The Mountain Caribou in Managed Forests Program: Integrating forestry and habitat management in British Columbia

Abstract

Caribou in southeastern and east central British Columbia generally use old-growth forests rather than clearcuts or immature stands. During winter, they subsist on arboreal lichens, which are most abundant in old growth. The Mountain Caribou in Managed Forests program was initiated to adress the question: can forest stands be managed, through silvicultural systems and habitat enhancement techniques, to provide both timber and caribou habitat? The program includes radiotelemetry, habitat capability mapping, habitat management trials, and development of an integrated strategy. The management trials are aimed at maintaining arboreal lichens and other key habitat attributes in managed stands. The strategy development component involves wildlife biologists and foresters in developing and implementing solutions to logging-caribou conflicts.

Winter distribution of woodland caribou in relation to clear-cut logging in west-central Alberta

“…Declines of woodland caribou populations following timber harvest within their range have been suggested on the basis of limited data (Bergerud 1974;Hristienko 1985;Edmonds 1991;Cumming 1992; Rettie and Messier 1998). Across Canada, wildlife and forest managers face conflicts in their attempts to integrate caribou habitat needs with timber harvest (Racey et al 1991;Stevenson et al 1991;Cumming 1992;Hervieux et al 1996). Although a few studies have documented shortterm changes in movements and distribution in response to timber harvesting (Chubbs et al 1993), simulated oil and gas exploration (Bradshaw et al 1997), and haul-road activity (Cumming 1998), the long-term effects on caribou distribu-tion and, more importantly, on population response to habitat loss and disturbance are not well documented.…”

Successful and unsuccessful attempts to resolve caribou management and timber harvesting issues in west central Alberta

“…Together with reports such as Racey et al (1991) and Stevenson et al (1991), we hope that a description of our activities in WCA may be of some value to those facing similar issues in other areas.…”

How can leaf-litter from different species growing in short rotation coppice contribute to the soil nutrient pool?

“…Our second finding concerns the status of Pinus contorta as a key host tree for establishment of high Bryoria abundance in stands as young as 55 or 60 yearsa situation in marked contrast to that of all other local host trees on which, at least in forest settings, Bryoria requires 120 to 150 years to develop comparable loadings Stevenson et al, 2001). In this connection it is worth noting that wintering DSC have been shown to target Bryoria on windthrown Pinus during periods when reduced hair lichen availability in the subalpine forces them down to mid elevations (Kinley et al, 2006).…”

“…DSC were formally designated as endangered in Canada in 2014 (COSEWIC 2014). The ultimate driver of DSC decline is the ongoing loss of oldgrowth to clearcut logging (Antifeau 1987;Stevenson et al, 2001;Apps and McLellan, 2006;Serrouya et al, 2007;Wittmer et al, 2007). Bergerud and Elliot (1986) suggested that winter forage availability is not limiting to DSC population dynamicsan inference subsequently questioned by nutritional ecologists (Brown et al, 2007;Denryter et al, 2022) and, in light of subsequent extreme habitat loss (Coxson et al, 2020;Palm et al, 2020), seemingly at variance with the finding that these caribou need continuous access to hair lichens in "above average" loadings in order offset the energetic costs of foraging in late winter (Rominger et al, 1996).…”