Tribe Takes Lead in Saving Reindeer Herd in Rocky Mountains

[denali]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/us/tribe-takes-lead-in-saving-reindeer-herd-in-rocky-mountains.html?_r=0

SALMON, Idaho — A Native American tribe in Idaho has been given the task of creating a plan for saving a tiny band of wild reindeer from extinction in a far corner of the northern Rocky Mountains, straddling the border of the United States and Canada, American wildlife officials said.

A population of woodland caribou now numbering just 14 in the remote Selkirk Mountains has been at the center of a protracted fight among conservationists, the Fish and Wildlife Service and groups promoting recreational use and logging in the creatures’ alpine habitat.

First listed as an endangered species in 1984, they are the only wild reindeer of their kind left in the Lower 48 states, though they are close cousins of caribou that roam northern Alaska in large herds.

Under a rare agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kootenai Tribe of northern Idaho will receive $35,000 to create an updated recovery plan for the Selkirk caribou, which rely on old-growth forests in elevations above 4,000 feet for a winter diet of lichens.

Recovery measures could include restoration of habitat fragmented by logging, wildfires and snowmobile trails, said Kim Garner, chief of recovery for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Boise.

The tribe’s plan will receive input from several entities, including state and federal wildlife officials and two Idaho counties that have opposed habitat protections that would curb recreational and commercial activities.

The Kootenai agreement was reached after tribal members approached American wildlife managers to voice their interest in the reclusive caribou’s fate, Ms. Garner said.

The tribal chairman, Gary Aitken Jr., hailed the partnership as one that “saves costs and achieves conservation more efficiently and effectively.” The tribe has until next August to come up with the proposal.

A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal in March to downgrade the status of the dwindling herd from endangered to threatened drew opposition from conservation groups like the Center for Biological Diversity.

Also in March, a federal judge ruled that the agency violated federal law in 2012 by cutting the amount of public land designated as critical reindeer habitat to 30,000 acres, down from 375,000 acres, without sufficient public notice and input.

The center’s Noah Greenwald said the caribou faced extinction without stronger habitat safeguards and possible augmentation of the herd. He also said he knew of no other instances of an Indian tribe’s being put in charge of drafting a recovery plan for an endangered species.




Not quite sure what to think of this ??

[CAMPMEAT]

They need to thin out ALL the wolves that are eating the caribou. Nobody, the eco terrorist groups like CNW, ever mentions the Woodland Caribou in any conversations, it's always the poor wolf...

[UBA]

35 grand will barely start to get anything done. Thats only salary for one person for a year.  They need to add a zero onto that to even start

[CGDucksandDeer]

They need to thin out ALL the wolves that are eating the caribou. Nobody, the eco terrorist groups like CNW, ever mentions the Woodland Caribou in any conversations, it's always the poor wolf...

Really? Supporting the BC wolf cull to help woodland caribou seems like a mention:

http://www.conservationnw.org/news/updates/bc-announces-wolf-cull-to-protect-endangered-south-selkirks-mountain-caribou

"In this instance, we believe the criteria we set forth for lending support to wolf control actions in the South Selkirks have been met. "

[CAMPMEAT]

They need to thin out ALL the wolves that are eating the caribou. Nobody, the eco terrorist groups like CNW, ever mentions the Woodland Caribou in any conversations, it's always the poor wolf...

Really? Supporting the BC wolf cull to help woodland caribou seems like a mention:

http://www.conservationnw.org/news/updates/bc-announces-wolf-cull-to-protect-endangered-south-selkirks-mountain-caribou

"In this instance, we believe the criteria we set forth for lending support to wolf control actions in the South Selkirks have been met. "

I despise Communist Northwest. It's in the USA and the mgmnt should of been long ago. You can shoot wolves in BC without any harassment from non-hunting, enviro-terrorists. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm not the only one who thinks this way. The woodland caribou are like a non-species it seems like. Honestly, they are not mentioned, because nobody hears about them in non-hunting circles and even then people look at you like, WFT are you talking about. Idaho is on the right track in that corner and the entire state. I feel sorry for those little buggers. I think they're only something like 4 feet tall at the shoulders and defenseless.

[Special T]

Cnw hails shooting wolves just across the border where there are plenty of wolves yes just a few miles south its a bad idea to protect the same herd.

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[Da stump]

approx 20 year ago I was in behind gypsy meadows and found about 20 caribou in a fenced enclosure. It was the wildlife dept trying to do this same thing. I was talking to the forest service a few years ago and happened to mention it. I was told that when released the caribou hightailed it back to Canada. Just a thought. 

[mkcj]

Washington has enough money to give $845,000 for a wolf meeting facilitator and best the Fed's can do is $35,000 for endangered Caribou. 

[bearpaw]

This should be no surprise, myself and many others wrote letters to the WDFW and Commission during the review process of their wolf plan, they didn't seem to care about impacts to the caribou. BUT.... If WDFW can find a way to weasel extra money out of the federal government then caribou will suddenly become a major importance!   


I almost forgot to mention the lack of proper cougar management! What a joke WDFW has become! It doesn't matter if they stop logging all the way to Mexico, the caribou are going to decline if predators are eating more caribou than the herd can reproduce! 

[CAMPMEAT]

Wonder why we haven't heard from CGDucksandDeer in a while ? Must be reading up on the little, defenseless woodland caribou....

[CGDucksandDeer]

Or scouting and preparing for the High Hunt and looming elk openers...

As entertaining and informative as this forum can be, I'm an infrequent visitor and an even more infrequent poster.

The South Selkirks mountain/woodland caribou issue is a damn shame. Increased wolf predation is certainly part of the problem, and a part that should be addressed by reducing wolf predation via any means possible. In my mind that means culls or increased hunting quotas in BC and Idaho now, and Washington when appropriate under our Wolf Management and Conservation Plan. Hopefully the plan can be revised by the Wolf Advisory Group (as has been proposed) to speed up that process for NE Washington.

But just like wolves are part of the problem, so too are habitat loss to development and logging, winter motorized recreation, cougars and coyotes using snowmobile trails to access caribou wintering grounds, changes in other ungulate / prey population dynamics, Canadian highways and numerous other factors. And efforts by agencies and conservation groups in both the US and Canada have been ongoing for two decades to recover the South Selkirks caribou. None have worked sufficiently for the animals on the US side. What these caribou need today is a miracle.

To only pin the blame on wolves or to act like conservation groups are at fault for prioritizing predators over caribou is misguided in my opinion.

[WAcoyotehunter]

Yes ^

I agree 100%.  Wolves are a problem, buy not the only problem.