Western Arctic Herd "Caribou Trails" on Project Caribou website

Check out the latest edition of "Caribou Trails" from Alaska. It has some great articles, graphics and information. Find out more about tundra fires and caribou, the CARMA network, caribou diseases (nice photos) and more.

Available on the Project Caribou website at the Support Materials page.

Caribou News Jan 12 2009

Abundance needed
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fairbanks,AK,USA
The position of an Abundance Management specialist is something that has been needed badly in the department, after Alaskans have watched moose and caribou ...
See all stories on this topic

Critics: Mine plan could affect caribou
RedOrbit - Dallas,TX,USA
A proposed gravel mine in Alaska would disrupt a caribou migration route and local subsistence hunting, critics say. The Anchorage Daily News reported ...
See all stories on this topic

WWF - Increasing calf survival in a sharply declining woodland ... Due to low recruitment, the Chisana Herd has experienced a sharp decline in ... caribou were released and monitored through telemetry and aerial surveys. ...

The Rigors of Research in the Cold
AlaskaReport - Juneau,AK,USA
Boertje, then a graduate student in wildlife biology at the University of Alaska, was doing a study on caribou in Denali National Park in the early 1980s. ...
See all stories on this topic

Locals Oppose Kotezbue Mine
Alaska's SuperStation - AK,USA
Residence fear that the mine will hurt hunting and fishing as the proposed site of the mine sits directly on the path of a caribou migration route. ...
See all stories on this topic

Caribou in the News Jan 5 2009

Happy New Year!

Statehood changed wildlife management for Alaska
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fairbanks,AK,USA
“We were faced with an abundance of moose and caribou in several areas. We had enough so that we didn’t need to put a limit on the taking of females. ...
See all stories on this topic

Man, what a stupid species
Winnipeg Sun - Canada
In Canada, for example, we've ridded the place of the sea mink, the Dawson caribou, the passenger pigeon, various kinds of wolves, a variety of fish, ...
See all stories on this topic

Incompressible: The Economics of Reproduction By Clayton For each new caribou born, there is a marginal decrease in the available lichen and other food resources available to all other caribou. Each new caribou born is a net cost to all other caribou. As more caribou are born, feeding grows ... Incompressible - http://incompressible.blogspot.com/

CARMA Caribou Monitoring

CBC 7:30 A

CBC YUKON 570 AM 7:30 A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008

4. An IPY project has published new standards for testing wild caribou and reindeer herds in the north. The KARMA network is linking researchers across the circumpolar north who monitor caribou and reindeer.

Coordinator Don Russell of Whitehorse says 60 participants came together before Christmas in Vancouver for an update. He says it’s important to find a universal way to monitor the health of herds.

(Russell) “They’re all sort of on the decline these days. These herds tend to cycle every 30 or 40 years and what the concern is with many people is that with this decline when you add in climate change, when you add in industrial development, is decline going to be worse? Is it going to take longer to recover so we’ve got a tremendous amount of interest in this network.”

Russell says the group has just published two manuals. One outlines the protocols for testing the health and condition of animals. The other is for monitoring herds. He says the various projects have Polar Year funding until 2011.

5.(6:30) An international project to improve monitoring of northern caribou and reindeer herds has made important strides in the last year. It’s known as CARMA and it’s a major endeavor for International Polar Year in countries across the circumpolar north. The group’s researchers are finding universal ways to measure the health of herds in times of change.

(Patti Flather) Don Russell of Whitehorse is a caribou biologist who’s retirement has proved anything but quiet thanks to his coordination of CARMA. He says it’s a bit like herding cats, bringing together universities, first nations and other governments from countries including Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, the US and Canada. Russell says the focus is on 14 so called reference herds including the porcupine caribou. He says there’s a population decline in many herds which tends to happen in 30 to 40 year cycles.

(Russell) “With all the changes going on, industrial development, climate change and certainly in some jurisdictions like Russia, a lot of institutional changes, what we want to do is get a group together that will start monitoring these herds so we can learn from each other.”

Right now Russell says different researchers have their own ways of measuring many things such as how much fat a caribou has. The goal is to get everyone monitoring animals in the same way. He says the group met in Vancouver just before Christmas. They have just published international standards for monitoring the health and condition of animals and herd populations. Ultimately he says researchers will be able to measure each herd individually and to make comparisons world wide.

other articles

Environment Canada

Your Yukon