Why caribou conservation in BC is tricky business

By Renée Rochefort
The Ubyssey
September 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dr. Clayton Lamb, a wildlife scientist and postdoctoral fellow at UBCO, is researching the decline in population and caribou conservation efforts. …Ideal caribou habitat is vast, intact and has low predator density. According to Lamb, in BC, that is becoming increasingly hard to find. …The logging industry is the principal force of change as it modifies the landscape and creates forestry roads. However, these actions don’t have a direct impact on the caribou. Rather, Lamb they create conditions that allow predation of the caribou by facilitating the entry of moose and deer to the area….followed by wolves. …We’re applying a bunch of emergency recovery actions,” said Lamb. The interim efforts are successful with the population of Southern Mountain caribou rising by 1500 individuals or 60% over the past 10 to 20 years. Yet, many of the current conservation methods are not sustainable in the long run.

Read More