Woodcutting affecting N.L. caribou population: outfitter

A big game outfitter in central Newfoundland says logging, not predation, is to blame for the decline in woodland caribou.

The province's ministry of environment and conservation cited predators, like the black bear, coyote and lynx as major factors. However, Red Indian Lake Outfitting and Tours operator Fred Thorne believe there's another explanation.

"One of the biggest contributing factors that's being ignored would be the loss of the boreal forest. There's loss of habitat," said Thorne. "It contains lichens that the woodland caribou would depend on in the winter months. When the forest floor is blanketed with snow and the food source is not available, then they turn to the lichens in the old growth forest."

The Island Newfoundland's caribou population has dropped from 90,000 in 1996 to an estimated 37,000 in 2008.Thorne said the province is overlooking how much of a life-source the boreal forest is to the animal.

He said the government has identified 37 protected areas for wintering grounds, calving and post calving. Around these zones is a 10 kilometre buffer where 75 per cent of the boreal is supposed to remain in tact.

"These areas that are being logged today they're working inside those buffers," said Thorne. "It forces the caribou into more open areas and they're more susceptible to predation."

The dwindling herd is also affecting business for Thorne. His company's allocation of forty caribou tags has now dropped to 10.

In 2008, environment and conservation minister Charlene Johnson said $15.3 million would be spent on a five year scientific management study of the island's caribou population.

In a 2008 press release, the minister said a large part of the study would focus on reducing the number of predators through legal hunts in order to assess the effect on the animal's population. In addition, the strategy also includes a heightened emphasis on habitat assessment.