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.
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