First Nations save caribou population from extinction
Once, a “sea of caribou” roamed the landscape like “beetles”. This is how the elders of the West Moberly First Nations in the Canadian province of British Columbia describe the times before industrial use of the region — habitat of the woodland caribou, Rangifer tarandus caribou — began. Today there are only 15,000 animals left in the whole province. Half of the subpopulations in British Columbia are considered endangered, including the Klinse-Za herd, which had only 38 individuals left in 2013. A recent study shows that thanks to extensive collaborative efforts between the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations, the numbers of these herds have since tripled — a great achievement.
The landscape that is home to woodland caribou has been so severely altered over the last century by human activities such as logging, mining, oil and gas development, dams and human settlement that the total population of woodland caribou in British Columbia has dwindled from an original 40,000 animals to just 15,000. Heavy industrial development cut off caribou migration routes, reduced their habitat, and subsequently exposed them to greater pressure from predators.
For indigenous peoples, these massive environmental encroachments represent a violation of the treaty to preserve their cultural identity. The First Nations have always depended on the large herds, but due to the severe population decline, it was no longer possible for them to hunt the animals. So, in 2013, West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations, in co-operation with Wildlife Infometrics, jointly launched a project to save the Klinse-Za subpopulation, in north-eastern British Columbia, from extinction. Scientists from the University of British Columbia also took part in the project. By that time, one of the neighbouring subpopulations was already extinct.
Supported by several organisations, as well as federal and provincal authorities, the study found that, over the course of nine years, the population tripled from 38 animals to the current 114. With short-term and fast-acting measures, the project prevented further losses from the beginning by, on the one hand, reducing the number of predators in the Klinse-Za herd’s habitat. On the other hand, every year in March, some of the pregnant female caribou are moved to a specially protected enclosure to ensure that more calves survive. The mothers remain in the enclosure with their calves until August, where they are continuously guarded and fed by members of the two indigenous groups.
“We owe it to the efforts of indigenous people to avert the imminent extinction of this herd,” says Dr Clayton Lamb, a wildlife researcher at the University of British Columbia and lead author of the study. “This work represents an innovative community-led paradigm shift for conservation in Canada. While Indigenous peoples have long managed actively such landscapes, this approach is new in how Western scientists and Indigenous peoples are working together to achieve positive outcomes for the land and put an endangered species on the path to recovery.”
Carmen Richter, a master’s student in biology at the University of Columbia, a member of the Salteau First Nations and co-author of the study, adds: “We are working hard to save these caribou. Every year, community members pick bags of lichen to feed the caribou mothers in the enclosure, while other members live up on the mountain with the animals. We hope to bring the herds back to a sustainable size one day.”
However, full recovery of the Klinse-Za herd will take time and further effort, as Dr Adam T Ford, a professor of biology at the University of British Columbia and co-author of the study, points out. But the project is an unprecedented success that shows the crucial role indigenous groups can play in conservation, he says. “I hope this success opens doors for collaboration with other communities and agencies. We can accomplish so much more when we work together.”
Julia Hager, PolarJournal
Project infographic
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