Recommendations and Proposed Contributions Towards a Caribou Conservation Plan: Pasquia-Bog Boreal Caribou Population

Authors
Al Arsenault
Contacts
Resource Date:
July
2014
Page Length
50

The Pasquia-Bog boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) population range straddles the
Saskatchewan-Manitoba provincial boundary. The National Boreal Caribou Recovery Strategy
portrays the Pasquia-Bog area as two separate caribou ranges: a potion of the Boreal Plain
Range (SK2) and The Bog (MB1). The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) undertook
an assessment of the Pasquia-Bog area to characterize the range using best available science
and information. The process of developing a caribou conservation plan involves many steps.
Initially, several guidance documents were reviewed to inform the development and structure of
the caribou conservation plan. These documents included Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement
(CBFA) guidance (Caribou Methodological Framework and Protected Areas Methodological
Framework), the federal caribou recovery strategy, the federal critical habitat science review,
and provincial recovery strategies (Manitoba and Saskatchewan).

Collectively the resulting data, analysis and model development were then used to inform
delineation of a land management system. A land management system consisting of three
zone types was proposed, with varying levels of recommended disturbance (zone management
strategies):

  1. Caribou Conservation Zones – caribou conservation emphasis.
  2. Development Zones – ecologically sustainable economic emphasis.
  3. Special Management Zones – intended either as a buffer between caribou conservation zones and development zones, and/or as movement corridors to ensure connectivity amount caribou conservation zones within the range and with North Interlake.