Sunday, November 5, 2017

Caribou Redux

Here is an article that recently was published in the National Post. I suggest you read it and then I will make comment.

  ==================================================================
CARIBOU
HERDS AND HABITAT ARE AT RISK, SAYS FEDERAL REPORT.
·         National Post
·         1 Nov 2017
·         Bob Weber

Canada’s woodland caribou herds and the habitat they need continue to decline five years after the provinces agreed to develop strategies to preserve them, a federal study has concluded.

And all provinces and territories are on a six- month deadline to lay out plans showing how they will preserve the animal featured on the back of the Canadian quarter. They have already missed one deadline.

“A number of provinces and territories have taken action,” said Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson, parliamentary secretary to the environment minister. “That being said, it clearly is not enough.”

But a forestry industry representative said not enough is known about the changing boreal forest to make rules on how much needs to be saved for caribou.

“We can’t be cutting corners to the point where it might be doing nothing for caribou and putting thousands of people out of work,” said Derek Nighbor of the Forest Products Association of Canada.

T he report, released Tuesday, found that none of Canada’s 51 caribou herds is growing. Twenty are in decline and not enough is known about 21 of them to even estimate their population trend.

Ten of those declining herds have fewer than 100 animals —some barely more than a couple dozen — leaving them highly vulnerable to being wiped out.

The old-growth boreal forests the caribou depend on are also deteriorating.

Despite five years of attempts to preserve or rehabilitate habitat disturbed by energy development or forestry, only 19 of 51 ranges met federal requirements to be 65 per cent undisturbed — two fewer than in 2012. Industrial disturbance increased in 29 of the ranges.

Only nine ranges were in better shape in 2017 than in 2012.

Last October, a five- year deadline passed for provinces to file detailed plans on how they were going to restore critical habitat.

Several provinces, including Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, have released draft plans. Others have said some of their plans are expected early next year.

None has completely met the terms of the federal bill.

Under the Species At Risk Act, Ottawa will now take until April 2018 to determine whether the provinces have sufficiently protected critical habitat. If they haven’t, the environment minister is required to ask for a federal order to do it for them.

Wilkinson said the federal government and the provinces believe all 51 herds can still be preserved, although that could change.

but Justina Ray, head scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said some herds could disappear in as few as five years if nothing changes. She said the federal report puts the provinces on notice.

“This is the first shot across the bow,” she said.



==================================================================

As is so typical of articles that deal with the natural environment and that supposedly draw on science this article is full of misinformation and sensationalism. Before I get into more detail let's look at a simple map that shows the range of the caribou in Canada:



This image is from https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/wildlife/images/borealcaribodistribution.jpg and shows the distribution of Woodland (Boreal) Caribou across Canada. 

Also shown is the Boreal Region, also known as "Taiga", which is  within the sub-arctic and cold continental climate zones and characterized by long, severe winters and short summers. Vegetation is dominated by conifers.

The first point I would like to make is that, with rare exception, there are few major population centres in this region and very little infrastructure. I have tried to find reliable research on Woodland Caribou and unfortunately there is essentially none prior to 2000 and very little since. Yet we get statements such as " Canada’s woodland caribou herds and the habitat they need continue to decline" yet no supporting evidence is given. This is further exasperated by what little "data" is presented: " none of Canada’s 51 caribou herds is growing. Twenty are in decline and not enough is known about 21 of them to even estimate their population trend".

So none are growing? So what? where in the natural world does a species, other than man, continue to have its population "grow" when it is always under stress from disease, weather and predation? A well documented example is the relationship between snowshoe hare and lynx. Thanks to very good records kept by the Hudson Bay Company due to the fur trade we know that snowshoe hare population is not constant and in fact is cyclical between a population peak and collapse. Similarly the lynx population rises and falls in sympathy with the hare population although with a bit of a lag as illustrated below:



(from https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vanettenpopulationecology-090708185127-phpapp01/95/population-ecology-11-728.jpg?cb=1247957107)

Is there a similar relationship between wolves and ruminants such as caribou and wolves? What about predation by black bear? That is the natural world in action and while we have hard data in the case of hares and lynx, we have none for ruminants, especially caribou, other than hearsay.

Farley Mowat became famous in 1952 with his book "People of the Deer". He documented how the inland Inuit suffered extreme hardship due to the inexplicable collapse of the local barren land caribou herd. Again, other than pure speculation, no reason could be determined why the caribou numbers collapsed nor why they eventually recovered.

During this past summer the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal published a series of articles in their special supplement "The Outdoors Guide" by Tim Timmermann, a retired biologist formerly with MNR, titled "Where Have all the Moose Gone?". It is interesting to read as it documents the change from caribou being the dominant ruminant in Northwestern Ontario around 1900 to them being supplanted by moose. This is based strictly on eye witness reports but what it does establish is that population numbers of wildlife vary and, as no research has been done, only speculation can be made as to the possible reasons. But he does make a good summary statement: "Change is a 'way of life', and little remains the same for any length of time. Such is the case of many wildlife populations that 'ebb and flow' over time. Moose [and caribou] are no exception and densities have and will fluctuate with passing years".

So this begs the question, are people such as Bob Weber and Justina Ray so focused on restoring caribou to their former range they are willing to sacrifice the moose and deer population? Why are people like this who are so narrow minded and ill informed have the ear to people in government such as Jonathan Wilkinson?

So in conclusion we have Federal and Provincial legislation based on no hard evidence calling for re-establishment of population numbers we have no idea what they were or why they changed. Instead all we have is speculation based on the misconception that we are gods in full control of the natural environment and as such have the power to make whole sale changes to "restore" the natural system. The sad part of this hubris is that no concern is given to other creatures such as moose or to their fellow human beings. Especially those of us who live in this hinterland, and whose lives are, and will be, wreaked by this unfounded and illogical desire to fix what isn't broken while they remain in their ivory towers oblivious to the actual facts.


No comments:

Post a Comment

I don't want to live in a bubble so if you have a different take or can suggest a different source of information go for it!