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Blending Geospatial Technology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Enhance Restoration Decision-Support Processes in Coastal Louisiana
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More informed coastal restoration decisions have become increasingly important given limited resources available for restoration projects and the increasing magnitude of marsh degradation and loss across the Gulf Coast. This research investigated the feasibility and benefits of integrating geospatial technology with the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of an indigenous Louisiana coastal population to assess the impacts of current and historical ecosystem change on community viability. The primary goal was to provide coastal resource managers with a decision-support tool that allows for a more comprehensive method of assessing localized ecological change in the Gulf Coast region, which can also benefit human community sustainability. Using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping products, integrated with a coastal community's TEK to achieve this goal, the research team determined a method for producing vulnerability/sustainability mapping products for an ecosystem-dependent livelihood base of a coastal population based on information derived from RS imagery prioritized with TEK. This study also demonstrates how such an approach can engage affected community residents who are interested in determining and addressing the causes and mitigating the decline of marsh habitat. Historical image data sets of the study area were acquired to understand evolution of land change to current conditions and project future vulnerability. Image-processing procedures were developed and applied to produce maps that detail land change in the study area at time intervals from 1968 to 2009. This information was combined in a GIS with acquired TEK and scientific data sets relating to marsh vegetation health and vulnerability characteristics to produce mapping products that provide new information for use in the coastal restoration decision-making process. This information includes: (1) marsh areas that are most vulnerable; and (2) the areas that are most significant to community sustainability.
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... Although TEK's utility in restoration planning is growing in recognition, it is underutilized because qualitative data are not compatible with environmental modeling [28]. For example, the United States National Park Service holds that indigenous cultures are valid and conservation efforts should hold them central to prioritizing significant landscapes [29]. ...
... For example, the United States National Park Service holds that indigenous cultures are valid and conservation efforts should hold them central to prioritizing significant landscapes [29]. TEK can inform the elements and locations of flood management projects on tribal reservations and along connected shorelines [28]. Native groups both shaped and were influenced by local environments [29]. ...
... Bethel et al. [28] used georeferenced TEK and land cover change maps to assess the impact of ecosystem degradation on community viability with indigenous coastal populations in Louisiana where the most dramatic marsh loss in the United States is occurring. A vulnerability mapping system linked remote sensing imagery with ecosystem dependent livelihoods [28]. ...
Coastal reservations are increasingly vulnerable to hazards exacerbated by climate change. Resources for restoration projects are limited. Storm surge, storms, tidal flooding, and erosion endanger artifacts and limit livelihoods of tribes in coastal Virginia. GIS offers a platform to increase communication between scientists, planners, and indigenous groups. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe engaged in a participatory mapping exercise to assess the role of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in coastal management decision-making and its capacity to address flooding. Priorities and strategies were spatially referenced using maps of potential sea level rise for 2040, 2060, and 2080, input into a resilience matrix to identify benchmarks for each phase of disaster resilience building, and contextualized with oral histories. Results highlight increased immediacy to protect housing and heritage sites along the shoreline as well as maintain access to the Reservation. Preferences toward structural solutions guided by and facilitating TEK options were expressed. Additional community capacities, tribal council support, federal assistance, impact assessments, and coordination would facilitate risk reduction project implementation. The screening process integrates TEK with planning and is transferable to neighboring tribes.
... Whereas state agencies like the CPRA see disagreements between coastal residents and scientists as a problem of communication, researchers critically examining public-state-science relationships in coastal Louisiana find them to be rooted in the siloed nature of coastal science production and the disregard for nontechno-scientific knowledge as valid for informing coastal restoration science (Bethel et al. 2011;Bethel et al. 2014;Maldonado 2014;Hemmerling, Barra, and Bond 2020). Divisions between scientific and nonscientific (or lay, local, traditional) knowledge exacerbate rifts commonly labeled as "public distrust of science" in coastal Louisiana. ...
... Unlike practices of collecting traditional or local environmental knowledge that reinforce nature-culture dualisms that characterize deep epistemological rifts between scientific and nonscientific knowledge (Cruikshank 2001), the ECG methods present a framework for a "multiple knowledge approach" (Maldonado 2014) to environmental planning aimed at reconfiguring institutional practices that reproduce knowledge hierarchies and their correlate social divides in the public sphere. In this regard, our work reflects a recent push by critical social scientists working in Louisiana and in other areas within and outside of the United States (Bethel et al. 2011;Bethel et al. 2014) attempting to shift the institutional culture of environmental planning to see residents, fishermen, elders, and landowners (to name a few) as collaborators, not merely stakeholders. ...
... The ECG was made up of sixteen regular participating members: ten residents from St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes and six scientists from the Water Institute of the Gulf (the Institute). Following sampling methods from Bethel et al. (2011;Bethel et al. 2014), scientist and resident participants were selected through a peer review recruiting process. This included researchers attending local meetings about coastal issues in Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes, regularly visiting public gathering places in these parishes, and reaching out to community leaders to generate a list of individuals who fellow residents felt have an extensive history and knowledge of the local coastal environment. ...
This article assesses the use of the environmental competency group (ECG) method as a tactic for bringing residents and scientists in coastal Louisiana into collaboration on designing coastal restoration projects. Based on qualitative research on the competency group during a period of ten months, this article describes the achievements and limitations of the ECG as a technique for democratizing the production of scientific knowledge. Particular attention is paid to distinctions between expert and lay or traditional environmental knowledge in literature on ECGs and how the aspirations of the ECG unfold in the context of coastal restoration planning in Louisiana. Against this backdrop, the article first presents a theoretical overview of the ECG method. Next, it describes the methods and outcomes of an ECG in Louisiana and the efforts of members of the ECG to collaboratively design numeric predictive models and restoration projects. From here, the article analyzes the ideological barriers faced by ECG in their attempts to overcome a one-directional, input-based framework for resident–scientist collaboration. The article ends with a series of critical questions about the possibilities of ECG to achieve the democratization of environmental knowledge in practice.
... In the Mississippi Delta, TEK has been utilized in conjunction with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data to improve restoration management decision-making (Bethel et al., 2011(Bethel et al., , 2014. Bethel et al. (2011) studied the indigenous Atakapa community of Grand Bayou in coastal Plaquemines Parish, who continue to live primarily from delta ecological resources. ...
... In the Mississippi Delta, TEK has been utilized in conjunction with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data to improve restoration management decision-making (Bethel et al., 2011(Bethel et al., , 2014. Bethel et al. (2011) studied the indigenous Atakapa community of Grand Bayou in coastal Plaquemines Parish, who continue to live primarily from delta ecological resources. The Atakapa were able to contribute integral information associated with land use and loss over time, represent that information geospatially, and identify high-priority restoration areas such as sacred cultural sites and critical habitat areas. ...
Archeological investigations of the Mississippi Delta (U.S.) are reaching the century mark and provide information relevant to Holocene settlement patterns and present-day issues of human adaptation to coastal change. This review synthesizes the history of archeological research over the last ~100 years in the Mississippi Delta, an area that is deteriorating at a historically unprecedented rate. Early 20th century investigations provided sketches of pre-contact Indigenous culture, and extensive yet destructive Great Depression-era federal projects created the foundations of Mississippi Delta archeology. We highlight the abundant and underutilized data generated by regulatory cultural resource surveys over the past 50 years and, most recently, salvage efforts for a vanishing coast. From this centennial perspective, we advise on future research directions and demonstrate how coupling archeology with emergent theory on human-natural systems, including ecosystem services, benefits land-management practices here and in other landscapes undergoing rapid 21st century environmental change.
... Qualitative data collected during LKM exercises have been used to create geospatially explicit baseline datasets allowing researchers to incorporate local knowledge into an assessment of ecological restoration projects (Barra 2017;Carruthers et al. 2017). When incorporated into a GIS environment and assessed in combination with biophysical data, the resultant "Sci-TEK" data can potentially be used to refine the large conceptual footprints of restoration projects and aid in the identification of future restoration projects, and identify associated areas of consensus and potential conflict between 1 3 local stakeholders and policymakers (Bethel et al. 2011(Bethel et al. , 2014(Bethel et al. , 2015. The incorporation of these data into the planning process would represent an important step in identifying and reducing the risk of disproportionate impacts on particular social or cultural groups. ...
... All of the local residents participating in this project reside around the Breton Sound Estuary, and most were fishermen, shrimpers, and oystermen who utilize the estuary on a daily basis. They were recruited using a peer review selection process, whereby researchers went to local boat launches, seafood processing plants, local coastal zone management boards, and other regional environmental management groups to solicit recommendations on knowledgeable residents with an extensive history and knowledge of the estuary and its surrounding regions (Bethel et al. 2011(Bethel et al. , 2014Landström et al. 2011). Researchers kept a running list of names, cross-listing individuals who were frequently recommended based on multiple interactions across groups. ...
Numerical modeling efforts in support of restoration and protection activities in coastal Louisiana have traditionally been conducted externally to any stakeholder engagement processes. This separation has resulted in planning- and project-level models built solely on technical observation and analysis of natural processes. Despite its scientific rigor, this process often fails to account for the knowledge, values, and experiences of local stakeholders that often contextualizes a modeled system. To bridge this gap, a team of natural and social scientists worked directly with local residents and resource users to develop a participatory modeling approach to collect and utilize local knowledge about the Breton Sound Estuary in southeast Louisiana, USA. Knowledge capture was facilitated through application of a local knowledge mapping methodology designed to catalog local understanding of current and historical conditions within the estuary and identify desired ecological and hydrologic end states. The results of the mapping endeavor informed modeling activities designed to assess the applicability of the identified restoration solutions. This effort was aimed at increasing stakeholder buy-in surrounding the utility of numerical models for planning and designing coastal protection and restoration projects and included an ancillary outcome aimed at elevating stakeholder empowerment regarding the design of nature-based restoration solutions and modeling scenarios. This intersection of traditional science and modeling activities with the collection and analysis of traditional ecological knowledge proved useful in elevating the confidence that community members had in modeled restoration outcomes.
... to O. edulis parent shell in the wild. The culture of blue mussels is widespread in Europe, with minimal crop attention required and relatively quick growth to marketable size (Bethel et al., 2011). ...
... The excess M. edulis provide a hard substratum on soft muds for more influential bioengineering species, such as Crassostrea rivularis (Bethel et al., 2011;Selkoe et al., 2015). Offshore culturing of M. ...
Abstract
1. Since the collapse of the Ostrea edulis stock in the mid‐1800s the oyster has struggled to
re‐establish itself in self‐sustaining assemblages in Europe.
2. It is now widely recognized that O. edulis is an integral component of a healthy biologically
functional benthic environment and, as such, the restoration of wild stocks has become a
matter of urgency.
3. A major limiting factor in O. edulis stock recovery is the availability of suitable substrate
material for oyster larvae settlement.
4. This research re‐examined the larval settlement potential of several naturally occurring in‐situ
shell materials (e.g. Mytilus edulis, Modiolus modiolus, O. edulis), with the aim of determining
which shell material is the most appropriate for large‐scale restoration projects.
5. A positive correlation between available shell material and settlement was determined, and
analysis using PERMANOVA did not identify an attachment preference by O. edulis to any
particular shell type.
6. The findings suggest that if restoration efforts were coordinated with applied hydrodynamic
and habitat suitability modelling, in conjunction with naturally occurring shell substrate
concentrations, a cost‐effective recovery for O. edulis assemblages in the wild could be
achieved.
... Conversely, technologies like geospatial tools offer a third language with which to integrate contributing . Geospatial software became a common language to discuss restoration needs in Louisiana estuaries, where physical scientists and fishers could both translate their knowledge into a tool for learning each other's languages (Bethel et al. 2011). Technology that is familiar to only one group of participants, however, can tip the power balance in favor of that group. ...
... But I also stood witness to all protocol negotiation, even the hasty ones (Pretty 1995) and ensured space for dissent (or personal interpretations of results) in distribution of the results (Irvin and Stansbury 2004). As project coordinator, I also chose which technologies we adopted for data interpretation and display, to the benefit of participation in the case of mapping software (Bethel et al. 2011). ...
The gold standard for citizen science projects that both integrate multiple ways of knowing and innovate new knowledge and solutions are fully collaborative research endeavors where scientists and citizens work as equals at all stages of research. Beyond equitable structure, there are key factors within each collaborative project that help determine success. Using a case study of a collaborative research project between fishermen and scientists investigating water quality impacts on small-scale fisheries, I highlight these factors which have the potential to elevate citizen science from participation to empowerment: access, space for dissent, structured negotiation, and the role of technology.
... Partnerships between researchers and Indigenous communities illustrate new ways to make visible the histories, Traditional Ecological Knowledges, and social ties that underpin community and ecological resilience (Bethel et al., 2011). As more Indigenous and place-based communities are under threat by climate change, the development of new methodologies for adaptation and retreat that account for the layers of colonialism and support the realization of self-determination is fundamental. ...
Efforts in the United States to plan or implement relocation in response to climate risks have struggled to improve material conditions for participants, to incorporate local knowledge, and to keep communities intact. Mixed methodologies of community geography provide an opportunity for dialogue and knowledge-sharing to collaboratively diagnose the challenges of climate adaptation led by communities. In this article, we advance a participatory practice model for the co-creation of knowledge initiated during a two-day workshop with members from the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe from Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, Yup’ik people from Newtok Village in Alaska, and researchers from the MIT Resilient Communities Lab. Building on prior scholarship of indigenizing climate change research, this article shares the experience of the workshop to support knowledge exchange and dialogue, with the goal of understanding how to build participatory and non-extractive community-academic partnerships. We reflect on the community values and principles used to guide this workshop to inform more inclusive and co-produced research partnerships, and pedagogies that can improve and assist the self-determination of groups impacted by climate change. Workshop presentations and discussions highlight interconnected themes of resources, systems & structures, regulatory imbalance, and resilience that underpin climate resettlement. We reflect on the narratives presented by members of both Indigenous tribes and NGO partners that illustrate the shortcomings of resettlement planning practices past and present as perpetuating existing inequality. In response to this structured knowledge exchange, we identify potential roles for community-academic partnerships that aim to improve the equity of existing resettlement models. We propose approaches for incorporating traditional knowledge into the pedagogy, discourse, and practice of academic planning programs.
... Qualitative data collected during local knowledge mapping exercises have been used to create a geospatially explicit baseline dataset allowing researchers to incorporate local knowledge into an assessment of ecological restoration projects. When incorporated into a GIS environment and assessed in combination with biophysical data, the resultant "Sci-TEK" data can potentially be used to refine the large conceptual footprints of restoration projects and aid in the identification of future restoration projects and identify associated areas of consensus and potential conflict between local stakeholders and policy makers (Bethel et al. 2011(Bethel et al. , 2014(Bethel et al. , 2015. The information gained in this way has also been used to determine the geographic specificity of local perceptions and develop community-informed prioritization tools that can be used to plan future ecological restoration projects (Barra 2017;Carruthers et al. 2017). ...
Regimes for coastal protection and restoration planning in south Louisiana have shifted from local, problem-based projects to broader ecological restoration strategies at the regional level over the past 30 years. This chapter examines these shifts in environmental management planning through the lens of social justice, specifically distributive, procedural, and contextual social justice for coastal communities. Within this framework, the first half of this chapter reviews public outreach efforts by state agencies as their planning approaches have changed over time. The second half of the chapter focuses on contemporary coastal planning efforts and their implications for social justice. The authors argue that current coastal management practices in south Louisiana need to be more transparent and accountable to individuals and communities impacted by their actions. In conclusion, the authors suggest several social scientific techniques for integrating local knowledge and priorities into coastal planning processes with an eye toward cultivating social justice.
... A su vez las disciplinas de la etnología, la antropología, la antropología médica, la etnoecología, la agroecología, la sociología y la filosofía plantearon la necesidad de la interrelación entre sistemas de conocimiento diferentes, reconociendo como saber al conocimiento popular, la ciencia del pueblo, los sistemas de saberes indígenas, tradicionales y populares (Fals Borda 1988, Hviding 2003, el conocimiento ecológico tradicional (o Traditional Ecological Knowledge, TEK, en inglés) y el conocimiento ambiental (Kimmerer 2002, Bethel et al. 2011, Taita et al. 2012. El Consejo Internacional para la Ciencia (CIC o ICS por sus siglas en inglés) es quizá la más alta A pesar de estos acuerdos y constantes llamadas de atención, aún existen desafíos importantes para que los biólogos y otros profesionales de la conservación puedan desarrollar un trabajo efectivo en el contexto social. ...
EL CAMBIO EPISTÉMICO EN LA DISCIPLINA DE LA CONSERVACIÓN BIOLÓGICA Y EL DIÁLOGO DE SABERES Desde los años sesenta y setenta se ha enfatizado progresivamente la inter, la trans y la metadisciplinariedad, en las cuales distintas disciplinas están relacionadas unas con otras y se alcanzan niveles de comprensión que transcienden a las disciplinas individuales. Además las teorías de sistemas de L. von Bertalanffy y la teoría de la complejidad (Weckowicz 1989, Andrade 2007) han planteado metodologías y marcos conceptuales para articular un conocimiento fraccionado del mundo (Martínez 1996, Leff 2007).
... Harley (1989:11) argues that scientific cartography not only reflects power relations, but is an Binherently rhetorical discourset hat nation-states and other social actors use to control people, land, and resources. What is included on a map affects who has access to land and resources (Peluso 1995), whose ecological knowledge is considered legitimate (Rundstrom 1990), and how costs and benefits of environmental decisions are distributed (Bethel et al. 2011). Wood (1992 argues that maps are graphic arguments that emerge from social processes and reflect and project the interests of those who create them. ...
Indigenous peoples, local communities, and other groups can use counter-mapping to make land claims, identify areas of desired access, or convey cultural values that diverge from the dominant paradigm. While sometimes created independently, counter-maps also can be formulated during public participation mapping events sponsored by natural resource planning agencies. Public participation mapping elicits values, uses, and meanings of landscapes from diverse stakeholders, yet individuals and advocacy groups can use the mapping process as an opportunity to make visible strongly held values and viewpoints. We present three cases from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State to illustrate how stakeholders intentionally used landscape-values mapping workshops to amplify their perspectives in attempts to further political outcomes. We combine geospatial analysis with qualitative data to explore ways that landscape-values mapping were used as a political tool and how social scientists engaged in similar efforts can defend the scientific integrity of results.
Changes in leaf chlorophyll content can serve as relative indicators of plant vigor and environmental quality. This study identified reflectance, transmittance, and absorptance wavebands and band ratios within the 400- to 850-nm range for intact leaves that could be used to estimate extracted leaf chlorophyll per unit leaf area (areal concentration) with minimal error. Leaf optical properties along with chlorophyll a, b, and a + b concentrations were measured for the planar-leaved sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), wild grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.), and switchcane [Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl.], and for needles of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Miller). Generally, reflectance, transmittance, and absorptance corresponded most precisely with chlorophyll concentrations at wavelengths near 700 nm, although regressions were also strong in the 550- to 625-nm range. A power function was superior to a simple linear function in yielding low standard deviations of the estimate (s). When data were combined among the planar-leaved species, s values were low at approximately 50 mumol/m2 out of a 940 mumol/m2 range in chlorophyll a + b at best-fit wavelengths of 707 to 709 nm. Minimal s values for chlorophyll a + b ranged from 32 to 62 mumol/m2 across species when band ratios having numerator wavelengths of 693 to 720 nm were used with the application of a power function. Optimal denominator wavelengths for the band ratios were 850 nm for reflectance and transmittance and 400 nm for absorptance. This information can be applied in designing field portable chlorophyll meters and in the landscape-scale remote sensing of plant responses to the environment.
Coastal Louisiana is experiencing a loss of more than 15 square miles of land per year.
Since the 1930’s, over 1,883 square miles of valuable wetland habitat have disappeared
(Couvillion et al. 2011). In response to this loss, a multi-agency task force, comprised of
federal and state government sponsors, created the Coastal Wetlands Planning,
Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) of 1990 to conserve, restore, create, or
enhance coastal wetlands. Through CWPPRA and various other funding sources, the
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA) maintains a monitoring
program with the mission of providing ecological data and research to support the
planning, design, construction, evaluation, and adaptive management of Louisiana’s
wetland restoration projects.
In 2004 the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System-Wetlands (CRMS) was
implemented to improve the monitoring program’s capability to evaluate the effectiveness
of individual restoration projects, as well as the combined effects of multiple projects, by
providing a network of reference sites to compare to project sites (Figure 1.1) (Steyer et
al. 2003). Because CRMS was designed to determine the ecological condition of all
Louisiana wetlands, not just those affected by projects, CRMS also provides the
opportunity to evaluate whether whole ecosystems are being restored. Thus, the
effectiveness of landscape-scale restoration strategies can also be determined.
Developed in 2013, the System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP)
encompasses several ongoing and proposed coastal data collection activities, including
CRMS, which support the development, implementation, and adaptive management of
the Louisiana coastal protection and restoration program. Data needs include additional
parameters to support new predictive modeling tools and integrated program assessment
to support the development, refinement, and implementation of the integrated coastal
Master Plan. SWAMP components of expanded water quality and vegetative biomass
data collection are included in this SOP.
The main purpose of this manual is to provi
Computer-processed multispectral SPOT satellite images covering part of the Okavango Delta provide an extremely useful tool for studying this large, remote wetland. In particular, a transformed vegetation index (TVI) was found to be semi-quantitatively related to standing crop in turn, related to resource availability and, hence, indirectly to local hydrological regime. The TVI images therefore provide a synoptic view of water dispersal in the Delta. Careful examination of the images further reveals the widespread development of lineaments, presumably of tectonic origin. -Authors
Based on the false promise of widespread prosperity, communities across the U.S. have embraced all brands of economic development at all costs. In Louisiana, that meant development interests turning wetlands into shipping lanes. By replacing a natural buffer against storm surges with a 75-mile long, obsolete canal that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they guided the hurricane into the heart of New Orleans and adjacent communities. The authors reveal why, despite their geographic differences, California and Missouri are building-quite literally-toward similar destruction. © 2009 Willliam R. Freudenburg, Robert B. Gramling, Shirley B. Laska, and Kai T. Erikson. All rights reserved.
This article describes, in narrative form, the human element of the Louisiana coastal environment. After a brief description of the Deltaic and Cheniere Plains, the article details how people relate to the environment and how various ethnic groups have adapted to the wetlands over time. The article also describes the human activities that have evolved in coastal Louisiana, the ports, the fisheries (which today are a mainstay of coastal communities), and the oil and gas activities that started in the 1920s and continue to the present. Finally, the article discusses the clusters of communities that are present in the coastal wetlands and how these community clusters differ in their relationships to the coastal environment.
The framework of a national land use and land cover classification system is presented for use with remote sensor data. The classification system has been developed to meet the needs of Federal and State agencies for an up-to-date overview of land use and land cover throughout the country on a basis that is uniform in categorization at the more generalized first and second levels and that will be receptive to data from satellite and aircraft remote sensors. The proposed system uses the features of existing widely used classification systems that are amenable to data derived from remote sensing sources. Revision of the land use classification system are presented in U. S. Geological Survey Circular 671 was undertaken in order to incorporate the results of extensive testing and review of the categorization and definitions. Refs.
Non-tidal wetlands in a portion of the Savannah River swamp forest affected by reactor cooling water discharges were mapped using 31 March 1981 and 29 April 1985 high-resolution aircraft multispectral scanner (MSS) data. It was necessary to use a piecewise-linear registration process over relatively small regions to perform image-to-image registration. When performing unsupervised classification, an iterative 'cluster busting' technique was used which simplified the cluster labeling process.-from Authors
Advocates of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) have promoted its use in scientific research, impact assessment, and ecological understanding. While several examples illustrate the utility of applying TEK in these contexts, wider application of TEK-derived information remains elusive. In part, this is due to continued inertia in favor of established scientific practices and the need to describe TEK in Western scientific terms. In part, it is also due to the difficulty of accessing TEK, which is rarely written down and must in most cases be documented as a project on its own prior to its incorporation into another scientific undertaking. This formidable practical obstacle is exacerbated by the need to use social science methods to gather biological data, so that TEK research and application becomes a multidisciplinary undertaking. By examining case studies involving bowhead whales, beluga whales, and herring, this paper describes some of the benefits of using TEK in scientific and management contexts. It also reviews some of the methods that are available to do so, including semi-directive interviews, questionnaires, facilitated workshops, and collaborative field projects.
Coastal wetland loss in Louisiana, now considered to amount to more than 100 km2/year, is receiving ever increasing amounts of attention. This loss is the result of a variety of complex interactions among a number of physical, chemical, biological, and cultural processes. Important geologic phenomena include sea-level change, subsidence, compaction, and change in location of deltaic depocenters. Of the many catastrophic events that cause erosion, the hurricane with its high energy is the most important in Louisiana. Biological factors include rates of marsh growth (especially in relation to subsidence, compaction, and saltwater/freshwater proportion) and the degradation caused by marsh fauna. During the last few decades, the human factor in wetland loss has increased drastically. The placement of dams and levees across and along the tributaries and distributaries of the Mississippi River have reduced both the amount and texture of sediment reaching the coast. In addition, canal and highway construction in the wetlands has altered drainage patterns and fluid withdrawal is causing subsidence. To date, few of the processes responsible for land loss in south Louisiana have been quantified and the data sets that do exist are often in conflict with each other and reflect multiple interactions. However, the attention now being given wetland loss will hopefully provide more definitive answers in the near future.