A fire suppression model was developed for forested winter range of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq (formerly Kaminuriak) herds of barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) in north-central Canada. The model is a balance between total protection, as voiced by some aboriginal people, and a let-burn policy for natural fires advocated by some ecologists. Elements in the model were caribou ecology, lichen recovery after fire, burn history, community priorities for caribou hunting, and fire cycle lengths. The percent ratio of current productive caribou habitat to the goal for that habitat determines whether fire should be suppressed in a specific area. The goals for productive caribou habitat, defined as forests older than 50 years, were scaled by fire cycle length and community priority ranking. Thus, the model is an example of co-management: traditional knowledge combined with science in a joint forum, the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board.

Sacred Natural Sites play an essential role in the expression and transmission of culture, in the conservation of biodiversity, and are a vital means for the manifestation of cultural and spiritual values related to nature. In Nunavik, the Government of Québec, in partnership with the Kativik Regional Government recently created the Kuururjuaq National Park on 4,274 km² of tundra. A cultural important site for the Naskapi First Nation, the Caribou Heaven is situated within the limits of this new protected area. This chapter first provides an overview of the linkages between Aboriginal peoples and protected areas in Canada. It then illustrates the crucial role played by the caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the socio-cultural, spiritual, and economic life of the Naskapi First Nation. Next, it explains how the ecological knowledge of the Naskapi was used to designate this culturally important place as an area of maximum protection, in order to ensure its protection and integrity. It finally describes how cultural and spiritual values, have formed the basis of co-management models of nature conservation in this park. The initiative is among the first of such efforts by the Government of Québec to give expression to the importance of and to provide protection to the sacred sites of First Nations.

The objective of this study was to examine food and nutrition security in relation to wildlife population and management status across Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit homeland, consisting of four regions across the Canadian Arctic). Specifically,  it: (1) describes the importance of caribou to the nutrition security of contemporary Inuit, by relating caribou consumption to nutrient intakes and (2) examines the management status of northern caribou herds by compiling population status trends and identifying restrictions to caribou harvest (i.e., harvest quotas or moratoria).

This project compared the attitudes and perceptions toward caribou (Rangifer tarandus) management practices held by users and managers of the Western Arctic Herd (WAH) in Alaska and the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds (BQH) in Canada.

This PhD project use multiple disciplinary traditions to develop comprehensive and united representations of caribou variation through an exploration of population genetics, phylogenetics, traditional knowledge, language, and visual approaches in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories, Canada.