Why woodland caribou become endangered

But there are actually two main types of caribou: barren-ground caribou , who live on the tundra these are the ones who migrate and boreal or woodland caribou who prefer the forest. Canada has 11 different caribou population units — caribou that live in different environments. About half of those units are endangered, meaning they are the closest to local extinction. They include herds in southern B.

People always tell us they love our newsletter. Historically, the range of woodland caribou covered more than half of Canada and into the northern United States. Today, woodland caribou have disappeared from most of their southern range. Out of 17 herds of southern mountain caribou, only 13 remain, and all are highly endangered. Four southern mountain herds in B.

Caribou evolved to escape predators by spreading out on vast, intact landscapes. But human development — including oil and gas operations, industrial logging, mining and road-building — has fractured their habitat. After forests are clear-cut, new growth attracts moose and deer, and wolves follow them into caribou habitat, a pursuit made all the easier by roads, seismic lines and other linear disturbances.

In an attempt to save caribou herds that are close to local extinction, the Alberta and B. During the winter of , the B. One of those herds, known as the Hart Ranges, is contending with the loss of critical habitat for the Coastal GasLink pipeline, as well as new clear-cuts approved by the B.

From October, , to July 4, , the B. The southern Selkirk subpopulation of woodland caribou were first listed as endangered in In response to a petition to delist the southern Selkirk subpopulation, the U.

Fish and Wildlife Service USFWS announced a final rule in listing the entire southern mountain caribou DPS, which includes the southern Selkirk subpopulation along with 16 other subpopulations that stretch north into Canada. Along with this amendment the USFWS finalized their original designation of critical habitat designating 30, acres within northeastern Washington and northern Idaho. The critical habitat in Idaho is limited to 6, acres of federal land within Boundary County.

There have been multiple attempts to augment the southern Selkirk subpopulation in the late s and s with animals from other areas. This resulted in a temporary increase to the size of this herd. As industrial development continues to sprawl northward, woodland caribou are disappearing from the boreal forests.

In Manitoba, they have vanished from a significant portion of their historical range, including all of Whiteshell Provincial Park. Caribou Disappear: Increasing wolf numbers kill off or extirpate local populations of Woodland caribou in and around disturbed forests. Moose thrive in new forests, and their increasing numbers eventually attract increasing numbers of their primary predator — the wolf. The cold temperature and high fresh water content of boreal soils on which caribou live slows decomposition, resulting in deep, carbon-rich soils that can be thousands of years old.

An acre of boreal forest can store two times the carbon of an acre of tropical forests like the Amazon. When the Boreal forest is developed or logged, its ability to absorb and store carbon is lost or reduced, and carbon is released to the atmosphere. A greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. High greenhouse gas levels affect global climate. When we protect caribou habitat, we take a big step in combatting climate change by storing greenhouse gasses.

As such, woodland caribou is a strong indicator species for the health of the broader boreal. With considerable involvement of CPAWS, the Manitoba government released its draft strategy for the recovery of woodland caribou populations in this province in April , followed by a final strategy in October The next step is for the government to develop action plans for each of the identified caribou managements units in the province.

Two are currently being finalized though others have yet to begin. Though timelines have been set to complete these action plans between and , CPAWS believes the completion of these action plans by October of , as mandated in the national strategy, is crucial to ensure recovery efforts will be seen on the ground before populations see further drastic declines.

As the only proven effective method for ensuring long term caribou survival, CPAWS Manitoba continues to advocate for the recovery of this species through the protection of large-scale, in-tact habitats throughout their range in our province, and the proper management of these areas.

We are pleased that CPAWS efforts resulted in the caribou strategy identifying the need for large cores areas for caribou where forestry will not occur. Eight years. A federal. The Government of Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society reach an important agreement on species at risk reporting.

Speak up for. Woodland Caribou.