Nunavut Wildlife Research Trust

As part of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement (NLCA), the federal government provided a one-time payment of $11 million to the NWMB. This money was used to establish the Nunavut Wildlife Research Trust (NWRT). The NWRT funds wildlife research approved by the NWMB and conducted by researchers working for the territorial and federal government departments. That one-time payment of $11 million has since grown to more than $17 million through the solid financial planning of the Trust's trustees (who are also the NWMB's board members).

Since 1994, the NWMB has awarded over $4 million to researchers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian Wildlife Service and the Department of Sustainable Development (and its predecessor, Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development) for wildlife research relevant to the NWMB's wildlife management decisions.

In 2000/01, the projects funded by the NWRT include:

Department of Sustainable Development

• Central Arctic polar bear inventory
• The seasonal distribution and herd delimitation of Northeastern Mainland caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus)
• Survival and Sustainable harvest of the Dolphin-Union caribou herd
• Re-evaluation of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) populations, management zones and quotas in the Keewatin and eastern Kitikmeot

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

• Ringed seal status in western Hudson Bay
• Whale sampling and stock identification program
• Bowhead Stock Identifications
• Cumberland Sound Charr Population Studies
• Survey of the Northern Hudson Bay Narwhal Population
• North Baffin Narwhal / Beluga movements and dive behaviour study by satellite telemetry
• Walrus Tagging
• Walrus Capture / Recapture Methods
• Walrus Stock ID / Harvest Composition
• 0B Turbot Survey

Canadian Wildlife Service

• Productivity and survival of King Eiders at Karrak Lake in Nunavut
• Seasonal movements and home range size of adult male polar bears in western Hudson Bay
• Long-term Trends in the Population Ecology of Polar bears in western Hudson Bay in Relation to Climatic Change
• Reproductive Ecology and Survival of the Pacific Common Eider in Central Arctic Canada

The deadline to submit a proposal for funding is the end of January each year.

To find out how to apply for funding, download the Nunavut Wildlife Research Trust (NWRT) Research Funding document. Our Identification of Wildlife Priorities document explains how the NWMB establishes wildlife management priorities. Reports from regional workshops will be available soon and these will help both government departments and non-government organizations plan their wildlife research activities in Nunavut. NOTE: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.01 (Version 4.0 or higher recommended) to open these files. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader if you don't already have the software.

For a breakdown of projects funded through the Nunavut Research Trust Fund, click here.

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