The Population Management Working Group (PMWG) of the NBCKC

All aspects of caribou recovery can be controversial, including habitat protection that affects local resource-based economies, and population-based management actions that may be less acceptable to others. The focus of this group was to advance understanding of management actions and their potential value to caribou conservation and recovery.

The goals of the PMWG were: 

1. Invite all those involved in caribou management together to share information and insights gained about population management actions completed or underway across the country.
2. Provide a forum to discuss challenges and opportunities (lessons learned).
3. Provide a forum for those not currently engaged in management activities to learn from management practitioners and to have their perspectives heard. 

The PMWG advanced their goals by meeting on a bi-monthly basis as a network of adaptive management practitioners. The PMWG established a forum that brought members together to coordinate, share and generate new knowledge regarding population-based management actions for boreal caribou across Canada. The following tenets guided the work of the PMWG: 

1. Management actions are interim actions until the effects of habitat restoration and protection are conducive to self-sustaining populations.
2. Caribou management is an evolving field, and there is no "one size fits all" management action that can be applied to all caribou herds in Canada.
3. Management actions can be controversial; consequently, advantages and disadvantages to a given action need to be weighed prior to an action's deployment. 

The PMWG moved into Phase 2, which is to inform the establishment of a network of adaptive management projects for boreal caribou across their range. This network would consist of pilot areas identified across a gradient of environmental variables. This work would include the long-term monitoring of these ranges through partnerships established by the network.

The PMWG was organized into two groups: A core group and an extension group. 

The core group membership consisted of individuals directly engaged in management actions or evaluating the outcome of these actions, for caribou recovery. 

The core group met regularly to maintain a community of practice, with an emphasis on “real-time results and information exchange”. 

The extension group had a broader membership than the core group and was open to individuals and representatives of organizations who were engaged in caribou conservation or hold knowledge regarding caribou, including representatives from Indigenous organizations, academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations.

Meetings between the core and extension groups improved transparency, understanding, and rationale for management practices and provide an opportunity for diverse perspectives to be conveyed. 

The relationship between the core group and extension group of the PMWG, where green arrows represent a feedback loop of communication. Ideas from one group were mulled over, considered, and possibly replied to by the other group.