activities like mining. Right now, one of the main problems is that there aren’t enough native plant seeds available, both in the Yukon and around the world, which makes it hard to do effective land restoration. The project has two main goals. First, they will gather information about past and current projects where Indigenous communities and local groups have been involved in growing and supplying native plant seeds in Canada. This information will be used to help people who are new to this kind of work. The second goal is to figure out which plants are most important for land restoration in the Yukon and learn more about their characteristics. This will help with planning, seed production, and making sure seed producers and buyers can communicate well. By filling in gaps in knowledge and addressing challenges, this research project will help Indigenous communities and local groups in the Yukon create successful systems for growing and supplying native plant seeds.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nancy Shackelford

Student:

Partner:

Yukon Seed & Restoration Inc.

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Sustainability & the Environment; Mining; Indigenous Innovation

University:

University of Victoria

Program: