Caribou News Dec 9, 2008

Global Warming: Point Of No Return For The Arctic? Free Internet Press - New York,NY,USA Temperatures in the Arctic are rising much faster than elsewhere in the world. Researchers now say it may be the result of a dramatic shift in global ... See all stories on this topic

No Stevens, no drilling? Indian Country Today - Canastota,NY,USA The 123000 caribou feed the Gwich’in Nation as well as the Inupiat peoples. The Gwich’in are caribou people, and have lived off the Porcupine Caribou herd ... See all stories on this topic Survey suggests another caribou herd in steep decline CTV.ca - Canada A new study of one of Canada's largest caribou herds seems to confirm fears that it is undergoing a steep and mysterious decline. The Beverly caribou herd, ... See all stories on this topic British Columbia: Killing Wildlife to "Save" Wildlife Pacific Free Press - Victoria,BC,Canada It's part of a program to increase the population of endangered mountain caribou. In addition, the Ministry of Forests has been paying aboriginal people to ... See all stories on this topic Canadian native leader warns climate conference about changes in ... Erasmus says once abundant herds of caribou are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice in the north is too thin to hunt on.Erasmus has raised his concerns in recent days on the sidelines of a UN climate conference under way in ... Oilweek Online - http://www.oilweek.com/

Native hunters: Climate is thinning caribou herds

By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer Arthur Max, Associated Press Writer 2 hrs 24 mins ago

POZNAN, Poland – Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene nation in northern Canada brought a stark warning about the climate crisis: The once abundant herds of caribou are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice is too thin to hunt on.

Erasmus raised his concerns in recent days on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference, seeking to ensure that North America's indigenous peoples are not left out in the cold when it comes to any global warming negotiations.

Erasmus, the 54-year-old elected leader of 30,000 native Americans in Canada, and representatives of other indigenous peoples met with the U.N's top climate official, Yvo de Boer, and have lobbied national delegations to recognize them as an "expert group" that can participate in the talks like other nongovernment organizations.

"We bring our traditional knowledge to the table that other people don't have," he said.

Nearly 11,000 national and environmental delegates from 190 countries are negotiating a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which regulates emissions of carbon dioxide that scientists blame for global warming. The protocol expires in 2012.

The alliance of native peoples include groups from the forests of Borneo to the depths of the Amazon.

De Boer said he advised the alliance to draw up a proposal and muster support among the national delegations to have their group approved by the countries involved in the talks.

"To give indigenous people and local communities a voice in these discussions is very important," said Kim Carstensen, the climate change director for WWF International.

Erasmus, from Yellow Knife in Canada's Northwest Territories about 300 miles (480 kilometers) south of the Arctic Circle, brings firsthand experience of climate change.

T

he caribou, or reindeer, herds are declining across North America and northern Europe, he said.

"We can't hunt because the ice is not frozen yet. Our hunters are falling through the ice, and lives are being lost," Erasmus told The Associated Press. This winter the normally dry area has been covered by thick, wet snow, further hampering hunting, he said.

Petroleum extraction from the Canadian tar sands is draining the underground water table and reducing the flow of the rivers northward, and the effects are felt hundreds of miles away, he said.

He is concerned that warmer winters will mean less luxurious fur on the muskrat and beaver that his people sell.

Nearly 40 years ago, he said, tribal elders noticed changes in the annual migrations of animals. The weather, which they could forecast three weeks in advance from animal behavior and the appearance of the sunsets, is now unpredictable.

Scientists have warned that conditions in the Arctic are a barometer of climate change. The region is warming faster than more temperate zones, and the seas are ice-free for longer periods. The melting of the permafrost threatens to release stored methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, U.N. scientists have reported.

Caribou News Nov 24 2008 "Caribou barometer"

Caribou 'barometer'
Winnipeg Sun - Canada
By PAUL TURENNE, SUN MEDIA So goes the North, so go the caribou; so go the caribou, so goes the North. That is the message an Ontario-based researcher will ...
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How to produce oil from ANWR and preserve it too
Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage,AK,USA
The chant evokes images of an Oklahoma-style land rush with wildcat drill rigs lined up ready to charge across the tundra at daybreak scattering caribou and ...
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Appeals court rules against Arctic drilling plan
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
... environmental review before concluding that harm to whales, caribou and other Arctic wildlife either would be insignificant or could be mitigated. ...
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Caribou News November 17 2008

Week in review Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage,AK,USA Slaughtering wolves on the Alaska Peninsula appears to have had the desired effect -- more caribou got a chance to live, according to biologists with the ... See all stories on this topic Environmentalists seek boreal forest protection Business Edge - Calgary,Alberta,Canada However, Wells counters that, despite the best efforts of industry, activity in the region threatens mammals such as the woodland caribou, which he says are ... See all stories on this topic Sarah Palin's support for aerial wolf killing may have merit Los Angeles Times - CA,USA Experts, citing the removal of predators as a major factor, say more caribou in the Southern Alaska Peninsula herd are surviving. ... See all stories on this topic Tracking the caribou By jobs(jobs) Three caribou from a larger herd that we saw in Denali National Park, Alaska. Look carefully at the one on the left. It has a belt around it's neck, with a box at the bottom. Most likely a tracking device. I didn't see it at the time, ... snaps from the frames of life - http://snapjobs.blogspot.com/ Taiga Net: Caribou Porcupine Caribou Population Model: Demo Versions ... Project Caribou: an educator's guide to wild caribou of North America · Human Role in Reindeer/ Caribou ... Portion of Fortymile caribou hunt closes Sunday at midnight Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fairbanks,AK,USA FAIRBANKS — The federal winter subsistence hunt for Fortymile caribou will close in part of unit 20E on Sunday at midnight because caribou from the Nelchina ... There's more to bike lanes than lost parking spots St. Catharines Standard - St. Catharines,Ontario,Canada Additional bike lanes are analogous to the caribou, a symbol of how we see and how we want our future to unfold. Those fighting the pipeline in favour of ... See all stories on this topic See all stories on this topic Wolf meddlers have been kept at bay Calgary Herald - AB, Canada With a combination of state-conducted wolf slaughter and no limits on wolf trapping, Alaska sought to increase moose and caribou populations. ... See all stories on this topic