In 2019 the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) funded Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) to implement the Caribou Habitat Restoration Fund (CHRF) Kotcho Lake Restoration Area project to benefit the Snake-Sahtahneh caribou herd by limiting predator use of legacy seismic lines and using re-vegetation to increase habitat suitability for caribou.
 
Project goals:

1. Develop a prioritization scheme for identifying boreal caribou restoration areas within FNFN’s territory and apply it to identify large (60,000 – 100,000 ha) areas for restoration over three year periods for the next 20 years; and
2. Develop a restoration plan for the highest priority area, the Kotcho Lake Restoration Area. The resulting plan will use different approaches to restore the entire 600,000 ha area over the next three years.

 
FNFN has implemented a prioritization scheme for identifying key areas for boreal caribou habitat restoration and created a restoration plan. Restoration progress will be monitored over the course of several years to evaluate the impacts of restoration on caribou habitat.

Project Description:The Pasquia-Bog area was assessed by reviewing best available caribou Indigenous Knowledge and western science information to characterize the caribou range and draft an interjurisdictional caribou conservation range plan (first in Canada). Using this consolidated information, a three-zone land management system was applied to the planning area, which was systematically tested and assessed though an iterative process to optimize the best configuration of zones to ensure a balance of sustainable habitat supply for long-term caribou persistence and land use, by manipulation of allowable disturbance levels by zone type and configuration. The range plan was compliant with provincial and federal recovery strategy guidance.

Project Outcomes or Intended Outcomes:Caribou conservation / range plan for Pasquia-Bog interprovincial local population