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News Room
October 4, 2004
For Immediate Release:
New report marks launch of campaign
to protect woodland caribou
A new report by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) concludes
that woodland caribou, a key indicator of a healthy boreal forest, require
immediate protection if they are to survive. The report reviews the status
of woodland caribou across Canada, and describes a new campaign to protect
critical wild areas and to change industrial activities where woodland
caribou live.
Among the report's key findings: Of five major woodland caribou populations
in Canada, one is endangered, two are threatened and one is of special
concern. And a review of recent trends indicates that if steps are not
taken now to protect many of the large intact regions where woodland caribou
still roam, the species could disappear from much of its range this century.
In Alberta, caribou are listed as threatened and the Little Smoky caribou
herd in the Rocky Mountain Foothills is described as the most endangered.
The decline of this herd is a direct consequence of intense industrial
activity in the region, including clearcut logging and petroleum exploration
and development. "The Little Smoky herd is at immediate risk of being
lost and this is our last chance to ensure its survival," says Richard
Schneider, Executive Director of CPAWS Edmonton. "We are asking industry
and the Government of Alberta to halt industrial activity in the herd's
core habitat."
CPAWS Edmonton and other conservation groups are focusing their attention
on the Little Smoky area in an effort to ensure that there is no further
loss of habitat for this caribou herd and that a scientifically sound
recovery plan is developed and implemented.
Canada is one of only three countries in the world, along with Russia
and the United States (Alaska), where the woodland caribou are still found.
According to the CPAWS report, the rapid northward advancement of industrial
development is changing our forests and making them unsuitable for woodland
caribou.
The report and campaign were developed because of growing awareness and
concern among scientists and conservationists that woodland caribou are
disappearing from our northern forests and we are not doing much about
it. The recent federal designation of Woodland Caribou as "threatened"
within the boreal forest region demonstrates that this trend is Canada-wide
in scope.
"There is an urgent need for action across Canada's boreal forest," says
Tim Gray, Director of Boreal Programs for CPAWS. "In every province and
territory our staff and volunteers are working on this campaign, with
the target of establishing new protected areas over the next 10 years
that will ensure the survival of this iconic species."
Gray believes there is strong reason to believe the new campaign can be
successful. CPAWS, along with leading industry, First Nations and other
conservation groups, has worked with the Canadian Boreal Initiative to
develop the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework. If it is fully implemented,
the Framework would greatly expand permanent protection from industrial
uses to cover at least 50% of the boreal forest and see the rest managed
in a manner that ensured the sustainability of wildlife populations while
also allowing resource extraction. CPAWS is committed to working with
other groups to implement the Framework in order to ensure the survival
of woodland caribou, among other species.
Please refer to the attached woodland
caribou report for details of CPAWS' planned conservation actions.
For more information concerning CPAWS regional contacts and the Boreal
Forest Conservation Framework please visit www.cpaws.org/boreal.
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For more information please contact:
Richard Schneider, Executive Director, CPAWS Edmonton Chapter
(780) 662 4233
rschneid@icrossroads.com
Tim Gray, Director, Boreal Programs, CPAWS
(416) 986 2408 cell
(416) 971 9453 ext. 32
tgray@cpaws.org
Maps and images available in jpeg format upon request:
• Distribution of Woodland Caribou in Canada (also in PDF)
• Single Woodland Caribou colour image
• Group of Woodland Caribou colour image
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is Canada's voice for
wilderness. We focus on establishing interconnected networks of parks
and wilderness areas, making sure that nature comes first in their management.
With our 20,000 members and 12 chapters across the country, our work is
delivered 'on the ground,' by professional staff who deliver practical
tools to protect wild places. Since 1963, we have helped protect over
40 million hectares of Canada's most treasured wild places. Find out more
about our Boreal Forest Conservation program visit our website at www.cpaws.org/boreal.
Woodland Caribou Background Information
Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou ) are supremely well adapted
to life in northern forests. Members of the deer family, woodland caribou
have a short stocky body, fur-covered short wide ears and a flat muzzle,
a long thick winter coat with semi- hollow hairs that protects them from
both cold and wind and large concave hooves (with shrinkable foot pads
to protect against frostbite) that help them prance over soft snow and
muskeg.
• There are estimated to be 184,000 Woodland Caribou left in Canada,
54% of these are on the Island of Newfoundland.
• Woodland Caribou have been forced from 50% of their historic range
within Canada.
• Woodland Caribou have been losing 35,000 km2 of range every decade
for the past 110 years.
• The Boreal population of Woodland Caribou was placed on COSEWIC
(Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) "threatened"
species list in 2002.
• It is estimated that the population in Alberta will be extirpated
in 37 years without action to protect their habitat. In Ontario it is
estimated the same fate will meet woodland caribou in 100 years or less.
• The main cause of the woodland caribou decline is industrial development
that:
o Increases access of predators (wolves and humans)
o Reduces food sources (lichen in older forests) and habitat for giving
birth.
CPAWS Woodland Caribou Action across Canada
National
• Public education and outreach through True North Wild and Free,
a national book tour celebrating Canada 's boreal forest during autumn
2004.
• Joint sponsorship of a conference on practical steps for woodland
caribou conservation to be held with partner organizations in 2005.
• Support for regional initiatives to establish new protected areas
and to change industrial practices.
Yukon
Caribou Conservation Goals:
• Maintain intact and healthy Wolf Lake Herd (in the proposed Wolf
Lake National Park study area). • Maintain and intact and self-regulating
Bonnet Plume Woodland Caribou Herd (Peel watershed) - largest woodland
caribou herd in the Yukon.
• Protect the winter range of the Porcupine Caribou Herd (Peel watershed,
Eagle Plains).
• Promote conservation of winter range of the Rancheria Woodland
Caribou Herd in Southeast Yukon/Northern BC.
British Columbia
Caribou Conservation Goal:
• Undertake Mountain Caribou Habitat Conservation Project to reverse
the decline of South Selkirk and Central Selkirk sub-populations by securing
and restoring key early-winter and late-winter old-growth forest habitat
on the private lands that comprise about one-third of the critical habitat
of the transboundary herd. CPAWS' work with landowners raises the profile
of Mountain Caribou regionally and pioneers a more precautionary approach
for all land use within critical habitat areas.
Alberta
Caribou Conservation Goals:
• Establishment of a protected wild area for caribou in the Chinchaga
region of western Alberta.
• Successful protection of the Little Smoky woodland caribou herd.
• Development of management planning guide lines and protected areas
to conserve caribou where forestry is occurring.
Saskatchewan
Caribou Conservation Goal:
• Establishment of a network of large protected wild areas in land-use
plans in the Athabasca and North Central Regions.
Ontario
Caribou Conservation Goals:
• Protection of large forested areas in Ontario 's northern boreal
forest.
• Securing changes to forestry practices to allow for the continued
survival of caribou in areas where forestry occurs.
Québec
Caribou Conservation Goals:
• Protection of large wild areas where Woodland Caribou live through
the creation of parks
and reserves.
• Securing changes to forestry practices to allow for the continued
survival of caribou in areas where forestry occurs.
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