Caribou in your region
Before Europeans arrived, woodland caribou ranged throughout much of Canada — north and south. They've lost over half of their range. Here's what's left.
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Alberta
Woodland Caribou in Alberta are on the verge of extinction. Due to industrial use, very little habitat in Alberta can sustain Woodland caribou populations. Destruction of their range has made the caribou more vulnerable to wolves.
What's happening now
After 10 years, the Alberta government’s new land use planning process has opened the door to new protected areas that could help the province’s highly endangered Boreal woodland caribou to survive.
The first plan is for the oil sands region of north eastern Alberta: an area called the Lower Athabasca. In the past, caribou in this area have flourished, but now, oil sands development is destroying their home.
In other regions, the Alberta government has adopted the Action Plan for West-Central Alberta Caribou Recovery 2009. This plan impacts the Rocky Mountain Foothills caribou herds such as the Little Smoky herd. Sadly, it will not improve habitat because it does not protect against industrial use. While the plan requires industry to restore caribou habitat, restoration will not benefit caribou until 80 years later, when the forest is again old enough to support them. Meanwhile, continued logging and petroleum development negatively impact caribou and their habitat immediately.
CPAWS is working to...
- Ensure at least 50% of the Lower Athabasca region is protected from industrial use and ensure it includes critical habitat for woodland caribou
- Immediately halt new industrial development in caribou range until adequate habitat protection is in place and herds are recovering
We get results!
Nearly 2,000 Albertans have signed our pledge or written letters to decisionmakers, asking for quick action for caribou.Learn more
| 55% habitat left |
14% habitat protected |
3000 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
There are 13 populations remaining in the province, most are in decline and several are at immediate risk of extirpation.
British Columbia
British Columbia doesn't have endangered species laws. However, the province has drafted a recovery strategy for the Boreal Woodland caribou. They now need to put it into action.
What's happening now
In June 2010, the BC government set aside Resource Review Areas (RRAs) on over 500,000 hectares of Boreal Caribou range. In these RRAs, no new gas tenures will be sold for a 5-year review period. In addition, the BC government has created a plan to set aside 3.5 million hectares of land as “protected” habitat that also allows industries to operate under certain guidelines. This plan is currently being considered by the environmental community and First Nations.
CPAWS is working to...
- get the best possible conservation outcomes for the caribou listed under the Species at Risk Act in northern BC. This includes boreal caribou and other kinds of caribou in northern BC
- create a new National Park in northern BC that includes important woodland caribou habitat.
- collaborate with First Nations to protect important caribou habitat in their traditional territory
We get results!
CPAWS BC was instrumental in protecting the 6.4 million hectare Muskwa-Kechika Management Area, which includes a series of large protected areas for species like the Woodland Caribou.
We provided information to the Taku River Tlingit on how to do land use planning in an era of climate change – to make sure that caribou habitat will be protected even as our climate changes significantly over the next 100 years. The land use is complete and 13 new parks have been established. The Kawdy herd of caribou now has permanently protected habitat.
CPAWS BC and other environmental groups played an important role in protecting over 2.2 million hectares of mountain caribou habitat in the globally unique Inland Temperate Rainforest. The plan also commits the BC government to developing more sustainable forestry practices in the surrounding forest habitat.
Learn more
| 48% habitat left |
[?]% habitat protected |
1000 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Outside the Boreal forest, BC's Mountain Caribou population in the interior temperate rainforest in southern BC is considered endangered. The Dawson's population once lived on Gwaii Haanas, but is now extinct. The Species at Risk Act requires that the government(s) develop management plans for these caribou.
Manitoba
Manitoba has endangered species legislation that lists Woodland Caribou as a threatened species and legally requires the protection of their habitat. The Manitoba government must now be convinced to revise its provincial Caribou Recovery Strategy to ensure its habitat protection objectives achieve the goal of self-sustaining caribou populations.
What's happening now
The Manitoba government is set to release an update of the Manitoba Caribou Recovery Strategy. We are working to ensure that it is revised to include habitat protection objectives that will achieve the Strategy’s goal of self-sustaining caribou populations.
CPAWS is working to...
- Collaborate with all involved to secure protected caribou habitats
- Convince the Manitoba government to fulfill its commitment to the Boreal Framework by announcing an initiative to protect more than half of Manitoba's northern boreal forests from industrial developments.
We get results!
- CPAWS Manitoba negotiated a 50 year logging deferral by Tembec, in the habitat of the Owl Lake caribou population.
- CPAWS Manitoba convinced the Manitoba government to include woodland caribou in its endangered species legislation, which mandates habitat protection.
Learn more
| [?]% habitat left |
6% habitat protected |
2500 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Woodland caribou have vanished from a significant portion of their historical range, including all of Whiteshell provincial park.
There is one large Woodland caribou population in Manitoba’s northern Boreal. While ten individual ranges have been identified, the province does not have enough data to determine the ranges in the majority of Manitoba’s boreal region.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador have an Endangered Species Act. It identifies, but doesn't protect Woodland caribou habitat. Woodland caribou are threatened in Labrador, but are not considered at risk on the island of Newfoundland — despite new data about population declines.
CPAWS is working to...
- Protect the Grey River caribou herd and assess the habitat they use
- Get Newfoundland's woodland caribou listed as 'threatened' under the Species at Risk Act
- Protect the rapidly declining Red Wine caribou herd and their habitat
- Ask the NL government to implement its $15.3 million Caribou Recovery Program.
- Focus efforts in and around spring calving grounds to ensure the calves reach an age where they are safer from predation
- Increase the management of moose populations. Moose numbers have skyrocketed, increasing competition with caribou
- Appeal the Corner Brook Pulp & Paper mill's 5-year cutting plan for districts 14/15 in western NF. This will affect 3 of NF's caribou herds and a massive amount of land.
We get results!
- CPAWS supports the proposed Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve in Labrador. This new national park, which is in the final stages of being established, in collaboration with local communities, will protect a threatened woodland caribou herd and its Boreal forest habitat.
Learn more
| [?]% habitat left |
2% habitat protected |
3300 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Northwest Territories
The NWT does not have species at risk legislation yet. However, under the federal Species at Risk Act, the territorial government is developing an Action Plan for Boreal Woodland caribou.
What's happening now
- The NWT government has developed a Five Year Action Plan Action for Boreal Woodland caribou, and has also published a draft management plan for barren ground caribou.
- Two NWT caribou herds have been added to the federal Species at Risk Act list: Peary caribou (Endangered) and Dolphin-Union caribou (Special Concern). They will also be assessed under the new NWT species at risk legislation which came into force February 10, 2010.
CPAWS is working to...
- Protect the Nahanni Headwaters through the development of Nááts′ihch′oh National Park Reserve. This area will further extend protection for three northern mountain woodland caribou herds found in the neighbouring Nahanni National Park Reserve.
- Protect boreal woodlandcaribou habitat in proposed protected areas such as Pehdzeh Ki Ndeh, near the community of Wrigley in the Mackenzie Valley and Buffalo Lake Rivers and Trails along the NWT and Alberta border.
- Protect barren ground caribou habitat in Thaidene Nene a proposed National Park Reserve along the East Arm of Great Slave Lake and in Edaįįla, a peninsula on the eastern side of Great Bear Lake as a conservation zone.
We get results!
- The expanded Nahanni National Park Reserve protects the entire South Nahanni watershed and Karstlands. The watershed contains critical habitat for three northern mountain woodland caribou herds.
- Helped caribou habitat in Sahoyúé - ?ehdacho, two peninsulas on Great Bear Lake.
- Helped establish a network of culturally significant and ecologically representative protected areas in the Mackenzie Valley as a partner in the NWT Protected Areas Strategy.
Learn more
| 50% habitat left |
12% habitat protected |
5800 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Other caribou in the NWT
There are four subspecies of caribou in the NWT:- Northern Mountain Woodland caribou gather in groups numbering in the thousands during late summer to late spring. These herds have distinct seasonal migrations and live in the Mackenzie Mountains.
- Boreal Woodland caribou live in the forests east of the Mackenzie Mountains and tend to live in small groups. They prefer to stay within the forest for most of the year and do not migrate.
- Peary in the arctic archipelago and grant's in the northwest corner of NWT
- Barren-ground caribou are the most numerous of all caribou in the NWT. These migratory caribou spend all or part of the year within the NWT.
Ontario
The Ontario Endangered Species Act requires the identification and protection of caribou habitat.
What's happening now
At the end of January 2011, Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources announced plans to exempt all industries from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for caribou in Ontario. This proposal, when enacted, would effectively remove all legal protections under the ESA for caribou. By caving to pressure from regressive industry, the Honourable Linda Jeffrey Minister of Natural Resources, jeopardizes the recovery of caribou in Ontario and fails to uphold her own North American-leading Endangered Species Act. This is a failure of good governance, a failure for species and a failure for Ontario. Ontario has spent the last three years and significant public resources to create massive exemptions for industry instead of implementing the ESA to protect species and using the tools contained in the Act to assist with industry compliance.
CPAWS is calling on Ontario to uphold the ESA and implement a full protection plan for caribou. One key component of our solution is to not expand the industrial footprint in already compromised ranges in Ontario contingent upon ensuring wood supply is available to existing mills of sufficient volumes and economic value to maintain economic viability of existing mills.
We get results!
- In July 2008, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made a globally significant committment to protect more than 225,000km2 of Boreal Forest (north of the 51st parallel) in a partnership with Aboriginal communities. CPAWS Wildlands League is closely monitoring the legislation designed to implement the Premier's vision, and is working with Aboriginal communities, the public, industry and the Province to ensure this is a resounding success.
Learn more
- A snapshot of caribou range condition in Ontario
2009 (PDF, 2.4 MB) - Backgrounder: Caribou in Ontario
- CPAWS Wildlands League
- Response to a MNR Discussion Paper on caribou
CPAWS Wildlands and colleagues submission, 2008 - Recovery Strategy for Forestdwelling Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Ontario (2006)
Mega-mines Threaten Ontario Caribou and Wild Rivers
Write a letter!
Exemptions in the Endangered Species Act could seal the Woodland caribou's fate in Ontario.
Write a letter!
| ?% habitat left |
8% habitat protected |
5500 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Quebec
Quebec has an Endangered Species law, but it doesn't protect Woodland caribou habitat.
CPAWS is working to...
- The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) and CPAWS Québec are jointly demanding an immediate halt in forestry development in the habitat of vulnerable woodland caribou, until their common concerns can be addressed by Québec. The call comes following the release of the provincial woodland caribou recovery strategy, published three years behind schedule by the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune (MRNF). The strategy proposes actions to recover caribou populations, with the objective of “maintaining current caribou distribution throughout Québec”.
- CPAWS Quebec and its partners are pressing the Quebec government to implement a woodland caribou recovery plan that will promote vast conservation projects for caribou habitat.
- CPAWS is part of a vast public awareness campaign to protect 'The Caribou Belt', a high priority site for woodland caribou in the province of Québec. This area includes the 'Vallée des Montagnes blanches' and the Assinica-Broadback-Evans sector.
We get results!
- CPAWS is part of a major public outreach campaign to protect the Vallée des Montagnes blanches, a Woodland caribou hotspot. 188,000 people signed our petition, leading the Quebec government to identify over 100,000 ha of woodland caribou habitat for conservation. In 2008, governement announced the protection of 960 sq km in this area.
Learn more
| 50% habitat left |
5% habitat protected |
11000 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
There is a stable population of woodland caribou in the Northern Boreal as well as two isolated and declining populations in the south.
Saskatchewan
Woodland caribou habitat isn't protected by provincial law, and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Act doesn't yet recognize Woodland caribou as a species at risk. But because the caribou are a Federal Species at Risk, the province is working on a recovery strategy.
CPAWS is working to...
- Get critical caribou habitat defined in the provincial woodland caribou recovery strategy so the habitat gets the protection it needs.
- Make caribou habitat protection part of land use planning efforts in northern Saskatchewan.
- Protect the ecological integrity of the Churchill River watershed by establishing networks of protected areas within the 72,000 square kilometer Churchill basin. Our initial and primary conservation target is protection of the Churchill River itself. This would preserve a wide and healthy west-east forest corridor through northern Saskatchewan's critical woodland caribou habitat, connecting caribou and other wildlife populations, and preserving genetic diversity for long-term survival of the species.
We get results!
- CPAWS helped acheive designation of three protected areas in the Dore/Smoothstone region: Budd Lake (17,924 ha), Caribou Flats (9,638 ha) and Selenite Point (3,800 ha).
Learn more
| 50% habitat left |
5% habitat protected |
4300 caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Woodland caribou are threatened by agriculture, logging, hunting and road building in the south; road building, mining, and oil and gas in the north.
Except for subsistence hunting by aboriginal peoples, caribou hunting in Saskatchewan has been prohibited since 1987.
Yukon
The Yukon does not have species at risk legislation. Under the Federal Species at Risk Act, the territorial government is working on a management plan that will require Federal approval.
CPAWS is working to...
- Protect and conserve the wilderness of the Three Rivers (the Wind, Snake and Bonnet Plume). CPAWS proposes wildland areas in the Three Rivers watersheds, including territorial park protection for the Snake River watershed. We call for special conservation zones in the remainder of the Peel watershed to protect critical wetlands, sensitive river corridors and important biological and cultural features through land use planning. The Peel watershed is important refuge for some of the world's healthiest, intact populations of woodland caribou including the Bonnet Plume herd, which is the Yukon's largest Northern mountain Woodland caribou herd.
We get results!
CPAWS Yukon strongly supported a plan for the Peel watershed that put conservation first in the region. The final recommended plan, released in July 2011, would protect 80% of the watershed from industrial development.
Learn more
| ?% habitat left |
4% habitat protected |
? caribou left |
| Current caribou range | |
| Boreal forest | |
| Habitat improvement needed | |
| Habitat maintenance needed | |
| Habitat disturbance possible |
Boreal woodland caribou thrive in the northeast corner of the Yukon Territory – home to the Peel watershed. The Peel watershed is important refuge for some of the world's healthiest, intact populations of woodland caribou including the Bonnet Plume herd, which is the Yukon's largest Northern mountain Woodland caribou herd.