A captive-breeding program to help save dwindling woodland caribou herds in mountain national parks is a step closer to reality.
John Wilmshurst, resource conservation manager for Jasper National Park, said an application for funding to support a captive-breeding program was made to senior Parks Canada management in January.
He said a 10-year plan outlines how a captive breeding and herd augmentation program would help with recovery of the threatened animals in the national parks – and a decision on whether or not the funding request is successful will be known by March 31.
“We don’t think there’s going to be natural recovery of this species. We think the steps taken to date are essential, but if we’re going to move from very low populations to stable populations, augmenting these herds is going to be necessary,” said Wilmshurst.
“Particularly in Banff, where there are no caribou anymore, there’s no real way for that population to be re-populated. It has to be done through translocation. If we’re going to have a Banff with caribou, we have to do this type of program.”
Woodland caribou, southern mountain population, are listed as threatened under Canada’s Species At Risk Act (SARA). A formal recovery plan has been posted for public review on the Species At Risk Public Registry and the consultation period ends March 8.
Southern mountain population caribou live in the southern two-thirds of British Columbia and in west-central Alberta, with one subpopulation ranging into northern Idaho and Washington in the United States.
The current overall number of southern mountain caribou is estimated to be approximately 6,000. Caribou population estimates for the entire province of B.C. were in the range of 30,000 to 40,000 at the turn of the 20th century.
Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation from both human-caused and natural sources, as well as increased predation from wolves as a result of habitat alteration, have led to the alarming population decline throughout their range.
Woodland caribou in Banff, Jasper, Mount Revelstoke and Glacier national parks belong to the threatened southern mountain population. In the mountain national parks, numbers have declined from approximately 800 caribou 25 years ago to less than 250 animals.
Three of four herds in Jasper have dropped to critically low numbers, with two of the herds, the Maligne and Brazeau, having less than 10 animals. Banff’s five remaining caribou were wiped out in an avalanche in 2009.
A captive breeding program is a cornerstone of Parks Canada’s own conservation strategy in the national parks. It was announced in 2011 in partnership with the Calgary Zoo, which will help with breeding, and the B.C. government, which will hopefully provide source animals.
Wilmshurst said if a caribou population is already small, it is more susceptible to inbreeding, disease and catastrophic events, and the demise of the Banff herd in an avalanche highlights this.
“The Maligne herd has five and it has persisted at that level for the last eight years. It could persist at that level, but it’s vulnerable to a natural catastrophe, like an avalanche,” he said.
Parks Canada has already taken some action to protect its caribou herds.
Managers consider caribou and their habitat when planning and implementing prescribed fires, including conducting fires in areas away from caribou habitat to maintain a safe distance between caribou and wolves.
Parks Canada has banned recreational access in winter in the Ŕ La Pęche and Brazeau caribou ranges until Feb. 28 and in the Tonquin caribou range until Feb. 15, trying to stop wolves having easier access to caribou by cruising man-made ski trails and roads.
“It’s about facilitated access,” said Wilmshurst. “We restrict backcountry skiing in important caribou areas.”
Most of the 6,000 remaining southern mountain caribou live on provincial lands.
Wilmshurst said some of the herds in Jasper are considered trans-boundary herds, including the South Columbia herd, which spends its winters in Revelstoke-Glacier national park, and the Ŕ La Pęche herd, which spends part of its time in Jasper.
“A lot of the herds in Jasper used to be trans-boundary herds, but industrial activity outside the park doesn’t allow that anymore,” he said.
According to the recently posted draft recovery strategy, the most significant, immediate threat to southern mountain caribou is increased predation by wolves resulting from habitat alteration due to industrial activities on provincial lands.
Industrial activities such as logging, mining and mineral exploration and development, and oil and gas exploration and development remove or destroy southern mountain caribou habitat and create habitats favoured by other prey species such as moose and deer.
Because wolves prefer to eat moose and deer, increased numbers of those prey species support higher numbers of wolves than would occur naturally in ecosystems dominated by older forest ecosystems. Wolves can also easily travel up roads and linear features associated with industrial and recreational activities, giving them much easier access to caribou.
Carolyn Campbell, a conservation specialist with Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), said the organization continues to look at the draft recovery strategy in more depth, and plan to provide formal written feedback in the coming weeks.
“For long-term caribou recovery and survival, we really have to get at human disturbances because that drives caribou declines. I hope it can move to final recovery and actually have actions on the ground,” she said.
Campbell said AWA supports the work being done by Parks Canada on national park protected lands, including education and restrictions on backcountry skiing during winter in core caribou habitat in Jasper.
“We need to re-think how we do our activities and that includes things like not building new fancy lodges in caribou range for the Maligne herd,” she said.
The recently-posted recovery strategy will be followed by one or more action plans that will provide information on recovery measures to be taken by Environment Canada, Parks Canada and other jurisdictions involved in the recovery caribou.
The recovery goal is to achieve self-sustaining populations in all local population units within their current distribution, “to the extent possible.” It is expected this will take a number of decades.
“Implementation of this strategy is subject to appropriations, priorities, and budgetary constraints of the participating jurisdictions and organizations,” according to the recovery strategy.
