Introduction.

The Northern Review and the Northern Research Institute (NRI) were conceived and established at Yukon College with the common mission of building local research capacity in the Yukon and the North. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yukon College undertook a three-part integrated plan to become a leader in Northern Studies: this included a teaching component, the College's Northern Studies Program; a publishing component, the Northern Review; and a research component, the Northern Research Institute (NRI). About this time, the late Aron Senkpiel coined a phrase about northern research and education, that they needed to happen "In the North, by the North, and for the North." That phrase continues to be valid today, and this current volume exemplifies some of what has been done.

The Northern Research Institute (NRI) is proud to be in its sixteenth year of promoting and fostering northern research through grants from the Northern Research Institute's Research Endowment Fund. The fund, a million dollar investment by the Yukon Government in 1991, has made a significant impact in the Yukon and is unique in the North. With over 267 researchers supported over this time, the endowment has proven invaluable to many local and northern researchers and continues to produce significant research findings.

In his article "The Northern Research Endowment Fund and Fellowship Grants, 1992-2007: Reflections on the Initiative for Northern Studies in the Yukon," Dr. John Stager, one of the NRI's original committee members, sets the stage, giving a history and overview of the endowment fund and the kinds of research that it has supported. Dr. Chris Burn, permafrost specialist and recipient of many NRI grants, writes about his research experience and embodies many of the things that the endowment fund tries to do. As well, Norm Easton discusses the beginnings and early stages of the NRI's creation and establishment.

In addition to introductory essays discussing ...