By Bryan Eneas

Barren-ground caribou decision will take time

Sep 17, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Earlier this month the federal government announced they would be conducting consultations through Northern Saskatchewan ahead of potentially changing the status of barren-ground caribou to “threatened.”

According to Keri McFarlane, a wildlife biologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada was part of the team who spoke with residents of Northern Saskatchewan, the process is in the preliminary stages.

“This is just a proposal; we’re just consulting with communities on what their thoughts are regarding this listing,” McFarlane said, adding they wanted to hear what the possible impacts may be, what the benefits of changing the status could be, or any other information which may be important before changing the status of barren-ground caribou formally.

She said community consultations are one step in the process of potentially changing the animal’s status.

“At the moment, these consultations will continue for the next few months,” McFarlane said. “This is an extended consultation, we’re taking the time to consult as needed there.”

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She said she and her team are still compiling the results from the consultations earlier this month. That information will then be sent off to Environment and Climate Change Canada for review.

After the consultation period, the government will have to assess the data and decide if the status of barren-ground caribou will change. McFarlane estimated the final decision could be made by 2020.

Should the animal’s status change to “threatened,” a wildlife recovery plan would have to be developed.

McFarlane said any such plan would be developed in co-operation with Indigenous communities and stakeholders alike.

“The idea behind that would be to outline broad strategies for helping the species at risk, for helping barren-ground caribou,” McFarlane said.

McFarlane said in order to become eligible to be listed on the Wildlife Species At Risk list, an external committee of experts assesses the species in question using the most relevant information biological information. Part of the assessments include collecting traditional knowledge from Indigenous communities.

Earlier this month, the Beverly Qamanirjaq Caribou Management Board met with representatives from Environment and Climate Change Canada where they raised their own questions and concerns with officials. The management board lauded the government’s efforts in consultation, however they stated they still have questions and concerns, particularly about what changing the status of barren-ground caribou would mean to those who harvest the animal’s meat traditionally.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas