In sharp decline and subject to significant habitat disturbance, the Gaspé and Charlevoix caribou populations risk disappearing in the short term, according to what emerges from new population inventories. The Legault government has postponed the implementation of a protection strategy for the species, but “exceptional measures” are planned to save the two isolated herds, which will largely end up in captivity.
The mountain caribou of the Gaspé, which constitute the last population of the species living south of the St. Lawrence, number no more than 32 to 36 animals, according to the most recent inventory published Thursday by the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune. and Parks (MFFP). In 2019, their declining herd was estimated at 40 animals, while inventories published using data from 2017 indicated the presence of around 75 animals.
According to MFFP experts, “the recruitment rate”, ie the presence of fawns, “does not allow the population to be considered as stable”. Result: “the mountain caribou population of the Gaspé still exists in a context of great precariousness due to the small size of the groups frequenting the three sectors, the low recruitment rate and the little exchange between these groups”.
The picture of the situation is even worse for the Charlevoix caribou herd, which remains in a very disturbed habitat and which must be sent entirely to captivity in the coming months. According to the MFFP inventories, it has only 17 animals, including one fawn. In the early 1990s, this isolated population numbered 125 individuals.
The disturbance of their habitat, in particular by the forest industry, is at the origin of this marked decline, according to what emerges from the inventory report of the MFFP. “Like other forest caribou populations in Quebec, the state of the Charlevoix population is a reflection of significant habitat loss and human disturbance of the forest landscape. The modification of the structure and composition of the stands, linked in particular to forest harvesting, has resulted in a modification of the predator-prey system, to the detriment of the woodland caribou, ”the ministry experts write.
Concretely, logging, in addition to destroying the old forests necessary to feed the caribou, facilitate the arrival of predators, which has the effect of increasing the mortality of young caribou.
Caribou in captivity
The animals from the Charlevoix region should therefore soon be sent into captivity, to a site set up by the MFFP. Enclosure planning is similar in Parc national de la Gaspésie, except that, in this case, two sites will be developed: one in the Mont Albert sector and one in the Mont McGerrigle sector.
The MFFP also plans to capture only pregnant females from the Gaspé Peninsula next winter. The females will be transported in captivity to protect the fawns from predators. They could then be released after a few weeks, or stay longer in captivity, depending on the success of this operation.
In a press release released Thursday, the MFFP qualified these projects as “exceptional protection measures” which are in addition to the “predator control program for isolated populations of Charlevoix, Gaspésie and Val-d’Or”.
Another isolated population of woodland caribou has already been placed in captivity, that of the Val-d’Or region. These caribou, who live in an area where the forest habitat has been severely disturbed by the logging and mining industries, have already been in captivity since March 2020. Seven animals were captured at that time, but one animal died in the area. ‘enclosure. These are the Val-d’Or caribou that the Liberal government wanted to send to the Saint-Félicien zoo in 2017.
According to Nature Québec, the Legault government is not doing what is necessary to prevent the disappearance of isolated herds of caribou. “If the government continues to offer only inadequate solutions such as enclosing and killing predators, the populations of Charlevoix and Gaspésie will disappear in a few years. We have no more time to waste with half measures, ”denounced Thursday its general manager, Alice-Anne Simard.
“The science is clear: we need to stop habitat destruction, and that inevitably means reducing logging in some areas. Nature Quebec is calling for a moratorium on logging in the critical habitat of populations in the most critical condition, including those of Charlevoix and Gaspésie, pending the tabling of the Strategy for woodland and mountain caribou ”, a added Ms. Simard, in a press release.
Deferral of protection
At best, there are only a few thousand woodland caribou in Quebec and the decline continues, according to MFFP inventories. Certain groups of deer are now in an “extremely precarious” situation and their long-term survival is described as “unlikely”.
The Legault government nevertheless decided, at the beginning of November, not to present this year a strategy aimed at protecting the various populations of woodland caribou in the province. No date is now mentioned by the ministry, which simply mentions a “strategy to come”.
Instead of a rescue plan for the species, the minister responsible for the MFFP, Pierre Dufour, has decided to set up an “independent commission” which will have to carry out, in the winter of 2022, “a series of regional public hearings ”in order to gather the opinions of the participants“ on two scenarios of adapted management of caribou habitat ”. This commission has no biologist, no expert in forest ecosystems and no expert on woodland caribou, even if this species is studied by several scientists in Quebec.
The mandate is to conduct public consultations “in certain regions” where woodland or mountain caribou are found, namely Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Côte-Nord, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Nord-du- Quebec and the Gaspé. All of these regions have a forestry industry.
Decline of the species
Meanwhile, the most recent inventories carried out by experts from the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks have shown that the situation continues to deteriorate for various populations.
For example, the aerial inventory carried out over 28,000 km2 in the Pipmuacan sector (covering the north of Saguenay − Lac-Saint-Jean and a portion of the North Shore), allowed the population to be estimated at only 225 animals. “Certain sectors hardly have any more caribou, contrary to what was observed in 2012”, can one read in the report of the ministry, which specifies that “the disturbances of the habitat” are too important, but also that ” the population is in an extremely precarious state and its capacity for self-sufficiency is unlikely under current conditions ”.
In other sectors, including those of Manicouagan and the Middle North Shore, experts have counted a few dozen to a few hundred animals, often in lower numbers than previous inventories. The same goes for the number of calves, that is, young caribou, an indicator that allows us to assess a population’s “recruiting” capacity. Overall, the MFFP estimated that there were 6,000 to 8,500 woodland caribou in Quebec during the last report, in 2012. This figure will certainly be lower when the next report is published, according to biologist Martin-Hugues St-Laurent, specialist. of the species.