The T’akhu  Tlèn Conservancy is establishing the Xóots Ecological Research Center to attract, coordinate and promote research and monitoring activities related to wildlife and fish habitats and populations in Taku River Tlingit Territory. All programs of the Xóots Ecological Research Center include mentoring and training opportunities, to contribute to capacity building within the Tlingit and local community.

Operating under the direction of the Conservancy, the Xóots Ecological Research Center manages several related programs and initiatives in cooperation with Taku River Tlingit Land and Resources Department and the Taku River Tlingit Fisheries Department. The field research facility of the Xóots Ecological Research Center, located at the confluence of the Inklin and Nakina Rivers, is also available for independent scientists seeking to enter into research partnerships with the T’akhu  Tlèn Conservancy and the First Nation. Current examples of this kind of relationship are the caribou research being conducted through a partnership with the University of Montana and Dr. Mark Hebblewhite, a recognized Canadian authority on caribou habitats and population ecology, and the salmon studies completed with the Flathead Lake Research Center.

The Xóots Centre is located at Kaxnùwk’ú on the confluence of the Inklin and Nakina Rivers.

One program of the Xóots Ecological Research Center will be designed to fulfill the joint research and monitoring obligations of British Columbia and the Nation, as contemplated in the Atlin Taku Land Use Plan negotiations. The development and implementation of activities under this particular program will be determined as part of government-to-government arrangements.

To ensure the highest professional standards of research and monitoring are maintained for the Xóots Ecological Research Center, a panel of internationally recognized scientists would be formed to provide peer review of all research and monitoring programs and findings, and to provide advice on adjustments in management approaches needed to achieve intended conservation goals and objectives.

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