Several key gaps exist in current reporting and information synthesis practices with respect to boreal caribou conservation in Canada. Conservation data are collected at a provincial/territorial level using varying standards determined by each jurisdiction, making it difficult to compare progress and determine the overall status of the species when the data are funneled into national-scale reports. The contributions of Indigenous communities and First Nations are also not often formally recognized in government reporting processes, resulting in an underestimate of overall efforts and conservation potential. Finally, as habitat restoration techniques and conservation programs develop among jurisdictions, there is a need to collate this information to enable knowledge transfer and to assess progress towards national boreal caribou and climate targets.
To address these gaps, the Pembina Institute completed a comprehensive review of boreal caribou range planning and habitat restoration progress, broken down by jurisdiction across Canada. Based on this work, we conclude that:
• Only 29% of subpopulations (15 of 51) meet Environment and Climate Change Canada’s criteria for self-sustaining status, and nearly half of all subpopulations (21 of 51) cannot be assessed due to a lack of data.
• Of the 30 subpopulations with sufficient data to assess, 22 are in decline (73%).
Of the nine jurisdictional range plans that were mandated for completion by 2017, four draft plans were completed on time (with one, Ontario, using a different non-range planning-based process), one was completed between 2018-2021, three are currently in progress, and one is still undocumented (none have received federal approval yet).
• While there has been some progress on habitat restoration, it does not dent the overall scale of restoration required (e.g., an estimated 1.2% of linear features have been restored in Alberta so far), and ongoing habitat destruction currently undermines these efforts.