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Over the past decade, the Sahtu has become renowned as a centre for Dene and Metis cultural revialization and research, for its internationally significant conservation areas, and as a zone of intensive petroleum and mineral exploration and development. In bringing together stories and maps, this book reveals the key challenge of the current period in the Sahtu that of balancing pressures for development and modernization with the values of enviornmental conservation, and preserving the access of the Dene and Metis to their cultural heritage on the land.

The Sahtu Region is a place rich in cultural heritage, breathtaking landscapes and natural resources. The maps in this atlas help reveal much of its wonder. There are recent maps of the Sahtu that represent ongoing scientific research, specializing in natural history, including climate, ecology, wildlife and resource distribution. Other maps show the Region's modern infrastructure: its roads, seismic lines and pipelines. Even the boundary map, a patchwork of political and property boundaries defining Aboriginal, Crown, and Territorial jurisdictions is relatively new, created with the signing of the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement in 1993.

The idea for the Sahtu Atlas was inspired by a comprehensive mapping and information process launched in 1996. The Sahtu Geographic Information System (GIS) Project in Norman Wells is a partnership of the Sahtu Land Use Planning Board (SLUBP), the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board (SRRB), and Sahtu Environment & Natural Resources (formerly Resources, Widlife and Economic Development). In the summer of 2001, a gathering of the Sahtu GIS partners developed the atlas idea with the aim of sharing the collected knowledge about this region, with its rich cultures, ecology, and natural resources. It was envisioned that the atlas would aid community organizations, land use planners, government agencies, industry representatives, researchers and educators.