It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. To protect the woodland caribou, Quebec is reduced to placing the animals in enclosures… or trapping the wolves that threaten them.
Desperate, short-sighted strategies. The equivalent of throwing a box of bandages at a patient who is bleeding out.
The woodland caribou were declared vulnerable in 2005. Populations are declining across the province.
In Val-d’Or, the herd numbered only seven individuals living in enclosures. In Charlevoix, an enclosure is also being planned to save the twenty or so caribou that remain. A clear admission that the forest no longer suits them …
In the meantime, Quebec is hiring wolf trappers to limit the damage.
A real recovery plan? The Legault government has just pushed it back into 2023. The pretext: it is still looking for the causes of the decline. For that, he has just launched an “independent commission”.
That too might be funny if it weren’t so sad. Because after years of study, we do not need a commission to unravel the great mystery of the decline of the woodland caribou.
The main cause is the disturbance of its habitat by the forest industry.
It is not a presumption tossed in the air. It is demonstrated by science. Quebec researchers have published research on this subject in the world’s largest scientific journals.
Biologists who devote their careers to the study of this animal are also at the end of their patience.
“We could talk for hours about all the pieces of the puzzle that we have been able to scientifically demonstrate between forest management and the decline of the woodland caribou. We understand the mechanism from A to Z ”said Martin-Hugues St-Laurent, at the University of Quebec at Rimouski, who has been studying woodland caribou for 15 years.
“We know more than enough to act. It’s frustrating: we offer solutions, but we are not listened to, ”adds Daniel Fortin, of Université Laval, who has been researching woodland caribou since 2004.
The case is however explained simply. By cutting down trees, the forestry industry promotes the regrowth of vegetation that is easier to eat for moose. These flock to the cutting areas, dragging predators in their wake. Wolves, in particular, take advantage of forest roads to hunt more effectively. And he also attacks the caribou, more fragile than the moose.
These explanations, the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks prefers to pretend not to understand them. He is now expanding the field of study to include reindeer from Lapland. He wonders if there might not be a way to blame climate change.
In short, it creates a diversion. Faced with the obvious, it feeds doubt. It is reminiscent of the strategies of the tobacco lobby a few decades ago.
The Ministry has closed some forest roads, but this is not part of any large-scale plan. We also preserve clumps from cutting… but we increase the total volume of wood that can be harvested. The proof that this is not working is that the caribou continue to decline.
Protected areas would help. But here we can see the tragic effects of concentrating them in the north of the province, leaving the bulk of the boreal forest to companies.
Faced with Quebec’s inaction, Innu communities and the Society for Nature and Parks are preparing lawsuits to force Ottawa to intervene. The sign of a glaring lack of leadership.
Of course, reconciling industry and wildlife protection is difficult. But we have to tackle the issue head on instead of ignoring the facts if we want to find solutions.
In this story, the caribou is the canary in the mine. The symbol that something is wrong in our forests. It will affect many other species. And should concern those who live from these forests.
Quebec is maneuvering to save time. The caribou have no more.
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