Tłı̨chǫ Gov't says caribou herds need 'balance' between conservation, harvesting, industry

Dwindling caribou herds in the N.W.T. "don't stand a chance" if organizations that manage them can't find a balance between conservation, economic development and harvesting, according to the Tłı̨chǫ Government's director of culture and lands protection. 

Tammy Steinwand told the territory's standing committee on economic development and environment Thursday there is no single factor that is to blame for the shrinking number of caribou.

"We can't really say it's only the predators, it's only the mines, it's only the people that are harvesting caribou every spring. It's everything together," she said. "We all need to do our part."

During a technical briefing, the committee heard the Bluenose East caribou herd — which has experienced a "rapid decline" since 2010 — grew from 19,300 animals in 2018 to 23,200 in 2021. Heather Sayine-Crawford, the territory's director of wildlife and fish, said the Bluenose East herd might be on the "road to recovery."

The Bathurst herd, however, is still a "conservation concern" she said. In the mid-1980s, it consisted of roughly 470,000 animals. In the latest survey, it dropped from 8,200 animals in 2018 to 6,240 animals in 2021.

'Banned from our land'

In 2015, the territory implemented a mobile zone where caribou hunting isn't allowed. Steinwand said it's a "key action" for the Bathurst herd — which has a range that extends from southern and central N.W.T. to calving grounds near Bathurst Inlet in Nunavut. 

But at the heart of that no-hunting zone, pointed out Deh Cho MLA Ron Bonnetrouge, is the Tłı̨chǫ community of Wekweètı̀. 

"Thinking about the Dene people, their staple is what's in their surroundings — in this case [it's] caribou," he said. "I'm wondering what considerations are given to the residents of that community." 

"That's where we got the term 'banned from our land'," said Steinwand. "That's exactly what one of the harvesters said ... we can only look out and watch — our food is there, it's going by, but we can't harvest," she said. 

"I feel for the elders and the harvesters, but what is the alternative?" 

Steinwand said a program, funded largely by the federal government, gives money to the Tłı̨chǫ Government to fund the harvesting of other animals instead — such as fish, rabbit, muskrat and muskox. 

"Our communities have done really well with that," she said. 

Wekweètì was also able to send a group of community harvesters to hunt caribou in a permitted area and bring the harvest back with a chartered plane, she said. 

Protection of caribou habitat

When it comes to everybody doing their part, Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly said "nothing further" can be done on the harvesting front, predator controls are in place, but that the protection of caribou habitats is "still missing."

O'Reilly has long voiced concern about the Slave Geological Province Access Corridor cutting through the Bathurst herd's calving grounds, and on Thursday said it would be "incompatible with the survival" of the herd. 

He also asked why mobile caribou conservation measures — which would require mining exploration and development to stop while caribou were migrating through the land of a project — were not yet in place. 

Brett Elkin, assistant deputy minister for the territory's environment and natural resources department, said those actions are already required in environmental assessments and wildlife management and monitoring plans for mines. 

For mining exploration and development, he said, the territory is working on similar requirements and is "moving towards full implementation."

How caribou are affected by the noise, dust and pollution from development is something that needs more research, said Steinwand, noting the territory needs the economic benefit of the mining industry. 

"We need those mines. We also depend very heavily on wildlife, such as the caribou. So we're really trying hard to work together with everybody to find that balance."