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The LEO Network is a worldwide network of observers and experts that share their observations of environmental change.
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Observations

Residents in Fort McPherson, N.W.T., urged to take precautions after 3 wolf sightings
Three wolves have been frequenting Fort McPherson, N.W.T.; one was shot this week and two remain. Authorities urge residents to leash and vaccinate dogs, avoid leaving food outside, and note rabies risks; traps have been set for the remaining wolves.
Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada
CBC News

First known video footage of brown bat in the Beaufort Delta
Eric and Louise McLeod have been visiting their cabin south of Aklavik, N.W.T., for 25 years. On their most recent trip, they saw something they never had before.
Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada
CBC

N.W.T. communities learning to adapt as heat waves become more common
From a pop-up waterpark to an emergency cooling centre at the local curling rink, communities in the Northwest Territories are responding to the record-breaking heat associated with climate change.
Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada
CBC

Aklavik Hunters and Trappers asked to keep an eye out for 'orange slime'
Floating substance possibly iron oxide, but GNWT wants to make sure.
Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada
NNSL Media

Sinking in
The community of Aklavik, N.W.T., persevered when devastating floods led the government to attempt to relocate it. Now it faces another existential crisis as climate change thaws the permafrost, forever changing the community’s landscape and wildlife.
Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada
CBC

Slow start to the N.W.T. winter road season, as delays abound
The opening of the famed Dettah ice road, a six-kilometre route that cuts across Yellowknife Bay, is typically opened on Dec, 24, according to a 20-year average. Yet a week-and-a-half later, there's still no word on when it will be operational.
Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada

How floor repair of 'igloo church' in Arctic Canada could offer deeper look into North's permafrost
The church is no outlier — several buildings in the community are affected by freeze-thaw cycle of permafrost.
Even an iconic church is not immune from changing permafrost.
Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada
Eye on the Arctic

State of emergency declared in Aklavik, N.W.T., as flood waters rise
The remote community of roughly 600 people has been on flood watch for about a week and is the latest of several communities in the Northwest Territories to be affected by historic flooding on the Mackenzie River, caused by the spring breakup.

Heavy snow and thick ice could mean trouble for Aklavik's spring melt, says local
Spring is still months away in the Northwest Territories, but people are already looking ahead at the spring breakup season. In Aklavik, some see signs that could point to heavy flooding, a lot of snowfall, very high snow piles all over town and thick ice.

5 dogs attacked by lynx in Inuvik since late November, says official
Lynx have attacked five dogs in Inuvik since late November, a trend a local wildlife officer calls surprising. The behaviour is unusual since lynx are typically reclusive animals and don't usually come into inhabited areas.

Dirty water may be reason for very strange shortage of fish harvest, says N.W.T. angler
Anglers in Aklavik, N.W.T., are trying to figure out why there was a shortage of fish in local hotspots this year.

Coyote believed first sighted in Beaufort Delta region since 1974
A coyote caught on camera in the Richardson Mountain range is the first spotted in the region in decades, a wildlife biologist says.

Residents of Aklavik spotting more grizzly bears in town
About 10 grizzly bears have been living at the community dump in Aklavik, N.W.T., this summer. Arey said a couple of bears were destroyed earlier this summer, but said more may need to be killed as residents are still seeing the bears coming into the community near homes.

Inuvik boil water advisory partially due to water plant repairs
A Department of Health news release states the boil water advisory is in relation to high turbidity levels in the river, or muddy water. The turbidity is caused by high water levels.

Unauthorized driving, wetter-than-normal spring behind Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway closures | CBC News
This spring’s closures on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway are a result of unusually wet weather and drivers failing to respect road closures, according to engineers with the Northwest Territories Infrastructure Department.

Weather in the Beaufort Delta Just Like Spring
Freda Alunik says it looks 'just like spring' at her camp near the Mackenzie River.
Mackenzie River, Northwest Territory, Canada
CBC News

Great Egret (Ardea alba) So Far North
Egret near Inuvik observed by numerous folks in Inuvik.

Climate Change Drives Up the Cost of Canada’s Northernmost Highway
Chris Burn at Carleton University is tracking the growing cost of maintaining Yukon’s Dempster Highway as warmer weather brings more landslides, washouts and other challenges.
Arctic Deeply

'It scares me': Permafrost thaw in Canadian Arctic sign of global trend
For years now, buildings in Inuvik have been sinking due to thawing permafrost. It's part of a worrying trend across the Arctic, writes David Michael Lamb.
CBC News

Sink hole damages airport
The runway, built in 1958, is over-top of permafrost and frozen soils.

Inuvik experienced one of its warmest, driest summers on record
It wasn’t part of your imagination if you thought it was warmer this summer in the Northwest Territories. Inuvik experienced its seventh warmest summer on record according to data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Researchers try packing down snow to preserve permafrost in N.W.T.
A permafrost scientist in the N.W.T. is leading an experiment that compacts snow near the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway to see if that will slow down permafrost thaw and protect buildings and roads built atop it.

Fort McPherson, N.W.T., declares emergency as flooding threatens access to drinking water
The hamlet said it's declaring a state of emergency because flooding from the Peel River cut off access to the community's airport, and because access to fresh water could be "inaccessible in the imminent future."
Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada

Reports from the land: N.W.T. hunters and trappers describe unusually warm fall
From the thickness of the ice to moose migration and pelt quality, hunters and trappers say the late arrival of cold weather in the N.W.T. is "going to have effects, down the line."

'Incredibly bright' lunar halo photographed in Inuvik, N.W.T.
An Inuvik woman captured a picture of a lunar halo last week. When a retired professor of physics and astronomy saw the picture, he said what was impressive about it was how bright the halo was.

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