[97] It was noted that,[97]. Land use practices in their range includes "timber harvesting, extensive oil and gas exploration and production, coal mining, roads, recreational off-road vehicle use, recreational hunting, and commercial trapping. These medium-sized ungulates, native to the Northern United States and Canada, are characterized by a compact body with a thick covering of fur, short, wide ears, blunt muzzle, and a tiny tail. The territory now yields 560,000 barrels of oil a day. But they’re now gone from their southern range. Despite periodic sightings of individuals south of the border the caribou range has receded approximately 34 km/decade, the manifestation of widespread range collapse and population decline. Unlike caribou that inhabit the tundra, woodland caribou do not migrate long distances between seasons, instead staying in the forest, either alone or in small groups. This is an example of sympatric speciation because the woodland caribou inhabits the same geographical region as the mountain caribou. ", "Small local populations, particularly those isolated from the core distribution of the national population of boreal caribou, are at greater risk (EC 2012:18).". Woodland caribou once ranged across half of Canada and the northern reaches of the contiguous United States. Bergerud argued that increased hunting mortality and increased natural predation by wolves contributed more to the decline than range destruction. The species' taxonomic name Rangifer tarandus (reindeer or caribou), was defined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. When Environment Canada (EC) introduced the new South Athabaska Sub-regional Strategic Environmental Assessment, it was partly in response to the cumulative effect of oil sands development on the habitat loss of the boreal woodland caribou, also known as woodland caribou (boreal), Rangifer tarandus caribou. In southern Ungava caribou females disperse from other females to avoid predators. : 202411", "Silviculture options for use in ranges designated for the conservation of northern caribou in British Columbia", "General Habitat Description for the Forest-dwelling Woodland Caribou (, Summary Report: 2006 Maxhamish Range Boreal Caribou Inventory: Kiwigana, Fortune, and Capot-Blanc Core Areas, "Canada's Boreal icon at risk: a ranking of the most threatened herd ranges of woodland caribou", "Caribou Population Shrinking in Canada's Oil Sands: Study Finds Black-Throated Warbler Bird, Fisher Also Among the Severely Affected", "Alberta Plans Huge Energy Lease Sale On Range Used By Caribou", "Alberta postpones oil and gas lease auction in endangered caribou range: The caribou population was once rated as stable, but has seen a steep decline in the past three years", Environmental Commissioner of Ontario 2007, "Gros Morne National Park of Canada: A Place Mammals Can Call Home", "Tradition 'snatched away': Labrador Inuit struggle with caribou hunting ban", "Inuit, Inuu, Cree in Quebec and Labrador join forces to protect Ungava caribou: a united and powerful voice that will endeavour to preserve caribou", "Size of Nunavik's George River caribou herd nosedives: new survey", "Nunavik's Leaf River caribou herd "decreasing," survey concludes", "Gray Ghosts, the Last Caribou in the Lower 48 States, Are ‘Functionally Extinct’, "The need for the management of wolves — an open letter", "Predicting Population-Level Responses of Boreal Caribou to Seismic Line Restoration", "Cumulative Effects Management System (CEMS)", Peace Region Boreal Caribou Monitoring: Annual Report 2008–09, "Experts concerned about collapse of wild forest reindeer population", "Consensus agreement on listing boreal caribou (, "Significance of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) ecotypes from a molecular genetics viewpoint", "Variation in Mitochondrial DNA and Microsatellite DNA in Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in North America", 10.1644/1545-1542(2005)86[495:vimdam]2.0.co;2, "Disappearing species and enforcement warnings to oil company flagged in federal records", "Canada-Alberta Deputy Ministers meeting on regulatory improvement", "Status of woodland caribou in western north America", "Human natures, nature conservation, and environmental ethics", 10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0031:hnncae]2.0.co;2, Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (, Evaluation of Programs and Activities in Support of the, Amended Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (, "Conserving Woodland Caribou: The Benchmark for Northern Sustainability", Environmental Assessment for the Marathon PGM-Cu Project at Marathon, Ontario, "Defining subspecies, invalid taxonomic tools, and the fate of the woodland caribou", "Nunavik caribou numbers in rapid free-fall: George River herd drops by 80 per cent", "Aboriginal leaders of Québec and Labrador unite to protect the Ungava caribou", "Demographic characteristics of circumpolar caribou populations: ecotypes, ecological constraints/releases, and population dynamics", "Managing a world long gone: the old mind in politics, the environment, and war", "Christmas reindeer mystery as world's largest herd plummets", "An examination of recovery planning for forest-dwelling woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Ontario, Canada", List of Species at Risk in Canada, by category, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boreal_woodland_caribou&oldid=990051260, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2020, Articles with incomplete citations from November 2020, Taxonbars without primary Wikidata taxon IDs, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. ", By February 2013, Suncor's March report reflects their concerns with the Species at Risk Act (SARA), in particular on the implications of the Proposed Recovery Strategy for Woodland Caribou. Caribou are incredibly sensitive to disturbances like roads and clearings. Boreal Woodland Caribou eat grass and any other plant they can find. The islands are notable for having Ontario's largest herd of boreal woodland caribou. It’s devastating to see it — and many of its key species like the boreal woodland caribou — at risk. This was tremendous news, and an important step for the protection of this iconic species, but the woodland caribou is not safe in the woods yet. Woodland caribou, also known as boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), are found in Canada’s boreal forests and the open taiga forests along the Hudson Bay coast. In Ontario caribou are classified into two ecotypes – forest-dwelling woodland caribou and forest-tundra woodland caribou. Using radio transmitters to track one herd of caribou, scientists learned that the herd moves much more than previously thought and they learned that each year the herd returns to about the same place to give birth. Boreal caribou are a distinct population of woodland caribou. The boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), also known as woodland caribou, boreal forest caribou and forest-dwelling caribou, is a North American subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) with the vast majority of animals in Canada. [60], In their Annual Report 2006-2007,[69] the Office of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario argued that, "Woodland caribou represent the "hard-to-perceive, slow-motion crisis"[70][71] that faces many species at risk. [51] The boreal woodland caribou is now only found in "the lowlands of the Boreal Plains and Taiga Plains ecoprovinces of the Alberta Plateau physiographic region, in the northeastern corner." Every bit of forest we permanently remove for industrial activities is a piece of forest that caribou can no longer call home and another kink in the system further altering predator and prey dynamics. The 15 northern woodland caribou herds of the Southern Mountains National Ecological Area (SMNEA) are federally listed as "threatened" by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The woodland caribou is facing extinction for a couple of reasons. The boreal woodland caribou (forest-dwelling) ecotype is found discontinuously, mainly between the 49th and 55th parallels. Caribou are well-adapted for life in boreal … Woodland caribou (R. t. caribou) extended south to 42 degrees N, and were found in parts of New England, New York, the Upper Great Lakes states, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Currently, there is variation across the NWT in rates and population declines in parts of the southern NWT where the majority of boreal caribou occur. This represented "annual rates of decline ranging from 4.6% to 15.2% from 1999 to 2012" in the OSR. Your much appreciated donation keeps this work going! [29], The boreal woodland caribou is well-adapted to cold environments, with a compact body covered with a thick and long coat (thicker in winter than in summer). When planning a trip to WCPP, working with a local outfitter will ensure you get everything you want… Park Pictures. In his article entitled "Woodland Caribou: A Conservation Dilemma", Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist Peter Zager described how the range of the boreal woodland caribou had dramatically declined. A continuing decline in the amount of secure habitat and population size is projected.