In the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

, a trapline is a route along which a

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

sets traps for his or her quarry. Trappers traditionally move habitually along the route to set and check the traps, in so doing become skilled at traversing remote terrain, and become experts in the geography of the local area. Because of this

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Or ...

, traplines are not only of interest to trappers themselves but to researchers and others (governments, corporations) interested in local history, biology, and topography. The assignment of particular trapline territories to individuals in band societies was traditionally handled by group consensus, and occasionally violence and warfare. In the present-day trapline assignment is typically formalized and controlled by the state. Formalized trapline territory boundaries now form the basis for many major land-use projects in fur-rich regions. One of the entitlements that goes along with possessing a trap territory is the right to erect a trapper's cabin: a simple shelter in which a trapper can stay while moving around his territory. Trappers' cabins are a

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic ...

of fur regions, and an important part of the national mythos of countries and regions such as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

, and among groups such as the

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...

Pre-treaty indigenous governance of trapping and other harvesting

Before European colonisation, determining where a particular family or band could hunt, fish, and gather without encroaching on others to the point of over- harvesting was the main preoccupation of indigenous governance in the

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Genera ...

and other non-farming regions. Councils were convened to reconcile disputes and warfare was always a possibility. When European traders began exporting bulk amounts of fur to Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the trapping territories of the subarctic became much more commercially valuable and disputes intensified.

Registered traplines

In Canada formal trapping territories assigned by the state are typically called "registered traplines" (RTLs), though each province administers its own system; they have been common across Canada since the 1930s. Alberta's registered traplines were once exactly that: lines which followed a creek or other feature, but in the 1960s they were switched to a system of trapping territories.Notzke, 125. In British Columbia "the registered trapline system continues to be the primary system for setting harvest guidelines and managing furbearing animals". It is an offence to trap an animal on a registered trapline that does not belong to you in BC. Manitoba has had registered traplines since 1940; they were brought in at that time to stop a wave of new arrivals in Northern Manitoba from trapping out an area that was already overharvested by the local, mostly First Nations, population. The system is administered under the province's '' Wildlife Act''. Lines cannot be sold, inherited, or handed down, but are awarded through a points system, where preference is given to people with a close family relationship to the previous lineholder, a history of using that trapline with the permission of the previous lienholder, and residency near the territory. Ontario has more than 2,800 registered traplines on

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

. Since the 2001 ''

Paix des braves The Agreement Respecting a New Relationship Between the Cree Nation and the Government of Quebec (dubbed as ''La Paix des Braves'', French for "The Peace of the Braves" by the Parti Québécois government) is an agreement between the Government of ...

'' agreement, trapline territories have been used as the basis for forestry and mining planning in the

Eeyou Istchee territory Eeyou Istchee , crj, ᐄᔨᔫ ᐊᔅᒌ or , all meaning 'The People's Land'; ) is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) of Quebec that is represented by the Grand Council of the Crees. On July 24, 2012, the Quebec ...

, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

Indigenous land claims

Indigenous peoples have not always welcomed the regulation of the fur industry by provincial authorities, and the assignment of trapping territories by the provincial Crown implies that the land is ultimately the property of the province, to be disposed of at its will, rather than subject to comanagement under the terms of the treaties. Furthermore, having to apply to provincial authorities to distribute traplines removes control of the process from local Indigenous forms of governance, and institutionalizes a non-Indigenous presence on traditional lands. Nevertheless, as registered traplines provide Aboriginal peoples with legal rights to a piece of land off-reserve, a potential economic livelihood, and a connection to a traditional lifestyle, registered traplines are considered of the utmost importance for many First Nations and Metis communities.Notzke, 126.

References

Notes

Sources

{{Trapping Fur trade Traditional knowledge Political geography Natural resource management Indigenous self-government in Canada