Advocates blast plan for managing caribou

SPOKANE — British Columbia might abandon recovery efforts for some smaller herds of caribou, including five of the most-imperiled herds that roam mountainous backcountry along Canada's border with Washington, Idaho and Montana, according to an early version of a government proposal.

Caribou advocates warned that if Canadian herds aren't protected, Idaho caribou could disappear.

"The international transborder herd would be written off for extinction," said Joe Scott with Conservation Northwest of Bellingham. "That's totally and completely unacceptable."

Copies of the confidential document began circulating among the region's conservation groups last week. Five options are spelled out.

The most aggressive management plan would attempt to recover all 12 herds of mountain caribou in the province. Two of the options would abandon the five smallest herds, including the groups in the southern reaches of the Selkirk and Purcell mountain ranges.

Nothing will be decided until next month, said Pat Bell, British Columbia's minister of lands and agriculture.

"It is only for comment purposes and consultation purposes. It is not a decision document," Bell told the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, from his office in Victoria. "We want all options on the table so the public can comment on those."

Fewer than 1,700 mountain caribou live in southeastern British Columbia. Many of the herds have fewer than 50 animals — and only three of the animals are thought to live in Idaho.

The number of mountain caribou has dropped in recent years, and some experts worry the animals will be extinct within 20 years unless quick action is taken. Mountain caribou are considered a different subspecies than the more-numerous caribou that live in arctic regions and boreal forests.

Bell said the province is taking the risk of mountain-caribou extinction "very seriously." Logging has been halted in some temperate rainforests favored by caribou, and business permits for backcountry recreation operators on roughly 2.5 million acres of habitat have been suspended.

"Abandoning herds should not be an option at all," said Candace Batycki, a Nelson, B.C.-based activist.

The southernmost herds, including the herd with a few animals in Idaho, face the toughest odds, according to caribou experts. A report issued by the Canadian government cites logging, predators, winter recreation and global warming as leading factors in the decline.

Scientists say backcountry skiing, snowmobiling and other tourism scare the notoriously shy ungulate. Earlier this year, a coalition of conservation groups in the Inland Northwest filed a lawsuit seeking to restrict snowmobile access on 450,000 acres in far Northern Idaho.