If You Build It, Will They Come? Caribou Habitat Restoration for Pipeline Projects

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Coupal ◽  
Paula Bentham
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Management ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Landscape Fragmentation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Recovery Strategy ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Northeastern Alberta

The federal Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population in Canada, identifies coordinated actions to reclaim woodland caribou habitat as a key step to meeting current and future caribou population objectives. Actions include restoring industrial landscape features such as roads, seismic lines, pipelines, cut-lines, and cleared areas in an effort to reduce landscape fragmentation and the changes in caribou population dynamics associated with changing predator-prey dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes. Reliance on habitat restoration as a recovery action within the federal Recovery Strategy is high, identifying 65% undisturbed habitat in a caribou range as the threshold to providing a 60% chance that a local population will be self-sustaining. In alignment with the federal Recovery Strategy, Alberta’s Provincial Woodland Caribou Policy identifies habitat restoration as a critical component of long-term caribou habitat management. Habitat restoration initiatives of Alberta’s historical industrial footprint within caribou ranges began in 2001 and have largely focused on linear corridors, including pipelines. Initiatives include revegetation treatments, access control programs and studies, and restricting the growth of plant species that are favourable to moose and deer, the primary prey for wolves. Habitat restoration for pipelines also includes pre-construction planning to reduce disturbance and create line-of-sight breaks, and construction techniques that promote natural vegetation recovery. Lessons learned from habitat restoration programs implemented on pipeline projects in northeastern Alberta will be shared as an opportunity to improve common understanding of restoration techniques, the barriers to implementation, and potential outcomes.

scholarly journals Habitat Restoration as a Key Conservation Lever for Woodland Caribou: A review of restoration programs and key learnings from Alberta

Rangifer ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Bentham ◽  
Brian Coupal
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Program Planning ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Recovery Strategy

The Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population in Canada (EC, 2012), identifies coordinated actions to reclaim woodland caribou habitat as a key step to meeting current and future caribou population objectives. Actions include restoring industrial landscape features such as roads, seismic lines, pipelines, cut-lines, and cleared areas in an effort to reduce landscape fragmentation and the changes in caribou population dynamics associated with changing predator-prey dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes. Reliance on habitat restoration as a recovery action within the federal recovery strategy is high, considering all Alberta populations have less than 65% undisturbed habitat, which is identified in the recovery strategy as a threshold providing a 60% chance that a local population will be self-sustaining. Alberta’s Provincial Woodland Caribou Policy also identifies habitat restoration as a critical component of long-term caribou habitat management. We review and discuss the history of caribou habitat restoration programs in Alberta and present outcomes and highlights of a caribou habitat restoration workshop attended by over 80 representatives from oil and gas, forestry, provincial and federal regulators, academia and consulting who have worked on restoration programs. Restoration initiatives in Alberta began in 2001 and have generally focused on construction methods, revegetation treatments, access control programs, and limiting plant species favourable to alternate prey. Specific treatments include tree planting initiatives, coarse woody debris management along linear features, and efforts for multi-company and multi-stakeholder coordinated habitat restoration on caribou range. Lessons learned from these programs have been incorporated into large scale habitat restoration projects near Grande Prairie, Cold Lake, and Fort McMurray. A key outcome of our review is the opportunity to provide a unified approach for restoration program planning, best practices, key performance indicators, and monitoring considerations for future programs within Canada.

scholarly journals In search of a critical habitat concept for woodland caribou, boreal population

Rangifer ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald D. Racey ◽  
A. Alan Arsenault
Keyword(s):  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus Caribou ◽  
Hierarchical Approach ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Recovery Strategy ◽  
Ecological Functions ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales

A hierarchical approach to critical habitat identification has been proposed in the draft National Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population. This approach proposes that critical habitat for boreal caribou be identified as equivalent with caribou ranges and their composite range components, and that it be consistent with the biological needs of a wild, self-sustaining local population of woodland caribou. These components include seasonal ranges, high use areas and calving sites, each of which provide for important ecological functions and are subject to specific risks from human development activities. Protection of critical habitat is accomplished through management of the amount and type of human developments and potential natural disturbances, not by prohibiting all activity. This approach to critical habitat sets the stage for management and monitoring of habitat at spatial and temporal scales appropriate for conservation of a wide ranging species such as woodland caribou.

scholarly journals Biodiversity offsets and caribou conservation in Alberta: opportunities and challenges

Rangifer ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Christine B. Robichaud ◽  
Kyle H. Knopff
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Recovery Strategy ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Natural Resource Extraction ◽  
Biodiversity Offsets ◽  
Successful Design

The federal recovery strategy for boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) sets a goal of self-sustaining populations for all caribou ranges across Canada. All caribou herds in Alberta are currently designated as not self-sustaining and the recovery strategy requires an action plan to achieve self-sustaining status. At the same time, continued natural resource extraction in caribou ranges may be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Some regulatory bodies have recognized an opportunity for biodiversity offsets to help meet the caribou recovery strategy’s goals while still permitting economic benefits of development. In this review, we evaluate offset opportunities for caribou in Alberta and practical impediments for implementation. We conclude that a number of actions to offset impacts of development and achieve no net loss or net positive impact for caribou are theoretically feasible (i.e., if implemented they should work), including habitat restoration and manipulations of the large mammal predator-prey system. However, implementation challenges are substantial and include a lack of mechanisms for setting aside some resources for long periods of time, public opposition to predator control, and uncertainty associated with loss-gain calculations. A framework and related policy for offsets are currently lacking in Alberta and their development is urgently needed to guide successful design and implementation of offsets for caribou.

Comparison of pre-fire and post-fire space use reveals varied responses by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the Boreal Shield

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
pp. 751-760
Author(s):  
J.A. Silva ◽  
S.E. Nielsen ◽  
P.D. McLoughlin ◽  
A.R. Rodgers ◽  
C. Hague ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Space Use ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus Caribou ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Boreal Shield ◽  
Calving Season

By regulating successional dynamics in Canada’s boreal forest, fires can affect the distribution of the Threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)). Caribou tend to avoid areas burned within the last 40 years; however, few studies have compared pre-fire and post-fire caribou observations. In this study, we used caribou GPS locations from the Boreal Shield of Saskatchewan, Canada, to assess the short-term response of caribou to areas that burned while they were collared (hereafter recent burns). We used a “before–after, control–impact” design to compare the overlap of pre-fire and post-fire seasonal home ranges to the overlap of year-to-year seasonal home ranges. Caribou rarely encountered recent burns and when they did, they adjusted their space use in variable and complex ways that were largely indistinguishable from regular, interannual variation. Caribou tended to reduce use of recent burns in summer–autumn and winter, but not during the calving season, in some cases shifting their home range to incorporate more burned habitat. We conclude that recently burned areas (<5 years) may provide habitat value to woodland caribou, particularly during the calving season, requiring a more flexible approach to interpret fire in habitat management strategies.

Using Landsat imagery to backcast fire and post-fire residuals in the Boreal Shield of Saskatchewan: implications for woodland caribou management

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 597 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kansas ◽  
Javier Vargas ◽  
Hans G. Skatter ◽  
Brady Balicki ◽  
Kevin McCullum
Keyword(s):  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Planning Decisions ◽  
Boreal Shield ◽  
Disturbance Model

Boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are designated as threatened under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. A Recovery Strategy for the boreal population of caribou identified critical habitat for all but 1 of 51 caribou ranges – Saskatchewan’s Boreal Shield (SK1). The strategy identified 65% undisturbed habitat as the threshold below which a local population was not likely to be self-sustaining. Disturbance was measured as the combined effects of fires <40 years and anthropogenic land use. The fire component of the total disturbance model used fire polygons that were delineated using traditional mapping methods. Our study maps fire from 1988–2013 using the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio analysis of Landsat Thematic mapper and Operational Land Imager. Annual burned areas based on fire perimeters were similar between traditionally and Landsat-derived inventory approaches, but the traditional methods overestimated within-burn areas by 31.8%, as a result of including post-fire residuals and water bodies as burned. The federal recovery model assumes that all lands within provincial fire polygons (<40 years) are inadequate as caribou habitat, and ignores the potential value of post-fire residuals and water bodies as habitat. For some Boreal Shield ranges including SKI, where fire comprises the majority of the total disturbance and residual patches are abundant, total disturbance calculations, critical habitat designation and range planning decisions should take into account residuals, including water bodies.

scholarly journals Examining the role of terrestrial lichen transplants in restoring woodland caribou winter habitat

2017 ◽  
Vol 93 (03) ◽  
pp. 204-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean B. Rapai ◽  
Duncan McColl ◽  
Richard Troy McMullin
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus Caribou ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Transplant Program ◽  
Restoration Techniques ◽  
Terrestrial Lichen

The development of habitat restoration techniques for restoring critical woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) winter habitat will play an important role in meeting the management thresholds in woodland caribou recovery plans. The goal is to restore disturbed environments within critical winter habitat for the declining woodland caribou. Woodland caribou are diet specialists, utilizing lichen-rich habitat for forage during winter months. Cladonia sub-genus Cladina is the most frequently eaten species during this time. Herein, we provide: 1) A review of previously used methods for transplanting Cladonia sub-genus Cladina and their feasibility in restoring woodland caribou winter habitat; 2) A stepby- step protocol on how to carry out a terrestrial lichen transplant program (using Cladonia sub-genus Cladina and C. uncialis); and, 3) An evaluation of our protocol through the establishment of a case study in northern British Columbia. Our results indicate that transplanting C. sub-genus Cladina fragments is the most efficient technique for transplanting terrestrial lichen communities, but transplanting lichen ‘patches’ or ‘mats’ may also be effective.

scholarly journals National recovery strategy for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), boreal population, in Canada

Rangifer ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Hervieux
Keyword(s):  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Population Monitoring ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Recovery Strategy ◽  
Recovery Planning ◽  
Policy Promotion ◽  
Canadian Provinces ◽  
Species At Risk Act ◽  
Recovery Approach ◽  
Boreal Caribou

Recovery planning for the boreal population of woodland caribou is a complex task, spanning eight Canadian provinces and territories. To accommodate unique situations across the country, recovery planning for this Species at Risk Act-listed threatened species is occurring at both provincial/ territorial and national levels. The national recovery strategy strives to identify nationally important issues and provide direction for provinces and territories as they plan and implement boreal caribou recovery within their jurisdictions. The national vision is to conserve and recover boreal caribou and their habitat across Canada. Specific goals are to: 1) Prevent extirpation of local boreal caribou populations from all existing caribou ranges; and 2) Maintain or enhance local boreal caribou populations at or to self-sustaining levels within all existing caribou ranges; and 3) Maintain or enhance boreal caribou habitat to support self-sustaining local populations. Nineteen broad national approaches are identified. These approaches include items relating to: habitat planning and management, caribou population monitoring and management, management of human-caused mortality, management of other wildlife species, consideration of government legislation and policy,promotion of stewardship and public outreach, and research. Specific outcomes are provided for each stated recovery approach. For more information on Canada's national recovery strategy for the boreal population of woodland caribou please see www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/recovery/default_e.cfm

scholarly journals Managing second-growth forests as caribou habitat

Rangifer ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan K. Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus Caribou ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Stand Management ◽  
Second Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forests

Habitat management for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia has generally focussed on protecting old-growth forests from logging. As that strategy becomes more difficult to maintain, biologists are beginning to explore opportunities to manage second-growth stands to provide arboreal lichens and other habitat resources important to caribou. Special harvesting and stand management practices are being developed and formulated into strategies for maintaining caribou populations in managed stands.

Habitat selection and spatial relationships of black bears (Ursus americanus) with woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in northeastern Alberta

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.D.M. Latham ◽  
M.C. Latham ◽  
M.S. Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Adult Female ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Ursus Americanus ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Spatial Relationships ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus Caribou ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Northeastern Alberta

Populations of woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) have declined across much of their range. Wolves ( Canis lupus L., 1758) are believed to be responsible for the majority of mortality in adult female caribou; however, we hypothesize that other predators such as black bears ( Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) may be important contributors to calf mortality. We assessed habitat selection by black bears and spatial relationships of caribou – black bears during the caribou calving season in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Black bears avoided bogs and fens, while selecting upland mixed woods and various industrial features. Conversely, caribou showed strong selection for bogs and fens relative to bears, supporting the hypothesis that caribou in the boreal forest attempt to minimize predation risk by selecting peatlands to avoid areas frequented by predators. However, habitat selection by individual black bears was highly variable and some bears selected habitats similar to those selected by caribou, i.e., bogs and fens. Bears that specialize on foraging in peatlands might be responsible for some of the predation on caribou calves. Because declines in caribou populations have resulted from a combination of high adult female and calf mortalities, management actions to conserve woodland caribou should consider the entire suite of potential predators rather than focusing only on wolves.

Addendum to “Managing wolves (Canis lupus) to recover threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Alberta”

2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Hervieux ◽  
Mark Hebblewhite ◽  
Dave Stepnisky ◽  
Michelle Bacon ◽  
Stan Boutin
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Journal Editor ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus Caribou ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Recovery Strategy ◽  
Effective Assessment ◽  
Independent University

Managing predators to restore threatened or endangered species is often controversial. Hervieux et al. (2014; Can. J. Zool. 92(12): 1029–1037) report on the efficacy of wolf (Canis lupus L., 1758) reduction as a recovery strategy in the Little Smoky population of boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) range in Alberta, which generated a lot of media attention. As such, the authors were invited by the journal editor who handled the original paper to write this addendum to provide clarification regarding the methodology used in the original paper. Wolf reduction was conducted by Government personnel in accordance with appropriate policy and laws (i.e., federal and provincial Species at Risk Acts; Alberta Wildlife Act; Alberta Woodland Caribou Policy). University-based researchers were involved only in data analysis and writing, and thus did not require approval by a university-based animal welfare board. Collaboration between independent university-based scientists and government biologists is essential to effective assessment of such controversial management practices. Hervieux et al. (2014; Can. J. Zool. 92(12): 1029–1037) in fact concluded that such wolf reductions, by themselves, would only “buy time” and would not restore woodland caribou alone without effective habitat protection.

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