Mountain Caribou Face

By Mountain Caribou Project

SELKIRK MOUNTAINS, Canada -- Canadian government has recently previewed a plan for mountain caribou recovery in British Columbia. The Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Pat Bell, recommends British Columbia’s recipe for caribou conservation is to kill cougars, wolves and bears, and abandon smaller herds. This ignores the real reason for caribou declines: habitat destruction.

Minister Bell indicated that government wants to kill predators to protect caribou and move animals from smaller herds into larger herds, effectively further shrinking caribou range. Such actions would allow continued logging and motorized recreation to continue in habitat critical for caribou and other at-risk species, such as wolverine, grizzly, and lynx.

The Mountain Caribou Project has been urging government to immediately protect remaining caribou habitat. A copy of a map produced by the caribou science team showing its assessment of caribou critical habitat was recently leaked to Mountain Caribou Project groups. Government has not released the map to the public. The map and the recovery process must be open to public scrutiny.

Scientists have found that habitat destruction is the primary reason for caribou declines. Mountain caribou are found only in British Columbia and small parts of three U.S. states, and rely on intact tracts of old-growth forests free from intensive recreation activities for survival.

Killing predators before we protect habitat is not the answer. A mere 25 percent of caribou habitat is inside protected areas, while a full 33 percent has absolutely no protection whatsoever.

Logging and motorized recreation are still allowed in a vast majority of caribou habitat.

Right: Logging hems in caribou habitat in Canada's Selkirk Mountains.

The South Selkirk herd grew by 30 percent in response to habitat protection, closures to motorized recreation access, the transplants of animals from healthier herds, and the surgical removal of a single cougar known to be preying on caribou, demonstrating that caribou recovery is a realistic objective.

The caribou is a Canadian icon and the very symbol of wilderness, and deserves the best science-based recovery plan we can create, not the personal political solutions of the MLA responsible.

Conservationists are taking action to urge the government to protect caribou habitat according to the recommendations of government scientists before considering any predator management. They are also calling for a moratorium on logging in caribou habitat until a recovery plan that includes public process is complete.

Sample letters, background information, and additional talking points are available at www.mountaincaribou.ca.