This report presents the 2019 results for the newly-named Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoède K’è (Boots on the Ground) Caribou Monitoring Program.

 Boots on the Ground (BOTG) is a caribou monitoring program based upon the Traditional Knowledge (TK) of  Tłı̨chǫ and Inuit indigenous elders and harvesters. The program is a collaboration between the Tłı̨chǫ Government, Government of Northwest Territories-Environment and Natural Resources (GNWT-ENR), the Wek’èezhìi Renewable Resource Board (WRRB) and Dominion Diamond Mines ULC (DD). Funding was provided by Tłı̨chǫ Government, DD and the GNWT-Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program1 (CIMP).

 The program commenced in the summer of 2016 and is expected to extend to 2021 or longer. The objectives are to monitor the conditions of Bathurst caribou on the post-calving range herd, focusing on four key indicators: (1) habitat; (2) caribou; (3) predators, and (4) industrial development. 

This document is a yearly report presenting the results from the second field season of summer 2017.

This report provides the context and background of We Watch Everything: a Methodology for the Boots on the Ground caribou monitoring program. The document describes the TK framework of We Watch Everything a holistic monitoring approach combining the biological and the cultural; the field-based methodology named Do as Hunters Do based on a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach; and, the details involved in recording knowledge in the field, including details of the participatory approach. The objectives of the pilot year for the Boots on the Ground program included setting up a long term traditional knowledge monitoring program for the Bathurst caribou and monitor the conditions of Bathurst herd's summer range by focusing on indicators: (1) caribou habitat and environment, (2) caribou, (3) predators, and (4) industrial disturbance.