Caribou herds and populations in Canada

Caribou can be found from the High Arctic region south to the boreal forest and Rocky Mountains and from the east to the west coasts.

In 2018, vast herds that used to be numbered in the millions, and were not in danger 15 years ago, are now threatened and scientists have recommended that the eastern migratory caribou be listed as endangered, "the highest level of threat".

[5] These subspecies are recognized internationally (before a recent revision; see below): In North America, R. t. caboti, R. t. caribou, R. t. dawsoni, R. t. groenlandicus, R. t. osborni, R. t. pearyi, and R. t. terranovae; and in Eurasia R. t. tarandus, R. t. buskensis (called R. t. valentinae in Europe; see below), R. t. phylarchus, R. t. pearsoni, R. t. sibiricus and R. t.

[6][7][8][9] Grant's caribou, originally R. granti Allen,[10] was described as a small, pale form endemic to the west end of the Alaska Peninsula and nearby islands.

[11][12][13] Banfield (1961) initially kept Allen's R. a. granti as restricted to the Alaska Peninsula and archipelago,[14] but later extended it to all Alaskan caribou (except stonei, the montane ecotype) including the former R. ogilviensis (the Porcupine herd).

They have revealed diversity at the species and subspecies level that was not recognized by taxonomic authorities since revisions in the mid-20th Century (see Reindeer: Taxonomy).

[21] (7) Stone's caribou, R. a. stonei, was confirmed as of Beringian-Eurasian ancestry, but clusters apart from osborni, granti, and arcticus; resulting in resurrection of this subspecies.

The above caribou names and those in following sections reflect a recent revision,[19] but may not be in common use until international organizations adopt the new taxonomy.

[28] The survival of boreal caribou depends on maintaining "large unbroken swaths" of the forest to protect the animals from their predators.

[28] It covers approximately 25% of Canada's total landmass—270,000,000 ha (2,700,000 km2; 1,000,000 sq mi)—and consists of "swamps, bogs, meadows, forests of different types — including hardwoods and conifers — and the rivers and lakes that tie them all together".

[29] They have dark colored fur (only the Selkirk mountain caribou is darker) and their boreal forest habitat stretches from Newfoundland to British Columbia in an irregular distribution.

[29] In their August 2008 scientific review and, Environment Canada established that in order to monitor and manage the boreal caribou's recovery, they would use "local population range" as the "relevant spatial scale for the identification of critical habitat" because "habitat conditions within boreal caribou ranges affect their survival and reproduction.

[30]: v By 2018, the boreal woodland caribou (more broadly defined than now) had 51 herds[33] In Québec, the small herds of the Atlantic-Gaspésie woodland caribou in the Gaspésie's isolated "alpine habitats on mountain plateaus" are designated on SARA's Schedule 1 as endangered with fewer than 120 adults in 2014 with an anticipated date of extinction of 2056.

Their numbers decreased with development including forest management models that increased the populations of their predators like the Eastern Coyote and black bear.

"[42] In a February 2018 Science Advances journal, concerns were raised about the decline of the Bathurst caribou herd caused by disturbance of "key parts" of their range as governments of the Yukon and Northwest Territories have been opening access "for mining exploration and development" since the early 1990s.

Researchers described the policies that explicitly support private mining interests at the "expense of Indigenous cultures and livelihoods", as a tragedy of "open access".

[41] The road which cuts through thawing permafrost and the calving grounds of the Bathurst caribou herd, will benefit the Chinese state-controlled mining company—MMG Limited.

[29] The Porcupine Caribou herd (PCH)—formerly R. ogilviensis,[22] now considered a herd of barren-ground caribou, R. t. groenlandicus[16]—in northwest Canada and northeast Alaska migrate 1,500 miles (2,400 km) annually from their winter range in the boreal forests of Alaska and Yukon northwest Canada over the mountains boreal forests to their calving grounds on the Porcupine River coastal plain on the Beaufort Sea.

[45] The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) draft 2018 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) said that in order to reduce the vulnerability of the Porcupine Caribou Herd (PCH) and Central Arctic Herds (CAH) adaptive mitigation had to be undertaken in "[a]ll lands in the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain are recognized as habitat of the PCH and CAH and would be managed to ensure unhindered movement of caribou through the area.

[47]: 5, 6 In February 2019, veteran researchers Don Russell and Anne Gunn, submitted their commissioned report to the Governments of Canada, Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories—signatories to the 1987 International Treaty for the Porcupine herd.

They undertook a "science-based risk assessment for how vulnerable the Porcupine Caribou herd (PCH)" is to the proposed oil and gas development of 1002 lands (Coastal Region) in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

"[48] Porcupine caribou's 1,500 miles (2,400 km) annual land migration between their winter range in the boreal forests of Alaska and northwest Canada over the mountains to the coastal plain and their calving grounds on the Beaufort Sea coastal plain,[45] is the longest of any land mammal on earth.

[48] The Porcupine herd has "supported people for thousands of years as well as being a key driver in the mountain and coastal arctic food web".

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) included Section 1002 which "identified a need to assess the oil and gas potential as well as the wildlife values".

"[53] In July 2012, the Government of Nunavut set an "annual harvest limit of 1,000 caribou" in response to an urgent request from the Coral Harbour Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO).

[3] It is listed here under barren-ground caribou because extensive genetic research confirms its Beringian-Eurasian lineage, but distantly, having diverged > 60,000 years ago.

[62] Meanwhile, the Revelstoke maternity pen, beset with adult and calf mortality, was closed the same year and remaining animals moved to another temporary holding facility.

The list is update annually based on assessments by Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) experts and scientists.

The Barren-ground population in Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are listed as threatened but are not included on Schedule 1.

According to conservation biologist Justina Ray at Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCSC), who was a co-leader of a 10-year long study on how these "designatable units" (DU) of caribou should be listed" under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), the "change in the caribou's fortunes" is "profoundly worrying" since the last assessment was made in 2004.