Environmental Trends 2002

Wildlife

Has the Range of Caribou Changed?

Population Status of Caribou

Source: BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection 2001. Notes: The range for Caribou was calculated using the estimated historical and current range. The delineations on the map are sub-populations.

Has the range of Caribou changed?

• British Columbia is home to an estimated 18,400 Caribou. The 42 sub-populations of Caribou vary in size from the Spatsizi herd, with 2,200 Caribou, to the George Mountain herd, which has declined to approximately 5 Caribou.

• The provincial status of Mountain Caribou, which occur in the province’s southeast, declined from Special Concern to Threatened in 2000. The same year, Boreal Caribou in the northeast and Caribou in the southern two thirds of British Columbia were both designated as Threatened by the Commitee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

• Today Caribou populations are stable in 16%, declining in 11% and extirpated in 31% of their historic range. Demographic trends are unknown over 17% of historical range.

• Records from 2002 show an accelerating decline for Mountain Caribou and 4 southern herds previously considered stable are now in decline.

• The main threat to Caribou in British Columbia is fragmentation of habitat through logging, disturbance and natural fires in the north. Predation, which may be augmented by fragmentation, also poses a threat.

For detailed information, including graph data, see In-Depth report [pdf].