Bathurst caribou conservation plan signed

An interim plan to help conserve the declining Bathurst caribou herd was signed Thursday by the Northwest Territories government and a Yellowknife-area First Nation.

The two-year interim agreement with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation was signed amid continuing concern about the Bathurst herd, which has seen its numbers plummet to about 32,000 last year from 128,000 in 2006, according to territorial government surveys. The herd had up to 350,000 caribou in 1996.

The agreement, signed by Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger and Yellowknives Dene chiefs Edward Sangris and Ted Tsetta in N'dilo, N.W.T., also addresses a dispute between the government and aboriginal leaders over a hunting ban that was imposed this year in light of the herd's declining numbers.

"This is an example of what can be accomplished by working together while respecting rights and traditional laws," Sangris said in a release Thursday.

Under the new agreement, hunters from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation will be allowed to harvest as many as 150 Bathurst caribou — 50 in the fall hunt and 100 in the December-April hunt — each year for the next two years.

The First Nation and its individual members can also hunt up to 250 caribou a year from other barren-land caribou herds in the area, namely the Ahiak and Bluenose East herds.

Can hunt in conservation zone

As well, Yellowknives Dene hunters can hunt caribou from a no-hunting conservation zone that the N.W.T. government has imposed on an area north of Great Slave Lake, where the Bathurst herd has been known to winter.

The introduction of the no-hunting zone on Jan. 1 sparked outrage by Dene leaders, who said their members have a treaty right to a subsistence caribou hunt.

The Yellowknives Dene First Nation cancelled its fall caribou hunt last year in response to the herd's numbers.

Both the N.W.T. government and the First Nation agree that "harvest of the Bathurst herd must be reduced to allow for the recovery of the herd," the release states.

Under the agreement, the Yellowknives Dene and the territorial government will form a joint committee to monitor the number of caribou that is harvested under the interim agreement, as well as ensure all kills are reported.

Miltenberger said the next step will be to develop a long-term plan for the Bathurst caribou herd.