Barren-ground Caribou Photo credit: Terry Parker
Strong Measures Needed Across Caribou Nation
In every province and territory where caribou dwell in Canada (and the US), they are at risk. Yet industrial activities like logging, mining and petroleum development continue in caribou habitat from coast to coast to coast.
Caribou need intact ecosystems to survive. Caribou rely on the same wild landscapes that are being fragmented by logging and oil and gas operations. To date, our federal, provincial and territorial governments have favoured protecting industrial interests over the needs of endangered wildlife, and done little to intervene as caribou have declined.
The power to protect Canadian caribou habitat lies in the hands of three key players: the federal government, provincial/territorial governments, and industry. These three players have largely failed to take the most meaningful step to protect caribou—protecting caribou habitat.
Federal Government
Canada’s Species at Risk Act currently lacks the teeth needed to protect caribou populations. It is discretionary and applies only to areas of federal jurisdiction — less than 5% of Canada’s land base, outside the territories. The federal government has repeatedly assured Canadians that it will protect the habitat of an endangered species if a province is failing to do so. But this promise proved hollow when a petition was submitted to the federal Environment Minister in February 2004, urging him to protect habitat for BC’s spotted owl—the most endangered bird in Canada, whose habitat is being logged by the BC government. The federal government has failed to intervene. Spotted owl numbers continue to decline.
While caribou recovery teams strive to restore species to healthy populations, they are limited by pressures to maintain status quo industrial operations. The Alberta draft recovery plan for woodland caribou, for example, is guided by a principle of ‘economic realism,’ which essentially means that if a recovery measure may affect the economy, it isn’t realistic !(1)
Provinces & Territories
The major responsibility for endangered species protection thus falls to the provinces and territories. Effective wildlife protection requires strong endangered species legislation that ensures habitat protection, and the will to enforce it. Yet four provinces/territories have no stand-alone endangered species legislation at all (BC, AB, NWT, YK)(2) . Of those with legislation, only a handful require protection of critical habitat (NS, MB, ON, PEI)(3) — and even where habitat protection is required, few charges have been laid to enforce the legislation where it has been violated.(4) In some provinces, such as Manitoba, the provincial governments have lagged behind the federal Species at Risk Act by failing to list caribou under their provincial species Acts.
Industry
Private companies have the ability to be good corporate citizens—to voluntarily stop operating in caribou habitat. Indeed, the logging company Canfor recently announced that it is deferring operations in the habitat of the Little Smoky woodland caribou herd in Alberta for two years, until a recovery plan can be implemented. In Manitoba, Tembec recently agreed to defer logging in core woodland caribou habitat within their licensed logging area in order to develop a joint conservation strategy with the local Wilderness Committee team. Tembec has also agreed to similar deferrals in mountain caribou habitat in BC. Unfortunately these are exceptions. Across Canada, the trend in forestry is for companies and government to “talk and log,” experimenting with logging models while caribou herds continue to decline.
Clearly, changes must be made in order to ensure that caribou will survive in the future. Government decision-makers need to hear from the public — from you!
