Caribou dancing on the edge
For woodland caribou, Ontario’s unlogged Great Boreal Forest represents a last hope.
This map illustrate how caribou have retreated north in the face of human development |
This region represents the last stronghold for a species that once ranged as far south as Algonquin Park in this province. Now, while scattered populations can still be found in the northern reaches of the industrialized forest — particularly in and around large parks like Wabikimi and Woodland Caribou — caribou populations remain truly healthy only in the intact boreal. In fact, the species is now listed as threatened under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and has been given priority for recovery planning.
These circumstances have a lot to do with the woodland caribou’s key survival strategy — keeping populations spread thinly through a dense forest of spruce and muskeg to avoid predators,chiefly wolves. This strategy reflects the fact that woodland caribou (a forest-dwelling ecotype of the caribou species) cannot withstand high levels of predation. Their “population replacement rate” – the number of calves born each year to replace animals lost to predators, disease or old age – is much lower than their relatives in the deer family. Caribou simply cannot rebound quickly if death rates suddenly increase.
And that is exactly what happens when old boreal forests are transformed by logging or other resource development. An increase in young forest growth, particularly after clearcutting, draws in moose and deer that prefer these types of young vegetation. Forests that had been largely impenetrable are laced with roads and logging trails that make it easy for wolves to move through the bush. Caribou are suddenly confronted with higher predator populations, less cover and a reduction in the old forest lichen food source they prefer.
Caribou really are the canary in the coal mine for boreal forest health. Because they are supremely well adapted for life in this northern environment, their presence tells us that the forest is an undisturbed, uncompromised state. Caribou can, for example, use their wide shovel-like hooves to dig for lichens under snow and are the only mammal that can survive on a diet of these crusty old-growth fibres. Their hollow-haired coats and retractable hoof pads make them well equipped for cold, snow and ice. They are tremendous swimmers and can cross wide stretches of water. Mothers may use this strategy to reach islands for calving away from predators.
Unfortunately, in the allocated forest, these survival mechanisms have been short-circuited by the scale and intensity of industrial development. The vast areas of old forest caribou need to maintain separation from predators have been chopped into smaller, often disconnected blocks (where older forest remains at all). Biologists have pointed to a “slow motion extinction” fate for caribou if current forestry practices remain unchanged. In fact, caribou have lost half their natural range in the last 100 years. The question now is whether they will be allowed to hold on to what is left and whether healthy conditions can be restored in their abandoned range where caribou might once again be a part of a healthy forest ecosystem.
The Ontario Government’s commitment to put 50% or more of the undisturbed boreal region strictly off limits to industrial resource development is good news for caribou. It will provide a foundation for population recovery — and maintaining healthy populations in northern regions — if resource practices are adapted outside of the protected areas to restore conditions favourable for caribou.
The First Nation peoples of Ontario’s north have long lived alongside caribou and understand their importance as an indicator of the health of the forest. They will play a key role in helping to determine caribou’s fate through their leadership in landscape planning for traditional territories. But it is widely agreed that it will take a coordinated effort between industry, scientists and government to restore and protect caribou populations.
