Caribou herd rebounds as Indigenous stewards lead conservation efforts
Researcher says collaborative recovery moves Klinse-Za caribou from brink
of extinction
Date:
March 28, 2022
Source:
University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
Summary:
Despite recovery efforts from federal and provincial governments,
caribou populations across Canada continue to decline, largely due
to human activity. But as a new study finds, in central British
Columbia there is one herd of mountain caribou, the Klinse-Za,
whose numbers are going in the opposite direction -- all thanks to
a collaborative recovery effort led by West Moberly First Nations
and Saulteau First Nations.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Despite recovery efforts from federal and provincial governments,
caribou populations across Canada continue to decline, largely due to
human activity.
==========================================================================
But as a new UBC Okanagan study finds, in central British Columbia there
is one herd of mountain caribou, the Klinse-Za, whose numbers are going
in the opposite direction -- all thanks to a collaborative recovery
effort led by West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations.
In partnership with many organizations and governments, the Indigenous-led conservation initiative paired short-term recovery actions such as
predator reduction and caribou guardians at maternal pens, with ongoing
work to secure landscape-level protection in an effort to create a self-sustaining caribou population.
Their efforts paid off.
Dr. Clayton Lamb, a Liber Ero Fellow, along with Carmen Richter, a biology master's student, and Dr. Adam T. Ford, Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology, conduct research in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. Their latest study shows Klinse-Za caribou numbers have nearly
tripled in under a decade.
"We have an Indigenous-led conservation effort to thank for averting
the looming extinction of this herd," says Dr. Lamb. "The population
was declining rapidly -- a West Moberly Elder once described the herd
as a 'sea of caribou,' but by 2013 it had declined to only 38 animals."
Today, the herd count is more than 110 and numbers continue to rise.
========================================================================== "This work provides an innovative, community-led, paradigm shift to conservation in Canada," Dr. Lamb says. "While Indigenous Peoples have
been actively stewarding landscapes for a long time, this approach is new
in the level of collaboration among western scientists and Indigenous
Peoples to create positive outcomes on the land and put an endangered
species on the path to recovery." Richter, who is a Saulteau First
Nations member, says Indigenous communities have really come together
for the good of the caribou.
"We are working hard to recover these caribou. Each year, community
members pick bags and bags of lichen to feed the mother caribou in the
pen while other members live up at the top of the mountain with the
animals. One day, we hope to return the herds to a sustainable size,"
she says.
Though the partnership has yielded great success, Dr. Ford is the first
to acknowledge that more time and effort will be needed to fully recover
the Klinse-Za.
"This work is also an important part of decolonizing the mindset of conservation, which has historically worked to exclude the views of
Indigenous Peoples," he adds.
With caribou declines exceeding 40 per cent in recent decades across
Canada, many populations have already been lost. But Dr. Ford insists
there is a brighter path forward, and this study proves it.
"This is truly an unprecedented success and signals the critical role
that Indigenous Peoples can play in conservation," he says. "I hope this success opens doors to collaborative stewardship among other communities
and agencies.
We can accomplish so much more when working together." This study was co-produced by western scientists and members of West Moberly First
Nations and Saulteau First Nations. The work was recently published in Ecological Applications and is supported by a companion manuscript in Ecological Applications exploring the expeditious population growth.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_British_Columbia_Okanagan_campus. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Clayton T. Lamb, Roland Willson, Carmen Richter, Naomi
Owens‐Beek,
Julian Napoleon, Bruce Muir, R. Scott McNay, Estelle Lavis, Mark
Hebblewhite, Line Giguere, Tamara Dokkie, Stan Boutin, Adam T. Ford.
Indigenous‐led conservation: Pathways to recovery for the
nearly extirpated Klinse‐Za mountain caribou. Ecological
Applications, 2022; DOI: 10.1002/eap.2581 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220328160654.htm
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