Little Smoky Caribou

The problem:

It has been known for decades that the Little Smoky caribou herd was in decline, but in spite of the development of caribou recovery plans and much new knowledge of the effects on caribou of industrial use of their range, this industrial use continues and the herd continues to decline. The adjacent A La Peche herd suffers from the same issues, but has managed to avoid a similar decline as the main part of the herd stays out of its wintering range in the foothills and remains in the mountains of the Willmore Wilderness protected area.

Jasper National Park

Woodland caribou herds in Jasper National Park have declined by 33% in the last 14 years.  As of 2006 it is estimated that only 151 Caribou are left in south Jasper National Park.  CPAWS Northern Alberta is working with Parks Canada and the Jasper Environmental Association to ensure that ski hill expansion at Marmot Basin ski area does not disrupt important Caribou habitat.

See CPAWS response to draft Marmot Basin strategic environmental assessment 

Over the years the core range of the A La Peche and Little Smoky herds has been progressively encroached upon and transformed by industrial development (primarily forestry and oil and gas). Through satellite photography it is evident that only a small portion of the original range of these herds remains relatively intact. The fact that any intact forest remains is not due to chance, but to proactive planning efforts to keep at least some caribou habitat in this region intact. However, this situation appears to be changing – with the approval of the Suncor pipeline through the intact part of the range, and with the continued approval of logging (including for the coming season) in spite of a government and industry report that concluded that both of these herds currently lack sufficient habitat. This ongoing logging will hasten the decline of the caribou herds, and critically frustrate current efforts to maintain their viability. These detrimental changes are occurring despite plans starting for caribou recovery through the Alberta Caribou Recovery Plan.

Canfor has deferred logging in the Little Smoky range for two years to allow planning under the Caribou Recovery Plan to proceed without further degradation of habitat on their part. Other forest companies need to do the same.

Image showing remaining intact forest outlined in red.

Image showing Suncor pipeline in Little Smoky/A La Peche ranges.

Image showing areas where logging will take place this winter - yellow by Foothills Forest Products of Grande Cache and green by West Fraser's Alberta Newsprint Company of Whitecourt.

The Little Smoky area caribou herds

Three caribou herds are known to depend on the Little Smoky area:

• The Little Smoky caribou are a boreal ecotype living year round in the forest, moving >12 km between their winter and summer ranges. There are 60-100 caribou in the herd. The Little Smoky Caribou are at immediate risk of extirpation (local extinction). This herd was listed in 1985 as threatened and with a re-evaluation in 2001 are now considered provincially and nationally threatened. Data from 2003 Boreal Caribou Standing Committee has found 85% of the Little Smoky Range is within 250m of linear corridors. The decreasing numbers of the Little Smoky Caribou is a function of what is happening on the landscape now. More disturbance will compound the problem.

• The A La Peche herd is a mountain ecotype of about 150-200 animals. This caribou herd once migrated into the alpine/sub-alpine to calve and returned in the late fall to spend winters in the forest. Winter range abandonment is an issue with the A La Peche caribou as these animals have not migrated into their traditional winter range since 1996. However, a small group of about 30 animals from the A La Peche herd (sometimes called the Highway 40 herd) remains in the winter range all year.

Background on woodland caribou

The Alberta Wildlife Act designates woodland caribou as a threatened species due to the decline in their distribution and their low numbers resulting from direct habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.

In winter, the caribou in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta commonly use mature and old coniferous mixed forests in the Foothills. The caribou are naturally widely dispersed in low densities over their range, a strategy that minimizes predation. They are slow to reproduce, as caribou females do not breed until they are about 2.5 years old and only produce one calf. Caribou are very sensitive to the disturbance and increased predation associated with industrial development.

In the Rocky Mountain Foothills there are two distinct types of woodland caribou; mountain and boreal. Most mountain caribou migrate between alpine or subalpine summer ranges where they calve and their forested foothills winter ranges. Boreal ecotypes remain year-round in the foothills forest, and there is considerable overlap between their summer and winter ranges.

Effects of industrial use

The increased access resulting from industrial development causes increased mortality from vehicle collisions, hunting, predation, and general disturbance. Energetic costs to caribou include potential barrier effects, displacement and avoidance. When clear-cut logging occurs in or near caribou range there is an influx of moose and deer, which prefer the vegetation that comes in after logging. This increase in prey species attracts more predators to the area and results in increased predation on caribou. Logging limits caribou feeding area, reduces the ability of caribou to respond to a variety of winter conditions and concentrates the animals in increasingly smaller areas. In addition, roads and seismic lines increase the ease of travel for wolves and other predators. Both factors result in increased predation of caribou.

The oil and gas sector affects caribou range through roads, wells, plants, pipelines and seismic lines. All of these result in direct habitat loss to caribou. The increased density of the oil & gas sector in terms of infrastructure or the footprint (noise, increased vehicles, ATV traffic, lights, barriers, flaring, linear disturbance) affects habitat function.

Alberta’s Woodland Caribou Conservation Strategy recognizes the value of protected areas free from industrial use as a strategy for the maintenance and recovery of woodland caribou populations. However, there are no protected areas in the Rocky Mountain Foothills caribou ranges.

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