The Government of Canada says it will supply $1.08 million over two years for the Western Boreal Initiative with the Dene Nation. It’s a collaboration between provinces, territories, and First Nations governments to evaluate the cumulative effects of wildfire, predation, key pests, human disturbances, and climate change on the Western Boreal Forests of Canada.

The government says this will further Dene Nation work with leaders, Elders, youth, other land users, and knowledge holders to braid Dene Traditional Knowledge with Western science on the ecology and conservation of boreal caribou.

Traditional Dene lands cover about 12 percent of the land mass in Canada and 25 percent of the Western Boreal Forest.