Largest B.C. park in a decade set up to protect caribou herds

A major provincial park expansion will create a protection zone of almost 2,000 square kilometres for caribou and other species in northeastern British Columbia.

The Ministry of Environment says in a statement that the addition to the Klinse-za Park will make it the largest provincial park established in the province in a decade.

The park addition is the result of a partnership in 2020 between the province and the Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations, where they agreed to help stabilize and protect the threatened southern mountain caribou.

Klinse-za Park is located just west of Chetwynd, B.C., almost 1,100 kilometres north of Vancouver by road, and 700 kilometres by air.

The province says the number of caribou in B.C. fell by more than 55 per cent in the last century, mostly due to human-caused habitat disturbance, and there are fewer than 4,000 of the southern mountain species left.

However, there have been promising efforts to restore those numbers as First Nations, industry, the provincial and federal governments have partnered in initiatives and research that have helped bring numbers back up.

That work includes maternal penning — which involves capturing female caribou that are already pregnant and keeping them in a pen to protect the females and their calves from predation — habitat restoration and predator management, which includes killing wolves that have moved into the region. 

As a result, the Klinse-za caribou herd has grown from 36 caribou in 2013 to 138 today, the province says.

The expansion means two of the maternal penning sites for the caribou are now within park boundaries.

“That’s what caribou need: A large, intact landscape that has a predator-prey community that’s working as it’s supposed to,” said Clayton Lamb with Biodiversity Pathways, a non-profit wildlife research group.

“And what is not working for caribou is these disturbed or degraded landscapes where the predator-prey community gets out of alignment.”

The federal government has provided $46 million toward compensating industries and tenure holders affected by the park expansion, in addition to another $10 million to boost an economic diversification trust locally.

The expanded park will also protect other at-risk species, such as fishers, bull trout, grizzly and wolverines, as well as sacred cultural sites for Treaty 8 First Nations in the area.

It also builds on a commitment made by B.C, the federal government and First Nations to protect 30 per cent of the province’s land and water by 2030.

“The teachings were to leave no trace nor impact as you pass through the lands,” Chief Roland Willson of West Moberly First Nations said in a statement. “Times have changed and others have come seeking natural resources for economic development: forestry, oil and gas, large-scale hydroelectric, mining, and so on. They leave a much different footprint.” 

Saulteau First Nations Chief Rudy Paquette said in a statement that the park expansion is the latest example of work by Indigenous communities on caribou restoration.

“This is another step in the process by which we are proving that we can recover endangered species and protect the sacred lands of First Nations people, while also providing for healthy ecosystems and diverse economies,” Paquette said.

David Suzuki Foundation boreal project manager Rachel Plotkin said the park expansion comes as welcome news for conservationists, since northeastern B.C. has seen heavy industrial activity.

Plotkin said those activities often create seismic lines, well sites and logging roads that give predators easier access to caribou territory.

“All of the linear disturbances increase the sightlines for predators,” she said. “And then predators are more successful in killing caribou.

“If you are out in the winter sometimes and you find a path that’s been created for humans, it’s often also used by wildlife. So, wolves use the paths we created, and it increases their success rate in predation.”

Lamb, who is also the project scientist for the Nikanese Wah tzee Stewardship Society, said efforts by the two First Nations in the last decade included putting pregnant caribou into pens to protect them from predators. 

Calling the effort “probably Canada’s greatest conservation challenge,” he said the restoration of habitat will be crucial if the endeavour is to create self-sustaining caribou populations in the wild.

Announcements such as the Klinse-za Park expansion have began to turn the tide, he added.

“I think the narrative on caribou optimism changes by the decade,” Lamb said. “If you asked me that question a decade ago or more, it might have been fairly pessimistic.

“But in this case, given the partners, the level of protection and team success to date, we have an unprecedented opportunity to create a restored landscape for caribou that’s never been done before.”