Mountain Caribou

Historically, Mountain Caribou populated Management Unit 3-32. The natural environment is still suitable for the species; however human activities have prevented Mountain Caribou from repopulating the area.

Mountain Caribou Map

The mountain caribou species is a subspecies of the caribou species that can be found in BC and that is in serious decline due to many threats that include predators. Although they are not a primary prey but can be killed opportunistically by other predators, human disturbances and settlements, habitat change and climate change. The most direct effect to manage this situation and increase the mountain caribou species population is the management of predators as it has been seen in studies that this was the major cause of mortality throughout the mountain caribou population. In order to control predators, there are three different management options that could be implemented. Although they all have their own limitations, it would be preferable to find a balance between the three instead just using just one option. Those options are: direct predator management, managing the primary prey on which the predators depend on, and habitat management of the primary prey.  The direct management of prey would be implemented through hunting regulations but would increase the ungulates populations such as deer and moose that will take over the caribou’s habitat range. Once the implementation ends the increase of the primary will allow an increase growth of predator population. The management of the predator's primary could allow a decrease in the other ungulates leaving more habitat space to the mountain caribou and also indirectly affect predators as their numbers will also decrease. Moreover, this option is limited by time. As there are less primary prey, predators will start hunting the caribou and consequently will decrease the caribou’s population. Finally, the best option would be to change the primary prey habitat through silviculture and allow seral forests to grow older. This will displace the other ungulates as well as their predators. The only limitation to this management plan is time as it will take over 60 years to manage the recovery of the habitat. Many other options are also being considered such as protecting of the mountain caribou’s habitat to reduce recovery impact when needed, transplant of females and calves in subpopulations that are not self-sustainable and reduce of human disturbances. Finally, the result will take a while before being achieved and more than one implementation should be put in place if the recovery of the mountain caribou population is to come back to a normal number.

Source: Mountain Caribou Status

Issues:

• The Mountain Caribou is of historical significance

Goals:

• Re-introduce Mountain Caribou into their historical habitat