Soundscape application to hunter-aircraft conflict in Nuiqsut, AK
Taylor Stinchcomb
University of Alaska-Fairbanks
Taylor is a Master's student in Wildlife Biology & Conservation at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. She would define herself as an "interdisciplinarian," seeking to understand social-ecological problems from multiple perspectives. Her passion naturally falls into community-based wildlife conservation. The Master's program at UAF offered her the invaluable experience of engaging with an indigenous community throughout her research. She is currently pursuing a career in boundary work - bridging the gaps among researchers, communities, stakeholders, and decision-makers, and communicating effectively across those boundaries.
She grew up on a small farm in Fort Collins, Colorado, alongside cats, dogs, horses, bunnies, and the occasional hamster. She enjoys road biking, hiking, sea kayaking, and berry-picking in the summer, and she survives the Fairbanks winters by cooking up curries and cozying up with her partner and their cat.
Abstract
Aircraft activity due to resource development, scientific research, and tourism is expanding across Arctic Alaska and changing social-ecological systems. Alaska Native hunters frequently report that aircraft flyovers reduce... [ view full abstract ]
Aircraft activity due to resource development, scientific research, and tourism is expanding across Arctic Alaska and changing social-ecological systems. Alaska Native hunters frequently report that aircraft flyovers reduce their hunting success by startling caribou and altering their own movements. Limited data restricts our knowledge about the volume of aircraft flying over subsistence hunting areas during peak hunting seasons. Here, we employ a soundscape ecology approach to quantify aircraft disturbance for the community of Nuiqsut, AK. We provide baseline data on aircraft activity and noise levels over principal hunting corridors and investigate where aircraft could obstruct access to subsistence resources. We deployed 20 soundscape monitoring systems in Summer 2016 (June 03-Aug 28) along the Colville River and Fish Creek at locations identified by Nuiqsut residents. Systems recorded continuous sound for 30-day intervals. We conducted audiovisual analysis to annotate aircraft sound signatures using software developed by the National Parks Service. A total of 7,465 aircraft noise events were captured over 21-84 days (479-1961 hr) of recording. Activity was concentrated over developed environments proximal to the community, with an average of 7-15 aircraft events per day. Activity decreased to 1-2 events/day at sites 30 km upriver from Nuiqsut. Hunting areas to the west of Nuiqsut experienced moderate activity ranging from 3 to 6 events/day, but these data represent only one month of sound recording. Mean Sound Exposure Levels (SELs) remained between 55 and 70 dBA across the study area, but maximum SELs reached 90 to 100 dBA, even at sites 50 km from Nuiqsut. The average time between aircraft events, or the Noise Free Interval (NFI), reached over 24 hours at upriver sites, significantly longer than NFIs in developed environments which fell below 2 hours. We are conducting geospatial analysis to predict where aircraft disturbance could have the greatest impact on Nuiqsut’s hunting success. Our findings will provide Alaska Native communities with data to corroborate traditional knowledge and to engage in mitigation discourses. Our approach could contribute to future community-based research aimed at predicting social-ecological change and sustaining indigenous ways of life around the world.
Authors
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Taylor Stinchcomb
(University of Alaska-Fairbanks)
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Todd Brinkman
(University of Alaska-Fairbanks)
Topic Areas
Topics: Hunting and Fishing , Topics: Community-Based Conservation , Topics: Social-Ecological Systems/Coupled Human-Natural Systems
Session
W-2A » Hunting Seasons (10:00 - Wednesday, 20th September, Assembly Hall A)
Presentation Files
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