After the NWT posted dismal numbers for the 2018 caribou count, the territorial government is planning to limit disturbance of caribou habitat to save shrinking Bathurst and boreal caribou herds.

While the GNWT forms management agreements with Indigenous governments and co-management partners, MLA Kevin OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly worries it will be too little, too late.

SA国际影视传媒淢y concern is that by the time we actually get a joint management proposal together, submit it to the WekSA国际影视传媒檈ezhii Renewable Resources Board (WRRB) and other folks, there may not be a (Bathurst) herd left,SA国际影视传媒� said OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly at a Dec. 7 committee meeting.

Regional range plans for boreal caribou are expected between 2019 and 2022, starting in the southern NWT and WekSA国际影视传媒檈ezhii regions, following by the Sahtu, GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n and Inuvialuit regions.

Since 2015, the Bathurst herd has halved from 20,000 animals to 8,200. The GNWT will finalize its Bathurst caribou plan in early 2019.

SA国际影视传媒淭here is an expectation from Indigenous governments and our co-management partners that we take actions beyond restricting harvest,SA国际影视传媒� said Dr. Brett Elkin, director of wildlife.

"Harvest of the Bathurst herd is currently set at zero," he said.

SA国际影视传媒淪ome people believe the disturbance thresholds are too high ... others believe that they are too low and the entire range should be declared in the green,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

The department of Environment and Natural Resources must submit the Bathurst Range plans to the WekSA国际影视传媒檈ezkhi Renewable Resources Board under the terms of the Tlicho Agreement.

In 2015, the department approached the WRRB proactively and they are confident that the department has sufficient funding to complete a fulsome consultation, said ENR Deputy Minister Joe Dragon.

The GNWT will also meet with its partners in Nunavut to discuss the summer ranges to ensure the preservation of the Bathurst herd, which summers and calves in Nunavut.

O'Reilly urges wolf management

Several MLAs, including Kevin OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly, Shane Thompson and Daniel McNeely pushed for urgent management, not limited to suppressing wolf populations.

SA国际影视传媒淭his is a crisis. Now is the time where wolves can and should be taken if we want to save the herd. That needs to be part of the management proposal,SA国际影视传媒� said OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly.

People have asked for wolf management for years and SA国际影视传媒渋t hasnSA国际影视传媒檛 been done,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

ENR wonSA国际影视传媒檛 rule out wolf management as part of its multifaceted plans to protect caribou.

The Bathurst caribou range plan will manage cumulative effects on the caribouSA国际影视传媒檚 range, considering significant water crossings, land bridges and calving areas. It could limit human activities that will disturb caribou when they are nearby, he said.

Nunakput MLA Herb Nakimayak pointed to practices in Tuktut Nogait National Park, east of Paulatuk, where there are no-fly rules around calving herds SA国际影视传媒� something the NWT could consider to cut stress on caribou, he said.

SA国际影视传媒淚f you lose one animal, you lose two. The spring-time might be a time where thereSA国际影视传媒檚 no flying and no activity,SA国际影视传媒� said Nakimayak.

Caribou populations in Alta. and Sask. have dwindled to near extinction and those provinces are penning maternal caribou to attempt to restore their numbers.

Forty or 50 years from now, the territory could find itself doing more hands-on management with corralling fences, which take years to build, said Nakimayak.

SA国际影视传媒淭hat might be us one day,SA国际影视传媒� said Nakimayak, adding that such infrastructure is expensive and takes years to build.

Including Indigenous and traditional knowledge and early consultation along the Mackenzie will be vital to the process, said Nakimayak.

The department will sort out its plans for the southern regions first, starting in the southern NWT and WekSA国际影视传媒檈ezhii areas before completing the Sahtu, GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n and Inuvialuit plans.

Nakimayak urged early planning with co-management groups along the Mackenzie Valley, SA国际影视传媒渙therwise, we'll have systems clashing together,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly challenged a shrinking fund for monitoring work, with the Tlicho All-Season Road and a subsequent increase in monitoring obligations on the horizon.

Cutting $150,000 in funding for boreal caribou monitoring while the GNWT's monitoring obligations are increasing SA国际影视传媒渏ust doesn't wash.SA国际影视传媒�

The individual plans will be more detailed, but O'Reilly worries about the inclusion of development as a stated goal in the plan.

SA国际影视传媒淭hese plans are not about promoting or supporting economic development. They are about saving caribou,SA国际影视传媒� said O'Reilly.

Sustained economic development and caribou populations are SA国际影视传媒渋mperative,SA国际影视传媒� said Dragon. SA国际影视传媒淲e have to recognize that development will possibly happen. How do we look at whether or not we mitigate opportunities or adapt to economic development in the territory?SA国际影视传媒� said Dragon.

The southern NWT is already considered a high risk threshold, meaning the level of human disturbance puts the region at a high risk of exceeding long-term disturbance limits.

The territorial government is working on its own made-in-the-North framework to avoid the federal government SA国际影视传媒渟wooping in,SA国际影视传媒� should the GNWT fail to meet its obligations under the Species At Risk Act.

Herd movement tracked by collar, aerial count

Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson asked how ENR is certain the herds are declining, given higher caribou counts in other regions, including Nunavut.

The GNWT uses regular aerial surveys along with satellite telemetry (collars) to understand caribou movements and population trends.
ENR maintains they are declining, not moving, said Dragon.

Caribou species have historically followed stark declines and population expansion, as part of a SA国际影视传媒渘atural ebb and flow,SA国际影视传媒� said Dragon when he announced the herds decline Nov. 20.

However, SA国际影视传媒渢he decline within three years is very alarming,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淲hile populations are low it is important that we work together to protect caribou.SA国际影视传媒�

In November, Sahtu Secretariat Chairman Charles McNeely told the CBC that hunters believed caribou numbers to be higher than the ENR count.

At the committee meeting Dec. 6, Sahtu MLA Daniel McNeely said even if the 2018 count were doubled in number, it would still represent a 90 per cent decline from 2003.

"The numbers really say we have to take this seriously," he said.