Indigenous-Engaged Knowledge Co-Production for the Conservation of Freshwater Turtles in the Anthropocene

Recovery efforts for species at-risk populations offer both a complex and timeless problem for natural scientists and communities alike to tackle. To ensure long-term management and conservation success, it is critically important to involve all stakeholders and rightsholders at the initial project planning phase to ensure community needs and research interests are met, and a holistic approach can be adopted through co-creation. In this presentation, we discuss a successful, ongoing conservation project that focuses on the recovery and protection of the atrisk Blanding’s Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) within the traditional territories of Whitefish River First Nation located at the northern shore of Mnidoo Gamii (Georgian Bay, Lake Huron). We emphasize the importance of knowledge co-production through weaving multiple knowledge systems, including Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and Western Science (WS), in species recovery plans and outline project progress to date. We describe the use of data collection using ArcGIS Online surveys, collaborative field work, community meetings, and knowledge holder interviews, with preliminary findings to date. This study highlights opportunities, methods, and successes through collaboration between IK holders and WS researchers for an elevated, greater understanding towards long-term species at-risk conservation and advancing ecological sciences.

Indigenous-Engaged Knowledge Co-Production for the Conservation of Freshwater Turtles in the Anthropocene Presentations