http://www.spokesman.com/stori...Q7Ma2f9jTw2-sWFBUrS0

Six caribou in North Idaho and Washington – the last in the contiguous U.S. – will be relocated to Canada



By Eli Francovich
elif@spokesman.com
(509) 459-5508

Caribou, the Grey Ghosts of Idaho and Washington’s forests, will no longer roam the Lower 48.

After decades of work reintroducing the large ungulates into Idaho and Washington, Canadian wildlife officials decided to relocate the six remaining survivors in the United States farther north into Canada.

There, Canadian biologists hope to breed the animals in captivity at a pen north of Revelstoke, British Columbia, deep in the Canadian brush, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Friday.

Bart George, a wildlife biologist for the Kalispel Tribe, hopes the breeding project is successful and that the caribou population grows to a point where it could “spill over into the U.S.”

In 2009, George said the South Selkirk caribou herd had 46 animals and was “climbing at a pretty good rate every year.”

But wolves started to filter onto the landscape about that time, George said.

“That’s been our primary source of mortality that we’ve known about,” George said.

Logging roads and increased snowmobiling access also played a role . But in terms of direct mortality, cougars and wolves were the primary culprits.

“Predation is obviously the No. 1 factor,” George said. “That was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back at this point. All those other issues are concerns, but we don’t really understand how snowmobiling would affect the animals in the long term, other than we know it disrupts animals in the winter.”

He added, “Of the six collared animals that we collared in 2013, two were killed by wolves, one killed by cougars and one by an unknown mortality.”

In April, an aerial survey of the South Selkirk Mountain caribou herd found only three surviving members, all female. Over the summer one of those animals was killed by a cougar, George said.

Biologists and managers have known the animals were in trouble since 2012, George said. However, little was done.

“We really didn’t mobilize until it was too late,” he said.

Other herds in the range have “blinked out” in recent years. Full-scale recovery efforts began only recently, with Canada starting to control its wolf population in 2014 and maternal pen projects and population augmentation efforts starting only a year ago.

Canadian wildlife agencies have removed about 20 wolves since 2014.

Deep snow delayed the Kalispel Tribe’s maternal pen project and the enclosure was never used.

“We could potentially use that site in the future as a release site,” George said.

Although mountain caribou were listed as an endangered species in the U.S. in 1983, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the states of Washington and Idaho are not actively involved in the maternal pen project or controlling the caribou predators even though the caribou range extended south into Idaho and Washington.

“This is what extinction looks like, and it must be a wake-up call for wildlife and habitat managers in both Canada and the United States,” said Joe Scott, Conservation Northwest’s international programs director, in a news release. “While it comes as no surprise given the long decline of the only caribou herds that still roamed into northeast Washington and northern Idaho, today’s news marks the tragic end of an era.”

The South Selkirk caribou herd was the only one living in both the United States and Canada. It ranged through the high country along the crest of the Selkirk Mountains near the international border. The remaining 14 or so herds are all in Canada. It’s estimated that fewer than 1,400 mountain caribou are left in North America.

Known as Grey Ghosts because of how rarely they are seen, the South Selkirk caribou differ from caribou that wander the tundra farther north. These caribou use their wide feet to stand on top of deep snow and eat lichen that grows high in old-growth forests.

The mountain caribou have struggled as old growth forests have been thinned by logging and other industrial activities, George said. With thinner forests, the caribou have become more susceptible to predation.

Thinned forests have led to other problems, including vehicle strikes on Highway 3 in British Columbia.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote its first recovery plan for mountain caribou in the early 1980s and it was reworked in 1994. Working with Canadian agencies and First Nations, caribou from other regions were trapped and released in the area with some positive results.

But those positive results didn’t last, and, despite the Kalispel Tribe’s efforts, starting in 2012 the population has only declined.

“We talked about it, and we did a bunch of hand-wringing for the next six years until we ended up this position,” George said.

UPDATED: NOV. 3, 2018, 2:39 P.M.

Tags: caribou, outdoors, Sports, wildlife

That is sad in its own special way.

I live in Caribou county, clear at the bottom eastern corner of the state.
[it got it's name from the large numbers of caribou that used to live here]


what I find odd is a biologist went ahead and outright said it was wolves causing the problem.
but instead of removing the problem we go ahead and remove their food.
I guess the wolves will just go away now and not eat the deer or elk.

Many biologists live in their own little world of reality.

Predators need prey. No prey, no predators.

quote:

Predators need prey. No prey, no predators.

Not really, when wolves, lions, etc clean out the food they just move on to new areas. Usually to a rancher's land and start eating up the cattle, horses and sheep.

Losing caribou herds in the lower 48 is a damn shame as it was completely avoidable. If it was a snail darter, owls, etc. there would have been outrage.

I think the issue is that caribou are a big game animal hunted also by humans. Even though the L48 caribou were not in huntable numbers they are still viewed by non hunters, vegans, etc to be an unwanted resource that promotes hunting.

That's also why it's no big deal as to how the wolves, lions, bears are impacting elk and moose populations in the L48, specifically massive calf mortality. It's that same mind set when ranchers also experience predator losses in their herds. Urban people simply think animals like wolves are better than everything else.

quote:

Predators need prey. No prey, no predators.

quote:

Not really, when wolves, lions, etc clean out the food they just move on to new areas.

Both above the above quotes are accurate, the missing part is that the Predators need to be MANAGED alomng with the PREY.

That is the concept that too many of todays biologists and general public Do Not understand!!!!

You simply cannot build or maintain a healthy Ecosystem by managing only one aspect of it and those management practices have to include the effects of humans on that system, whether those humans are hunters/fishermen/campers/sight seers/bird watchers/ranmchers/farmers etc. etc. etc.

The problem is that instead of the people that are in situ are not taken into consideration, while the opinions of people living 1000 miles away with no real time knowledge or experience are the ones whose opinions/comments are taken seriously.

A few years ago my wife (MS. Wildlife Biology U of Mt.) and I worked on a haying crew two Summers on a ranch in Montana. This ranch was famous for the quality of their Red Angus stock.
Visitors from Asia would come to see the ranch and the stock. The ranch manager did not allow coyote hunting on the ranch because the coyotes kept the Columbia Ground Squirrel population down which was a bigger problem than a few coyotes. The ranch was also in an area with wolves, cougars and grizzly not to mention deer and elk. There is a coalition of ranchers and enviromentalists in that valley. Wolf depredation has not been a big problem because of cooperation by all the parties. The wolf people monitor the wolves and let the ranchers know when the wolves move onto their area. They also remove any dead livestock.
The coalition has worked very well. My wife and I saw more wildlife including all of the above on an almost daily basis than you would see in Yellowstone.
When we left they were working on a grizzly migration corridor out of the wilderness area to the North.
Management and cooperation works.

quote:

Management and cooperation works.

That is as it should be.

it ain't too hard to see more wild life than you see in yellow stone park, all you have to do is not go in/near the park to see deer and elk and Mtn. goats and moose and Mtn. sheep and coyotes and fox..

weird how the wolves just keep on radiating in ever widening circles away from that place though.

There was a TV show a few years ago about the long term effects of the Yellowstone wolves. Places like the Lamar Valley had become nothing but a big elk/bison pasture and the river was pretty much confined to a main channel. Now I guess because of the wolves effect on the then exploding elk population, there is more willow brush, less grass, more smaller animals like beaver, otter etc. and the river has become more braided. Healthier overall.
Not a big fan of the wolf reintroduction not because of the wolves but because the wolf people really lied to get what they wanted and the gov. helped them get away with it. We've always had wolves in the US ask any of the ranchers in Northern Montana. My ex B-in-law has a ranch just S.W. of Glacier N.P. At calving time he had plenty of predator visitors.

This is somewhat Biologist's Hocus Pocus. I was born and raised in the area these Caribou frequent. They have never been solely indigenous to the U.S. They are a part of a small Canadian herd that for as long as I can remember (70 years) have drifted back and forth across the U.S./ Canadian Border. Most of the ground is roadless and under consideration for wilderness designation. To best of my knowledge snowmobile activity in the area has been prohibited.

The fence pen raising was tried in the 1980's. I don't remember the exact number of animals relocated from Canada. I think it was around 45-50. As soon as the gate was opened they all headed back to Canada. The tracking process was not as sophisticated as it is today and the trackable caribou were predated by cougars and so the assummation was they were then extinct. The caribou then again did what they had been doing for who knows how long and began their border traverse again and became no longer extinct.

Begin round 2, which has just been explained by the Spokesman Review. There has always been a small local wolf pack in the mentioned area. What has changed is it's not a small local pack anymore. We have been told that Washington and Idaho have been subjected to an unexplained volunteer wolf migration into these 2 States in recent years. Many believe the wolves may have had help but that is denied by the alphabet agencies.

Regardless the law of unintended consequences may have taken place. It now seems the migratory wolves may actually cause this caribou herd too really become extinct. To help put this in perspective, prior to the new generation of wolves, the primary cause of death for this caribou herd was cars and trucks on the highway from Salmo B.C. to Creston B.C.

The Kalispell Tribes involvement is puzzling other than possible migratory wolf assistance.

Ya, but we live in La La land now.

Well contrary to what the biologist sometimes say, there are more than a few sightings of caribou just north of my place in an area of Northwest Montana known as the Yaak. Apparently they're back because there was an article about them in today's Kalispell newspaper. I have never seen one but I know a number of people that have.

https://www.dailyinterlake.com...in_northwest_montana

Nature will always find a way.

quote:

Originally posted by nobull00:
There was a TV show a few years ago about the long term effects of the Yellowstone wolves. Places like the Lamar Valley had become nothing but a big elk/bison pasture and the river was pretty much confined to a main channel. Now I guess because of the wolves effect on the then exploding elk population, there is more willow brush, less grass, more smaller animals like beaver, otter etc. and the river has become more braided. Healthier overall.

I have seen the same claims. I call B.S. Did you notice the lack of before and after photos? The wolf loves want us to believe that the wolves turned Yellowstone from a hell hole into a little slice of wildlife heaven. I'm not buying it...

The slate island herd only misses the mark by 50 miles.

Bitching about fish and game biologists? This on a blog published by a NW hunting and fishing reporter today.
"Wyoming F & G officials euthanize a mother grizzly and her two cubs that wandered out of their core area."
"Washington State F & G officials kill the last two of the Kettle River wolfpack."

Nobull, I would like to know the publication and author of that article. Something sound a little off. From reading your posts I can see where you might be understandingly bias. If your not trolling, I'm guessing you are well read into the predator situation. As to the situation in Washington State, You do not introduce a Apex Predator into a prey base that, for generations, has not known the predator. THe Elk in Idaho are an example. Whitetail in Wa. and Id. in the small town rural areas are becoming citizens and living within the so called civilization circles to avoid the predators. Yes, Management and Cooperation can work but not when one side is doing are the management and the other side is doing all the cooperating.

Wolf sympathizers worry me.

Bent, The source is peteheley.com. Pete is a local fishing and hunting blogger and puts out good detailed information weekly. His source was probably either a newsletter from Washington F&G or local papers. This week he put out some more news about Washington F&G taking steps to eradicate some more wolves in two other packs. As I've said before, I am not a wolf fan. I think the wolf advocates were outside the line with their introduction reasons and plan. The wolves were already here. That lie really messed up some lives. A few guides I know that hunted the Frank Church and Selway Wilderness lost their businesses. I have several friends besides my wife who are retired F&G people. Every one of them is a hunter/fisherman. I just get tired of the whining about biologists esp. from know nothing people that live in states with virtually no public lands and fish in mud puddles. Our salmon runs here in the PNW have been a disaster. The Pacific ocean has warmed up and that along with habitat destruction is the cause. The biologists are still working to reestablish the runs. Fishing clubs are trying with F&G assistance to rebuild habitat and one I belong to operates their own fish traps and brood rearing facilities. Mother nature is not easy to manipulate and there are failures as well as successes.
Not many whining about the biologists here. License cost, yes. We're all working together. The wolves are here lets deal with it.

quote:

You do not introduce a Apex Predator into a prey base that, for generations, has not known the predator. THe Elk in Idaho are an example. Whitetail in Wa. and Id. in the small town rural areas are becoming citizens and living within the so called civilization circles to avoid the predators. Yes, Management and Cooperation can work but not when one side is doing are the management and the other side is doing all the cooperating.

But that is just exactly what happened, the Feds were the ones that pushed the reintroductions, without really getting input from the state Wildlife Agencies.

The other problem is that most of the impetus for reintroducing wolves was brought about by pressure from people living on the other side of the country.