You’ll find Bighorn Country along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. Bull trout flourished in the rivers and streams of the Bighorn from the last ice age until the mid-twentieth century. That’s when bull trout succumbed to the impact of increased human access to the forested wildlands and the industrial and tourist development that followed. Recent mitigation and conservation efforts are focused on recovering bull trout and other native salmonid species. But there’s more to this fish story than biology and habitat restoration. There are the links to indigenous culture, human storytelling, and our connection to the land. These form the basis of a unique social science research project called “Plural perspectives on Bighorn Country: Restor(y)ing land use, governance, and bull trout population health in Alberta”. The project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada New Frontiers in Research Fund. To learn more about Restor(y)ing Bull Trout, journalist Cheryl Croucher spoke with co-investigator Dr. Zoe Todd, a Metis scholar, fish philosopher, and Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
You’ll find Bighorn Country along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. Bull trout flourished in the rivers and streams of the Bighorn from the last ice age until the mid-twentieth century. That’s when bull trout succumbed to the impact of increased human access to the forested wildlands and the industrial and tourist development that followed. Recent mitigation and conservation efforts are focused on recovering bull trout and other native salmonid species. But there’s more to this fish story than biology and habitat restoration. There are the links to indigenous culture, human storytelling, and our connection to the land. These form the basis of a unique social science research project called “Plural perspectives on Bighorn Country: Restor(y)ing land use, governance, and bull trout population health in Alberta”. The project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada New Frontiers in Research Fund. To learn more about Restor(y)ing Bull Trout, journalist Cheryl Croucher spoke with co-investigator Dr. Zoe Todd, a Metis scholar, fish philosopher, and Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.