Boreal caribou, also known as woodland caribou, have been inching closer to extinction for decades as human activity, including cattle ranching, logging, mining and oil and gas development have forced them out of their preferred old forest habitats. They are found across the country, and inhabit the boreal forest from Yukon and British Columbia to Labrador.

 

The ungulate species, naturally a slow reproducer, susceptible to heat stress, and picky with its food and living space, is also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including increased wildfires and temperatures.

 

“By the time the populations become very small, we call them ‘the walking dead,’” said Ian Thompson, a research scientist on ecology and biodiversity for Natural Resources Canada. “The only way you can maintain populations is by eliminating as many threats as you can possibly eliminate.”

 

Some provinces, including British Columbia and Alberta, have implemented controversial wolf cull plans in an attempt to reduce the number of predators in sensitive caribou habitat. Others, including Quebec, have drafted plans for captive breeding programs (that plan has since been abandoned).

 

Brent Wittmeier, a spokesman for Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips, said the new federal plan shows that Canada now takes caribou protection seriously and that it could exercise powers with significant consequences that could include the "shut down" of local industry in the absence of credible range plans.

 

He added that Alberta's NDP government was now working on its own solutions based on the most recent monitoring and mapping information.

 

"In the absence of leadership on this issue from previous administrations, our government immediately began working on caribou policy in 2015," Wittmeier told National Observer in an email. "Throughout the process, Alberta remains committed to striking the right balance between protecting our jobs and providing long term economic stability for both forestry and the oil and gas sector."

 

The government launched community consultations in June, prior to preparing draft plans expected in the fall, he added.

 

"Each caribou population is different, so blanket solutions will not work. In 2016, we released a draft plan for the two most at-risk populations in Alberta – the Little Smoky and A La Peche – which set the set the stage for range planning for the other 13 populations in the province," Wittmeier said.

 

Many provinces and territories have protected thousands and thousands of acres of land for caribou, but environmentalists argue such measures fall short of the mark that would save the species. While setting aside some spaces for caribou, some governments have continued to issue logging, oil and gas permits in known caribou habitat.

 

“The last five years have been very disappointing,” said Swift. “We’ve seen a number of measures that have been intended to ensure the protection of woodland caribou not achieve that outcome.”

 

Thompson, the Natural Resources Canada scientist, said it was already too late to balance industry needs with efforts to save the caribou.

 

"When populations become extremely low, they’re subject to a whole number of events that don’t occur in larger populations," he explained. "Most of the modeling we’ve done suggests that if the population falls below between 200 and 300, the herd will most likely continue to decline.

 

"We see it in small populations all across the country. When I first surveyed in Pukaskwa for example, here in Ontario, which is the national park, there were 40-some odd caribou in that park. Today, there’s maybe four."

 

Across the border in Quebec, Thompson said the Val d'Or population had dropped from a herd of about 200 down to 15.

 

Derek Nighbor, CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), disagreed with the premise that industry interests — in this case logging — can't be balanced with the conservation needs of caribou. He pointed to several populations in northern Quebec and national parks in Alberta where no industry activity takes place at all, but numbers continue to dwindle.

 

Ultimately, he said FPAC is deeply involved in caribou protection wherever its members operate (including collaring, maternal penning, and autopsy programs) and the organization looks forward to the research that will be produced in the first phase of the new federal plan, once it is approved.

 

"Ecosystem management and species management is part of our DNA, so it’s really important for us that as the feds oversee this process and the provinces do their work, that we're seeing a thorough scientific assessment of what’s on the land," he told National Observer.

 

"I’m not totally confident that’s happening right now...If we see a provincial and federally-supported caribou plan anywhere in this country that's based on misinformation or half-science, that results in 500 or 600 people losing their jobs, I think that's really unfortunate."

 

He emphasized the importance of understanding the climate risk to caribou, including predator migration into caribou habitat as a result of increased temperatures, and taking a multi-species conservation approach that balances the needs of all members of an ecosystem.