Wildfire smoke, climate change affecting N.W.T. berry pickers and their harvest

Berry-picking season is underway, but unusually dry and hot weather across the Northwest Territories has raised questions about how good the harvest will be. 

While many regions have bounties of berries to pick, abnormal conditions in other parts of the territory have left foragers and wildlife with hardly anything.

Cathy Pope, a berry picker from Norman Wells, N.W.T., said there has been an abundance of blueberries this year, and that she's "never seen it like this." 

Despite the ample availability of fruit, thick wildfire smoke — some of the worst in the country, at times — has made it hard for Pope to go out and pick.

"With the smoke it's pretty hard. You have to find a good day, evening before the smoke comes in, and today it's very bad," she said in a phone interview.

While the smoke is limiting how much time Pope can spend outdoors harvesting, she is still able to meet her berry needs. 

Margaret Leishman from Kakisa, N.W.T., is part of the Indigenous Knowledge of Berries in the Northwest Territories project. She reports plenty of blueberries, raspberries and saskatoon berries in her neck of the woods. 

However, she said, this year is unusual as plants are about two weeks ahead of schedule. She said the unpredictable berry seasons in the last few years have affected her way of life.

"Climate change is also really affecting my way of life as a traditional Dene of this land, you know? So I have to adapt ways to make up for the loss," she said.

"If there's no cranberries [like] last year, I still have some from previous years so that's what I was using. But I'm really hoping that the cranberries will come back this year because it's one of our very favourite diet." 

Leishman isn't the only one seeing the impacts of climate change on the foraging season. Amy Maund is the founder of Laughing Lichen, a company that produces goods made with locally-foraged plants based 30 kilometres outside of Yellowknife. 

Maund also reports that all of the plants in her area were ready to be harvested two to three weeks early. Initially there were big patches of berries growing that seemed promising, but recent drought conditions near Yellowknife have since decimated plants in the region.

"We basically don't have a berry crop this year," she said. 

"Most of the wild berry bushes, like cranberry bushes, crowberry bushes, raspberry bushes, and blueberry bushes have basically dried. The berries that were on the bushes that were developing have shrivelled up like raisins."

Not only are there concerns about people meeting their needs with changing weather patterns, but both Leishman and Maund expressed concern about the impacts on wildlife, which also rely on these food sources for sustenance.

"It's really going to affect the wildlife around here too," said Maund. "I'm a little bit worried about the bears and the animals that rely on the berries for their food source and getting ready for the winter."