How will climate change affect the sustainability of Arctic villages over the next forty years? This question motivated a collaboration of 23 researchers and four Arctic communities (Old Crow, YT Canada; Aklavik, NT Canada; Fort McPherson, NT Canada; and Arctic Village, AK USA) in or near the range of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. We drew on existing research and local knowledge to examine potential effects of climate change, petroleum development, tourism, and government spending cutbacks on the sustainability of four Arctic villages. We used data across eight disciplines to develop an Arctic Community Synthesis Model and a web-based, interactive Possible Futures Model. Results suggested that climate warming will increase vegetation biomass within the herd’s summer range. However, despite forage increasing, the herd was projected as likely to decline with a warming climate due to increased insect harassment in the summer and potentially greater winter snow depths. There was a strong negative correlation between hypothetical, development-induced displacement of cows and calves from utilized calving grounds and calf survival during June. The results suggested that climate warming coupled with petroleum development would cause a decline in caribou harvest by local communities. Because the Synthesis Model inherits uncertainties associated with each component model, sensitivity analysis is required. Scientists and stakeholders agreed that: 1) although simulation models are incomplete abstractions of the real world, they helped bring scientific and community knowledge together; and, 2) relationships established across disciplines and between scientists and communities were a valuable outcome of the study.

This project looked at COSEWIC's 2014 reassessment of Northern Mountain, Central Mountain, and Southern Mountain caribou in Western Canada and reviewed actions taken to conserve and recover declining subpopulations. Based on declines, future developments and current recovery effects, the authors offer the following recommendations: 1) where recovery actions are necessary, commit to simultaneously reducing human intrusion into caribou ranges, re-storing habitat over the long term, and conducting short-term predator control, 2) carefully consider COSEWIC’s new DU structure for management and recovery actions, especially regarding translocations, 3) carry out regular surveys to monitor the condition of Northern Mountain caribou subpopulations and immediately implement preventative measures where necessary, and 4) undertake a proactive, planned approach coordinated across jurisdictions to conserve landscape processes important to caribou conservation.

The impacts of mining activity on human-caribou relationships in the Northwest Territories have been a focus of study in both the natural and social sciences for decades. Guided by Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation elders and harvesters, this study used dendrochronology methods and best practices for Traditional Knowledge research in the community, to explore historical and contemporary patterns of caribou movements near Gahcho Kué, Northwest Territories (63° 48’ N, -109° 8’ W). Data from trample scars analyzed from this site suggest that the area has been a critical habitat for caribou particularly during the years 1990-2005. Traditional Knowledge from local Indigenous peoples, suggests that reclamation of current mine sites in the range of the Bathurst caribou herd must be done in ways that ensure human-caribou relations and landscapes are healed for future generations.

The results are consistent with trample scar research in Bathurst range and previously documented Traditional Knowledge that asserts caribou have started moving away from the area since the dramatic increase of mining activity in the region with significant social, economic and cultural consequences for Indigenous peoples. The study outcomes may be of interest to policy makers and others involved in reclamation seeking insights about patterns of caribou activity in the region preceding the advent of significant mining activity.

With the aim of contributing to the literature on community-based resource management, this thesis argues that a social-ecological approach based on both science and Traditional Knowledge can improve the reclamation and process for both people and caribou.

Project Description:

Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) Region 5 developed a narrative plan to support a Caribou Monitoring program.

Region 5 implemented a Community-Based Caribou Monitoring Initiative. The Initiative will aim to inform our citizens of the Caribou Monitoring Program and to identify and gather information on cultural and environmental indicators on Traditional Land Use Areas (TLUAs) where Caribou may live in Region 5.

The Initiative were structured in three overlapping phases:

1. Métis Community Engagement in 2022-2023, and
2. Training on Caribou and planning regarding the installation of the Wildlife Camera, and
3. Supporting field work installing the cameras in January-February 2023.

The initiative was carried out on a Metis Trappers area within the Red Earth Caribou Range in northern Alberta and one other area.

The community engagement activities will be undertaken with Métis people from Slave Lake, Wabasca, and the High Prairie area. All the work was planned and managed by the Region V consultation advisor with the help of a technical assistant.

Project Outcomes or Intended Outcomes:

• Training and information for Metis citizens on the Caribou and familiarization with Species at Risk.
• Practical technical knowledge on the installation of the cameras in the bush and their purpose involving Metis citizens.
• Analyze the presence of Caribou through wildlife camera image captures and the associated data.
• Draft a report for Metis leadership and citizens.

Project Description

WSP Golder (formerly Golder Associates Ltd) and Explor were supported by the Research and Effectiveness Monitoring Board (REMB) of the BCIP initiative, with funding provided by the BC Oil and Gas Research and Innovation Society (BC ORGRIS). The objective of this project was to track the accumulation and measure the recovery trajectory of mulched low impact seismic lines prepared between 2005 and 2015. A total of 188 low impact seismic lines were sampled within the Maxhamish, Snake-Sahtaneh, and Calendar boreal caribou ranges during the summer of 2016. These sites ranged from 2 to 11 years in age, most sites were exclusively mulched, and had a north-south or east-west orientation. The forest type, line width, line orientation, and year the line was cut were compared among sites.

Project Outcomes or Intended Outcomes

Controlling for forest type, the project’s results suggest that low impact seismic lines supported shrubs greater than 0.8 m high within 10 years. Further, line orientation, mulch distribution pattern and ecosite type all had a significant effect on the average height of regenerated vegetation on low impact seismic lines. In addition, lines on low impact seismic lines supported fewer game trails than conventional seismic lines in the region.

As a research initiative, the HERD project has co-created knowledge with Inuit about their relationship with caribou in the context of the population declines and hunting ban. We conducted video interviews that were used not only for the creation of the documentary film, but also as a form of data that could be explored through an innovative analytical approach which combines documentary film and qualitative research. Through this process, we were able to co-create journal articles published on a range of social and health science topics, including identity and cultural continuity, social connections, ecological grief and mental health, Inuit involvement in wildlife management, and our visual methodology. Below you can read more about the research we have conducted.

The Klinse-Za herd area, located between Mackenzie, Chetwynd and the Peace Arm of Williston reservoir, used to support a herd of almost 200 caribou as recently as 1995 and was said to be so numerous in historic times as be “like bugs on the land”. However, the herd has declined to under 40 individuals by 2013. Across BC, many caribou herds have experienced the same steep declines, and most of the struggling herds are inhabiting areas with generally more human disturbance and activity on the landscape. Specifically, industrial development has contributed to caribou declines as their habitat has been altered, displacing the caribou and making them more susceptible to predation. Since 2013, costly and intensive management efforts including maternity penning and predator removal have helped halt or reduce the rate of decline in some herds. However, these activities are not going to keep caribou on the land base over the long term. To improve caribou habitat, support the ecosystem and balance the predator-prey dynamics, we are implementing a large-scale habitat restoration project in the Klinse-za caribou herd area.

Restoration of habitat can involve a variety of activities. In the Klinse-za habitat restoration program, we focus our efforts on reforesting and restructuring linear features (e.g., old roads, seismic lines). This will limit the ability of predators to easily access caribou habitat and minimize caribou- predator interactions. Over time, reforesting the features will return the ecosystem to a more natural state.

See this (gorgeous) short film for more informaiton: Caribou Homeland

Project Description:We used complementary approaches to assess natal habitat preference induction in a marked population of woodland caribou. All approaches compared the behavior of calves in their natal range to their behavior as independent subadults, to explore whether subadults selected habitat attributes like those encountered early in life.

Project Outcomes or Intended Outcomes:We found that some habitat selection tactics were highly repeatable across life stages. Notably, caribou responses to habitat disturbances were highly repeatable year‐round, meaning that different individuals reacted differently, but consistently, to disturbances. This study highlights the potential role of natal habitat preference induction in shaping individual differences in habitat selection in large mammals and provides valuable knowledge for the management and conservation of a threatened species.

Paper:
https://www.cclmportal.ca/resource/natal-habitat-preference-induction-large-mammals-mother-child