Local observations of snow-cover changes
firewood
35
. Less snow in the hills also means fewer cold storage
places for fish, which are kept cool in snow patches. This prob-
In many areas of snow cover, there are local people who rely lem is shared by some communities in the Canadian territory of
on the snow for water, recreation, travel, and other activities. Nunavut
33
. At Clyde River, Nunavut, Inuit observe that perma-
Through constant and close interaction with snow, these peo- nent snow patches, aniuvat, are disappearing and at a quicker
ple develop a great body of knowledge about it. People who rate than in the past. In the community of Baker Lake, Nunavut,
possess knowledge of snow include mountain villagers, ski pa- changes in snow have already had serious consequences. Chang-
trollers, mountain climbers, and perhaps more than any other es in wind patterns are packing snow harder than normal, mak-
group, Arctic residents, especially Indigenous Peoples. These ing it difficult or even impossible to build snow houses, which are
people have the most interaction with snow, as snow is present still used for emergency shelters. Weather events seem to be less
for most of the year and they depend on it for their livelihoods. predictable to elders in the area, and hunters are being caught
in unexpected storms unable to make shelter; several deaths in
In the Canadian Arctic, Inuit and their ancestors have depended recent years have been blamed on this change in snow
33,36
.
on snow, and held a keen understanding of it, for millennia.
Traditionally, Inuit lived in snow houses called igluit. The abil- Communities all over the Arctic are living with environmental
ity to travel depended partly on the condition of snow cover, change and constantly responding to impacts of this change.
for example, hard, soft, deep, or drifted snow. Snow forms on Snow changes are only one part of this and local observers in the
the land or sea ice, running parallel with the dominant wind, North will acknowledge that snow is bound in a web of environ-
helped hunters to navigate; this practice is still used by some mental processes that are all connected. Knowledge of snow must
today (Figure 4.5). Saami reindeer herders in Fennoscandia be accompanied by knowledge of wind, weather, seasons, ani-
have also traditionally depended on snow for their activities and mals, ice, water, and ocean currents. With their long history in the
survival. Herders closely observe snow conditions and modify Arctic and their continued use of the land, ocean, and ice, Arctic
their herding strategies accordingly. For example, in hard snow Indigenous Peoples play an important role in understanding the
conditions, herders may keep reindeer close together so that Arctic environment and its changes, including snow changes.
strong animals help to crush icy snow layers, allowing weaker
animals to graze
30
. If the snow is relatively soft, animals may
be allowed to graze a wider area. Today, Inuit no longer live in
snow houses and some Saami employ modern technologies,
such as helicopters or motorbikes, to herd reindeer. But elders,
and many hunters and herders, still possess traditional knowl-
edge about snow. They constantly gain new knowledge about
snow and other aspects of the environment, and incorporate
this knowledge into their everyday lives.
Many traditional knowledge holders have noticed changes in
snow in recent years, along with other changes in the environ-
ment and climate. In projects such as the Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment, scientists have begun working cooperatively with
these people in order to understand environmental change in the
Arctic. A number of other projects have documented indigenous
knowledge of environmental change in the Arctic, primarily in
Figure 4.5: Arctic Indigenous Peoples have depended on snow
Alaska and the Canadian Arctic
31–34
. Snow is a common theme
for millennia, for example, using snow forms to navigate. This
in many of these studies. For example, in Nunavik (northern
close interaction with snow makes them important observers of
Quebec), residents observe less snow cover in spring time. This
snow changes.
restricts travel into the bush by snowmobile to hunt and collect Photo: Shari Gearheard
CHAPTER 4 SNOW 45
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