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Porcupine Caribou Management Plan: 1996/1997 - 1999/2000
Actions: Caribou

Physical Condition

Status 1995/96:

• Porcupine Caribou Herd in good physical condition. Body Condition monitoring, continuous from 1988 to 1996, showed only normal changes in condition depending on season and range use.
• A couple of hard winters may have contributed to a population decline from 1989 to 1992.
• Cesium, cadmium and mercury levels in PCH are not a health risk to users.
• Some typical caribou parasites have been reported.

Concerns:

• People worry about whether the herd is in good shape or not.
• If herd condition is not kept track of on a regular basis, early signs of problems will be missed.
• If a new contamination threat arises, older samples from the herd will be needed to compare present contamination level with what it was in the past.
• Sharing information from PCH samples is not well organized.
• Information from samples could be of more use in understanding the herd.
• Results from Body Condition sampling are not checked out with how communities view herd condition.
• People worry about caribou that look diseased.

Targets:

• People will keep up to date on the condition of the herd.
• If any contaminants turn up, the health risks will be realistically explained to the public.
• The communities will better understand how the Body Condition monitoring program works and will be more involved with it.
• If anybody finds a diseased caribou, it will be checked out and the results reported to them and the Board.

Herd Size

Status 1995/96:

• The drop in the PCH population estimates from 160,000 in 1992 to 152,000 in 1994 may not represent a true decline but only a technical problem with the surveys.
• The survival of calves from birth to 1 month old has been high. The percentage of calves that survived the winters of 1995 and 1996 has also been high. The survival of calves is kept track of every year by checking the herd in the summer and spring. Scientific studies of calf survival have shown that the success of survival is related to the vegetation, weather and predators on the calving grounds.

Concerns:

• No one knows whether the population drop from 178,000 in 1989 to 152,000 in 1994 represents a real downward trend in the herd's size that will keep on going, or if it is just a temporary change that will stop soon.
• The user communities are very concerned that oil development on the calving grounds in Alaska will cause the PCH population to drop way down.
• People need to know what is happening to the PCH population and what is being done to protect it.
• There's a chance that future changes in the environment could cause the PCH population to decline.

Targets:

• The size of the PCH will be kept track of and the public will be told about it.
• There will be more up-to-date information available about impacts of oil development on the PCH.
• If the herd size is still going down from last count in 1994, we can tell if this is due to natural causes.
• The long-term changes in the environment will be kept track of, including their likely effects on the PCH.

Harvest

Status 1995/96:

• Between 1993 and 1996 total reported harvest of the PCH ranged between 2000 and 3500. PCH harvest includes bulls, cows and calves. Total harvest reports for the PCH underestimate the true harvest. Harvest information is provided by a dozen different recording methods which vary greatly in accuracy.
• It is generally agreed that overharvesting could not have played a part in the PCH population decline since 1989, however, effects of harvesting on the population are still not understood.
• Local harvests increase dramatically when part of the herd winters near the Dempster Highway or user communities.
• GNWT and YTG have emergency numbers for reporting hunting violations.

Concerns:

• Effects of harvesting on the PCH population not understood.
• Problems of harassment, meat wastage, and dangerous hunting arise when part of the herd winters near the Dempster Highway or communities.
• Some commercial sales of caribou meat could happen.
• Inaccurate harvest estimates make it hard to manage the harvest for the good of the herd and to provide First Nations with information on which to base needs levels.

Targets:

• We will have a better understanding of how harvesting affects the size of the PCH.
• People will be more careful about how they hunt from the Dempster Highway and there will be fewer complaints about it.
• Commercially-sold caribou meat will be checked by a new method to make sure it is not from the PCH.
• It will be easier to put together PCH harvest information for the year and the information will be more complete.

Range Use

Status 1995/96:

• A full description of the Porcupine Caribou Herd's use of its ranges (range ecology) was produced by the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1993. Also in 1993, the PCMB produced a report on the Sensitive Habitats of the Porcupine Caribou Herd on behalf of the International Porcupine Caribou Board. In that report, calving grounds and insect relief areas received the highest rating. These areas are only temporarily protected in Alaska's Arctic Refuge and Canada's Richardson Mountains, however, they are fully protected in Ivvavik National Park. The herd's use of winter ranges near the Dempster Highway may be interfered with by current hunting practices there.
• From a total of 64 muskoxen introduced to the PCH range in 1969/70 the herd has grown to 800 by 1996.

Concerns:

• Scientific information about the PCH's use of its range has not been shared with the general public.
• Legal ways of protecting PCH habitat are poorly understood.
• Industrial disturbance could happen to the calving grounds in Alaska and the insect relief areas in Alaska and Canada.
• Hunting on the Dempster Highway could make it harder for the herd to use its winter ranges there.
• Big climate changes could make different parts of the herd's range more important than they are now.
• Nobody knows for sure if the growing muskox population will have a bad effect on the PCH or not.

Targets:

• People will be able to learn about how the PCH uses its ranges.
• We will know what can be legally done to protect PCH ranges, and also what other laws need to be put in place for this.
• There will not have been any further disturbance of the calving grounds and insect relief areas in Alaska, and means of permanently protecting the area will be actively pursued.
• If the Withdrawal order is lifted, the Richardson Mountain insect relief areas will be protected.
• Hunting from the Dempster will not seriously affect caribou movements or occupation of winter ranges in the area.
• We will be learning what ranges could be important to the PCH in the future and steps will be taken to protect them.
• A management plan will be in place for muskox on the PCH range based on traditional and scientific knowledge.