Herds in the headlines

Caribou, industrial development, climate change, subsistence economies, the importance of traditional knowledge – ­these stories seem to be gaining ever more media prominence in Canada and other countries these days. Check out some articles that caught our attention in recent months.

2008

Reindeer run raises thousands for charity
United Press International
Feb. 25, 2008

In Anchorage, Alaska, the first Running of the Reindeer – modeled after Spain's Running of the Bulls – was a big hit for the city's Fur Rendezvous festival. The injury-free event saw 500 women and 500 men gallop down two city blocks alongside 12 charging caribou, raising thousands of dollars for two charities.

State keen to preserve reindeer operations
Aftenposten
Feb. 25, 2008

State officials say they'll heed warnings that reindeer operations will die out within 50 years, a result of changes such as real estate development, windmill projects and power lines that are pushing into reindeer grazing areas. Traditional reindeer operations are conducted mostly by Norway's indigenous Sami population.

Radioactive Remains: The forgotten story of the Northwest's only uranium mines
The Seattle Times
Feb. 24, 2008

In the Northwest United States, members of the Spokane Indian Reservation have conflicting feelings about the now-closed Midnite Uranium Mine that helped set off the atomic age. The mine, located 100 miles north, once provided Spokane tribe members with lots of good jobs, but the high rate of cancer since then have led members to believe their lands were poisoned.

Protesters furious over wolf kill
Edmonton Journal
Feb. 13, 2008

Two dozen protesters gathered in front of the Edmonton headquarters of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development called on the ministry to kill oil and gas development in the Alberta foothills, rather than kill wolves in the attempt to protect the endangered Little Smoky caribou herd.

Rare chance to collar caribou may not come again for years
The Arctic Sounder
Feb. 12, 2008

A 16-year-old Alaskan who joined other high school students to collar caribou from the Western Arctic Herd with biologists Kyle Joly and Jim Dau writes movingly about the experience, and the fierce competition for funding that limits the ability of scientists to collar the animals on a regular basis.

Doctoral student devises new way to study Neanderthals eating habits
Thaindian News
Feb. 8, 2008

A U.S. doctoral student says that his analysis of reindeer bones dating from around 65,000 to 12,000 years ago shows that early humans flocked to reindeer meat when summer temperatures dropped. J. Tyler Faith's discovery may improve our understanding of the eating habits of early humans.

N.L. gov't to spend $15.3 million on strategy to halt caribou herd decline
The Canadian Press
Feb. 7, 2008

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador will spend $15.3 million over the next five years developing a strategy to address declining numbers among woodland caribou herds. The funding will also build on earlier efforts looking at the role of caribou predators.

Caribou, songbirds could disappear from North: report
Edmonton Journal
Jan. 30, 2008

A Canadian Boreal Initiative report on the Mackenzie watershed states that unless strong conservation measures are put in place, caribou and sensitive songbirds could disappear from large parts of Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories as a result of industrial development.

2007

In search of the caribou
News/North
Dec. 10, 2007

A Dene leadership meeting that examined the territory's declining caribou numbers left delegates with many questions. Leaders passed a resolution to protect caribou herds and caribou calving grounds, and they requested a second caribou summit be held, similar to the January 2007 caribou summit in Inuvik.

Work begins on Porcupine caribou plan as report points to decline
CBC North
Oct. 18, 2007

Government and Aboriginal officials from the Yukon and Northwest Territories met in Inuvik to create a new management plan for the Porcupine caribou herd, just as a new Arctic report revealed that some caribou herds are shrinking. The process to develop a plan to manage the herd has been two years in the making. It's hoped a plan will be ready by spring 2008.

First Nation 'shocked' over Dempster caribou hunting changes
CBC North
Sept. 27, 2007

Vuntut Gwich'in First Nation leaders are demanding answers from the Yukon government, after it lifted long-standing rules restricting caribou hunting along the Dempster Highway.