Yukon gov't, First Nations prioritize conservation of small trans-border caribou herd

The Yukon government, Kluane First Nation and White River First Nation have decided to forgo the allowable harvest of the Chisana caribou herd to prioritize conservation. 

The Chisana caribou herd working group released the latest management plan for the small trans-border herd last week. Among the changes in the plan is an updated harvest framework that includes an allowable harvest of two per cent. 

That means six caribou can be harvested on each side of the Yukon/Alaska border, but on the Yukon side, parties have decided not to harvest any caribou in an effort to help the herd grow.

"Conservation is the number-one priority," Michelle Dawson-Beattie, chair of the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board said. "That being said, we do understand the cultural connections that the local First Nations have — but six animals, although it might not seem like a lot, could be for such a small herd."

Meanwhile, in Alaska, a small subsistence harvest of Chisana caribou is permitted during harvest season in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. 

The Chisana caribou herd's range extends from the Yukon's Asi Keyi Territorial Park, west of Kluane National Park to Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The herd has been managed by governments and agencies in the Yukon and Alaska since 2012. In the early 2000s, the herd's population had declined significantly to about 350 caribou. A successful recovery program from 2003 until 2006 helped the herd bounce back.

John Ryder, acting manager of regional planning for the Yukon Department of Environment's fish and wildlife branch, says the herd's population has since stabilized. 

"We think the herd is stable and can sustain that two per cent shared harvest," Ryder said.

Decision not to harvest a 'huge commitment'

Robert Dickson, chief of Kluane First Nation, says that his nation has been involved in the management of the Chisana herd for many years.

"Our concern is the herd was larger, much larger than it is today," Dickson said. "And our people can remember back in the day when, you know, we used to be able to harvest caribou in that herd and since the numbers have dropped, we've stopped hunting."

He says his nation does not take the decision to forgo the harvest lightly and it's a "huge commitment" for people in the community.

"We're affecting our people's diet, we're affecting their food security, but we make those decisions based on the population of the caribou," Dickson said.

Dickson also worries about the impact of the decision on the broader ecosystem.

"When you're asking a group of people to not hunt in certain areas it puts a lot of stress on the other animals that our people like to hunt, like moose, like sheep," Dickson said.

The biggest threat to caribou and other species in the area however, is climate change, according to Dickson and Dawson-Beattie. Unseasonably warm weather, like much of the territory has been seeing in the past week, is particularly hard on caribou. 

Dawson-Beattie says freeze-thaw events have been happening more frequently and that makes it difficult for caribou to find food.

"So when we have the thaw, all of the snow is melting, and then all of a sudden the next day it's –25 C so you get that really thick layer [of ice], which makes it really hard for any hooved species to actually paw through to get down to lichen or the grass that they're eating," Dawson-Beattie says. 

Strengthened commitment to monitoring 

Among the other updates to the management plan is a strengthened commitment to monitor and research the herd. 

Currently, the herd is being monitored with radio and satellite collars and yearly composition surveys during the breeding season. 

Ryder says more research is needed to determine how Chisana caribou are being affected by climate change. He says the herd is unique and may not respond to environmental changes in the same way other herds in the region do. Unlike most caribou herds, this one does not rely primarily on lichen as a food source. 

"There's actually not very much lichen in this range at all for this herd, there's very little of it. They seem to have a heavy reliance on mosses and mushrooms and other sources of food," Ryder said. "And a lot of researchers think, 'how can this herd persist on that?'"

The renewed plan will guide management of the herd for the next 10 years.