We began our current studies on Arctic freshwater ecosystems in February 2000 with a planning meeting that involved several Iņupiat elders who are whitefish experts, as well as our project translator. In the course of the day-long meeting, we were surprised to be invited to pursue our studies at individual subsistence camps, an invitation we gladly accepted.

James "Jake" Kignak

James "Jake" Kignak was one of the elders who attended that first planning meeting. We subsequently met with him at his home in Atqasuk in April 2000, where he helped us plan our first field. Jake was, we think, a little disappointed that we wanted to focus on lakes rather than rivers to begin with, as his fish camp was a river site. That spring Jake passed on, at home at that fish camp. We dedicate this page to Jake, an accomplished fisherman and teacher. His generosity coupled with the sudden loss to our program have made us especially mindful to listen carefully to elders when they choose to give us the benefit of their experience.

Our three field seasons were held in summer 2000, summer 2001, and fall 2001. In October 2002, we met with project partners and representatives from the North Slope Fish and Game Management Committee, the North Slope Borough Mayor's Office, and the North Slope Borough Wildlife Dept. to discuss our preliminary findings and receive guidance on how data should be shared back with the larger communities of Barrow, Atqasuk, and Niuqsut.

Participants in fall 2002 meeting. Left to right: Front row: Craig George  (NSB Wildlife Dept.), Lollie Hopson (BASC), Susan Allen-Gil (Ithaca College), Akpik, Woods, John Seigle (OSU graduate student). Back row: Joe Leavitt (Barrow), Eli Nukapigak (Nuiqsut, Mayor and Fish and Game Rep), Margaret Opie (North Slope Borough Mayor's Office), Whyborn Nungasuk (Atqasuk Fish and Game Rep), Matumeak, Nashaknik, James Taalak (Nuiqsut Cultural Guardian), Jesse Ford (OSU), Jeff Metsky (Ithaca College undergrad). At this meeting received many helpful suggestions that helped structure our subsequent community meetings in Ataqsuk, Nuiqsut, and Barrow held in July 2004. These bilingual meetings were all broadcast live over KBRW, which reaches communities from the Chukchi Sea to the Canadian border. In all, there was about 8.5 hours of live feed from these meetings over a five day period.

Iņupiat Research Partners (Click on photo for more information):

Joshua Nashagnik	Joeb Woods	Warren Matumeak	Cora Leavitt
May Maasak Akpik	Luther Leavitt, Jr	Clayton Hopson

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This material is based on work supported by National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs under Grant No. 9979695 to Oregon State University.