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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
The two national parks in the southern NWT are famed for their natural splendour, but there is much more to them than that.

Laura Peterson, a cultural resource management adviser with Parks Canada, holds some of the historic items collected in Wood Buffalo National Park that are stored in the basement of park headquarters in Fort Smith. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

It is Laura Peterson's job to ensure that extra dimension - the parks' cultural significance - is preserved and enhanced.

Peterson is a cultural resource management adviser with Parks Canada, with responsibility for Wood Buffalo National Park and Nahanni National Park Reserve.

"The natural history of the parks is very well known," she said, adding, for example, Wood Buffalo was established to help protect free-roaming bison. "But the park is full of history, stories and places where people lived and travelled on the land. So my job is to help bring out some of that cultural heritage of the park."

That task covers a massive area, since Wood Buffalo alone is the largest national park in Canada and second largest in the world.

"We have just barely scratched the surface," Peterson said.

Along with covering a large area, her task also stretches far back in time.

"We do have a couple of archeological sites in Wood Buffalo that date back 8,000 or 9,000 years," she said.

Peterson said she is not a trained archeologist, but she works with Parks Canada archeologists from the south.

"One of the parts I love about my job the most is working with the archeologists and the local knowledge-holders, and getting out in the park," she said.

In particular, she pointed to an archeological dig on the Slave River, where stone tools, bone, charcoal and antlers were uncovered.

"We got dates from as early as 4,500 years ago to as recent as the 1950s," she said, adding just that one site attests to the long-standing use of Wood Buffalo by aboriginal people.

Aside from helping to find and preserve ancient items, Peterson is also focused on preserving

today's aboriginal culture in both Wood Buffalo and Nahanni.

"It's to make sure it continues, because I think that's a very big part of the parks," she said, adding there are not many buildings or structures in the parks. "So really, it's all about stories of travelling on the land."

Peterson said she works with First Nations and Metis groups to celebrate their cultures - past and present - and to identify areas that are important to them.

"The projects are always so diverse," she said. "I'm always learning something new about the park and the people who are connected to it."

The 45-year-old has been working as a cultural resource management adviser in Fort Smith since 1998, except for a year on assignment with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, a year on maternity leave and an education leave last year.

That education leave was to begin studying for a master of arts in native studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and

she is now starting to work on her thesis.

"What I decided to do for that program is to look at the park as a cultural landscape and document a traditional and historic trail in the park," she said, adding many of the overland trails in Wood Buffalo have never really been mapped.

She already has a bachelor's degree in recreation management.

Peterson came to Fort Smith from Vancouver Island and her K'omoks First Nation after seeing a posting for the job opportunity in the North.

She said she had some experience working with aboriginal groups on Vancouver Island, including gathering information on traditional-use areas, as an education co-ordinator, and working with elders and youth.

"I felt like I wanted to learn more about our culture," she said. "So when I saw this job posting in the band office, just on the wall there, it just seemed like, 'Wow, that job sounds too perfect,' because it included parks, plus working in the cultural heritage field."

She said she has stayed in Fort Smith because she finds the work really interesting, and also because she married a man from the community.

Peterson said she is passionate about helping people see the parks in a new light, and to perceive them through a different lens by not just looking at natural resources.

Preserving and enhancing the cultural aspects of Wood Buffalo and Nahanni is extremely important, she said.

"There always seems to be new discoveries awaiting to be revealed."

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