Current projects

Special Beverly stakeholders' workshop, and "Recipe for Recovery" action plan

In response to the Beverly caribou herd's major population decline, the BQCMB will host a special Beverly stakeholders' workshop in Saskatoon from February 23 to 25, 2010. In order to provide meaningful recommendations to governments, Aboriginal organizations and communities, the BQCMB must find out what monitoring and management actions are required to help the Beverly herd recover and increase in size, and to prevent a serious decline in the Qamanirjuaq herd. (Following a Government of Nunavut-led population survey of the Qamanirjuaq calving ground in June 2008, the herd is now believed to number around 345,000 animals, according to a preliminary draft population estimate. That’s down from 496,000, when the Qamanirjuaq caribou were last counted in 1994.)

The BQCMB must also find out how actions suggested to aid the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds can be put in place. What is needed is a plan of action that all stakeholders, including all communities that depend on subsistence harvest of these two herds, can and will support. The BQCMB has already started drafting suggestions for what it is calling its "Recipe for Recovery" action plan.

The Beverly stakeholders' workshop would bring together representatives from communities that have traditionally hunted Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou, BQCMB members and representatives from key organizations such as the NWMB, the NTI’s Wildlife Secretariat, the PAGC and the Porcupine Caribou Management Board. Participants would assess and discuss the BQCMB’s draft action plan and provide input for the final plan.

When finalized, the action plan would be sent to communities, governments, Aboriginal organizations, regulatory agencies and other organizations as recommendations for action. The plan would be carried out by governments, communities, the BQCMB and other stakeholders.

Read more about the BQCMB's draft "Recipe for Recovery" action plan in the Summer 2009 issue of Caribou News in Brief.

Reconnaissance surveys reveal major decline in Beverly herd population

According to evidence from the Government of the Northwest Territories' June 2007, June 2008 and June 2009 reconnaissance surveys, the herd’s numbers have dropped sharply. Although the size of the Beverly herd population is still unknown, in 2008, the number of cows seen on the Beverly calving ground nosedived from 5,737 in 1994 to 93. While official results from the June 2009 reconnaissance survey have not yet been published, fewer than half the number of breeding cows were counted on the Beverly calving ground in 2009 as were counted during the 2008 survey.

Various factors may be to blame for the population drop, and the exact cause may never be known. The decline may be part of a natural cycle. The herd may also have been affected by exploration and development, hunter harvest, changes in habitat (including winter range being lost to forest fires), parasites and diseases, predation and climate change, as well as some mixing between the Beverly and Ahiak caribou herds. Five other NWT barren-ground caribou herds – the Porcupine, Cape Bathurst, Bluenose West, Bluenose East and Bathurst – have all seen declines recently.

The BQCMB does not believe that the Beverly herd has abandoned its calving ground.
For more details about the status of the embattled Beverly herd, read the Summer 2009 issue of Caribou News in Brief.

Qamanirjuaq 2008 population survey results still pending

Official results from the June 2008 Qamanirjuaq herd population survey haven’t been announced yet. But preliminary results point to a herd that is smaller today than when it was last censused in 1994 and numbered about 496,000. The ratio of calves to cows has been falling over the past three years, according to spring composition surveys, but animals from this herd still appear to be plentiful, in good condition and having reasonable numbers of calves. The BQCMB played an instrumental role in helping partners and funding come together for the long-overdue Qamanirjuaq population survey.

Calling for the protection of caribou and caribou habitat

Despite the global economic downturn that will see reduced levels of mineral exploration on the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq ranges in 2009, human activity remains a concern because of its potential to disturb caribou, especially while caribou are on the sensitive calving and post-calving grounds. Levels of human activity – including mineral exploration and mining, hydroelectric power expansion, road construction, increased hunter access and growing communities – have reached an all-time high on the ranges.

Action is urgently needed to protect the caribou herds and their habitat, but because there's not enough recent data about the herds and how caribou are using their ranges, it's uncertain whether wise management decisions are being made. This is especially worrisome in light of groundbreaking developments being proposed – including what could become Nunavut’s first uranium mine, the Kiggavik mine and mill near Baker Lake.

In September 2004, the BQCMB released Protecting Calving Grounds, Post-Calving Areas and Other Important Habitats for Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou, a position paper that makes many recommendations for improving the protection of caribou and caribou habitat. With the increased levels of human-caused disturbance on the caribou ranges – particularly in Nunavut's Kivalliq region where most of the calving grounds are located – government policies aren't adequate to safeguard the herds' traditional calving grounds and other important habitats. The BQCMB – which has a long history of making strong recommendations on caribou and habitat – has recommended to governments that calving and post-calving areas be protected in permanent, legislated protected areas.

Since 2004, the BQCMB has routinely participated in review processes for proposed exploration and development projects on key seasonal caribou habitats in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and was instrumental, along with other like-minded groups, in helping residents of Lutselk’e fight to get the precedent-setting Ur-Energy uranium exploration application at Screech Lake, NWT rejected in 2007. The area in question was south of the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary on key Beverly and Ahiak caribou spring migration range.

In recent months, the BQCMB has participated extensively in the review of proposed development projects on the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq calving grounds, such as Uravan Minerals Incorporated’s Garry Lake proposal on the core Beverly calving ground, and AREVA’s majority-owned Kiggavik mine and mill operation. Both proposals are in Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region, near Baker Lake. All BQCMB submissions to regulatory agencies can be downloaded from www.arctic-caribou.com/publications_reports.html.

The BQCMB wants to work closely with communities, governments, industry and conservation agencies in order to acquire much-needed information about the caribou herds and their ranges, and to prescribe measures for caribou protection. Consultation with communities and other stakeholders has been taking place to see what Northerners think of the BQCMB's recommendations. The BQCMB has also distributed a plain language summary of its position paper in English, Inuktitut and Dene to communities and others.

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Community caribou projects

The BQCMB continues to target funding to community caribou hunts designed to provide youth with an opportunity to experience and learn from a caribou hunt, and possibly to furnish the BQCMB with valuable caribou body condition and harvest data. Often, elders, hunters and others give students guidance during these outings. Funding is available yearly for each caribou-range jurisdiction – Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut and NWT – for projects ideally geared to school-age youth.

So far, students from South Indian Lake, Arviat, Wollaston Lake and Lac Brochet have taken part in this program. For 2009, the BQCMB approved funds for hunts in Tadoule Lake, Lutselk’e, Fort Smith, Wollaston Lake, Arviat and South Indian Lake.
Read about the adventures of students who have already taken part in the BQCMB community caribou hunts program in Caribou News in Brief:

“Outdoor skills help youth cope with life” (South Indian Lake caribou hunt), Winter 2008/2009

“School caribou hunts”, news item in "Around the Range" column, (Arviat caribou hunt), Summer 2008

“Community caribou projects teach R-E-S-P-E-C-T” (Wollaston Lake caribou hunt and Lac Brochet elder interviews), July 2007.

Socio-economic evaluation shows Beverly and Qamanirjuaq harvest worth of $20 million yearly

A socio-economic report by Intergroup Consultants of Winnipeg was completed in 2008, revealing that the total annual net value of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou harvest is more than $20 million. Nunavut, by far, depends on these herds the most. The jurisdictional shares of harvest are:

Nunavut – almost $12 million

Manitoba – about $4 million

Saskatchewan – over $3 million

NWT – less than $1 million.

Most caribou hunted were from the larger Qamanirjuaq herd. The report, commissioned by the BQCMB in 2006, updates and expands on data about the two herds that were last analyzed in 1990 when the Government of the Northwest Territories assessed the domestic harvest. The Intergroup report, by comparison, determines the value of the domestic harvest and resident licensed hunting harvest using a similar meat sold in stores (beef) to calculate the value of caribou meat harvested. It also assesses the outfitting industry and the commercial sale of caribou meat, and strives to understand the social and cultural importance of caribou to Northerners.

The full report, Economic Valuation and Socio-Cultural Perspectives of the Estimated Harvest of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Herds, can be downloaded here. You can also read a story about the report in Caribou News in Brief.