August 16, 2017
BioBlitz Canada 150 has wrapped up following a handful of fun and intriguing events in several Northwest Territories communities. A BioBlitz involves scientists meeting with locals to find, identify and inventory as many species as possible in a defined amount of time. In the last month, events took place in Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson, and Yellowknife.
Most recently, staff from the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources; Industry, Tourism and Investment; and Health and Social Services gathered at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre on August 12, with a booth to answer questions about healthy eating and eating off the land.
“While the BioBlitz initiative has an environmental focus, there are also many linkages to agriculture, country foods and healthy eating,” says Tracy St. Denis, ITI’s Director of Economic Diversification. “It was a great opportunity to engage more people on agriculture in the Northwest Territories.”
ITI staff distributed the NWT Agriculture Strategy and funding program guidelines in addition to promotional goodies such as tomato plant seeds and stickers.
Activities such as BioBlitz, help to fulfill the NWT Agriculture Strategy recommendation to: develop and offer educational resources supporting the inclusion of agriculture in a variety of educational environments in order to raise awareness, skills and capacity.
