In this issue ...

SURVEYS THE PRIORITY WITH COLLARING UNDERWAY

FINDING COMMON GROUND WITH MINES

HAVE YOU SEEN CARIBOU BEING DISTURBED?

AROUND THE RANGE

PRO-URANIUM POSITION ELICITS GRAVE CONCERNS

STRIVING FOR HEADWAY ON CARIBOU PROTECTION

CONSULTATION SHUT-OUT “VERY DISAPPOINTING”

OBSTACLES CONFRONT LAND USE PLANNING

PEOPLE AND CARIBOU

PUBLISHER'S BOX

SURVEYS THE PRIORITY WITH COLLARING UNDERWAY

Governments, which are responsible for population surveys, have not counted the herds since 1994 when the Qamanirjuaq herd stood at roughly 496,000 and the Beverly herd at 276,000. Since then, mineral exploration activity has skyrocketed on the caribou ranges, new roads in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have opened the gates to southern hunters, and growing caribou-range communities are adding to the harvesting pressure on the herds. The Beverly herd is thought to be close to its sustainable harvest limit, according to the BQCMB’s harvest calculation formula.

“The GNWT (Government of the Northwest Territories) is committed to conducting a photographic survey of the Beverly herd in June 2007,” hopefully in conjunction with a survey of the Qamanirjuaq herd, says South Slave regional biologist and BQCMB member Deb Johnson.

Should that happen, “there’ll need to be two complete crews,” predicts Kivalliq regional biologist Mitch Campbell. “There’s just no way we’re going to be able to have one crew do both herds unless we’re extremely lucky.” The caribou calving period in June lasts about two weeks “and that’s about how long a survey can take for one herd.”

The surveys, about $500,000 total, would be funded by various partners, and the BQCMB will collaborate with governments and others to help governments obtain the needed funds.

Mixing thwarts Beverly effort

In early March of this year, government staff from NWT, Nunavut and Manitoba deployed satellite collars. A reconnaissance survey to locate Beverly animals was done before collaring. Abundant Qamanirjuaq caribou were easily found near communities, though.

At the same time, Johnson and a capture crew from Diversified Environmental Services scoured southeastern NWT, about 250 kilometres north of Stony Rapids in Saskatchewan. Affixing 20 new collars to what were believed to be Beverly cows, Johnson later discovered the caribou came from a mix of herds. Bathurst, Ahiak and Qamanirjuaq caribou herd ranges overlap with the Beverly herd’s winter range. As animals headed to their traditional calving grounds, satellite-furnished location data showed only six collared caribou were from the Beverly herd, 12 were from the Ahiak herd and one was a Qamanirjuaq cow. (The 20 th animal died in late March, presumably from wolves near Wholdaia Lake, says Johnson.)

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has pledged to buy another 14 collars to bring the Beverly herd’s collared sample size up to 20. “We’re also looking at alternative times to put the collars out to make sure that we’re going to end up with more Beverly animals,” Johnson says. Just when another satellite collaring effort would go ahead is still being decided. A planned reconnaissance survey of the Beverly herd did not take place this summer due to limited GNWT staffing.

Maps tracking the Beverly caribou’s movements will be posted on the GNWT Wildlife Division website (www.nwtwildlife.com), with a two-week delay on locations. Check out the BQCMB’s website (www.arctic-caribou.com) for a new animated map, courtesy of Nunavut’s Department of Environment, tracking some caribou from the Qamanirjuaq, Lorillard and Wager herds, as well as one or two Beverly cows.

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FINDING COMMON GROUND WITH MINES

“A very productive meeting for our first effort” is how BQCMB secretary-treasurer Ross Thompson sums up a May meeting in Saskatoon that he and WWF-Canada president emeritus Monte Hummel had with representatives from uranium mining firms Cameco, Areva (formerly Cogema) and Titan Uranium to discuss caribou conservation issues.

“We don’t want to do anything that will ultimately impact the ability for the caribou to reproduce,” says Cameco sustainable development director Jamie McIntyre.

“There’s 50 companies exploring for uranium in northern Saskatchewan as we speak. As soon as you get that level of activity, it’s really important that we step back both as an industry and as government and just make sure we’re managing our affairs responsibly.”

Thompson says the mining companies “are going to see what they can contribute, financial and otherwise,” for satellite collaring data collection. The companies were also asked to help push for calving ground surveys for the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds in 2007.

McIntyre adds that with a better understanding of where the caribou now calve, “there’s lots of things we can do to make sure we’re not disturbing them or at least keeping our disturbance of the caribou down to an absolute minimum,” such as rescheduling airborne surveys.

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HAVE YOU SEEN CARIBOU BEING DISTURBED?

There's lots of hustle and bustle these days on the caribou ranges – as of February, companies and individuals held more than 350 mineral rights on the calving grounds of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds alone.

Across the caribou ranges, mining industry staff and contractors fly in and out by helicopter, truck in supplies, and more. Caribou are upset by things like low level flying and loud noises, and are especially vulnerable to disturbances during calving and post-calving. Cows need to feed for an uninterrupted period in order to produce milk until calves can forage themselves about three weeks after birth.

It's important for the BQCMB to find out when caribou have been bothered by human activity, and of special concern are activities on calving and post-calving areas, and near important water crossings. Research has found that when caribou are disturbed, they move away from the disturbance. This increases stress, activity and possible separation of calves from cows, all using up more energy.

Northerners who spend a lot of time outdoors, like hunters, can help the BQCMB by picking up some of the Board's Observation Cards to fill out while out on the land. These handy cards are available from the local office of your territory or province's environment department as well as from BQCMB members. Or phone BQCMB secretary-treasurer Ross Thompson at (204) 467-2438 for cards.

The cards, small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, come in English, Inuktitut or Dene, and ask things like roughly how far the caribou were from the disturbance witnessed, and what their behaviour was like before and after the disturbance.

Observation Cards can also be printed from the BQCMB's website. Once you have filled in your cards, mail them back to the addresses stated on the card. Or click on www.arctic-caribou.com to fill out an online submission form.

By telling the BQCMB what you have seen happen to caribou, you're helping efforts to change the way developments take place on the caribou ranges so that the herds can continue to live undisturbed.

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AROUND THE RANGE

Springing into action
Four priorities top the list of action plans to be developed to accompany the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Plan 2005 – 2012 . Buying additional satellite collars and placing them on the Beverly herd is Number One (only six of 20 collars were deployed on Beverly animals during a March 2006 satellite collaring initiative because several herds were intermixed on the Beverly herd’s winter range). Ensuring calving ground surveys for the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds go ahead in 2007 comes next, followed by fall composition surveys and spring composition surveys (annual recruitment surveys) for both herds. Then the BQCMB will tackle its next set of priorities: collecting information on caribou body condition, collecting harvest data, and conducting projects involving communities. This last could be accomplished while collaring more Beverly animals and/or doing the calving ground surveys of both herds.

Abandoned mines clean-up
The governments of Canada and Saskatchewan are close to signing a cost-sharing agreement to clean up certain abandoned uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan. During the Cold War, nearly 50 uranium mines and refineries operated there. Prior to the 1980s, mining activities were not regulated by today’s strict standards. Most site owners abandoned their operations, leaving old buildings and toxic materials behind.

Gunnar is at the top of the clean-up list, along with Lorado (Encana Corporation, a private company that owns part of Lorado, will chip in for costs, too). Both sites are near Uranium City and on the winter range of the Beverly caribou.

Keith Cunningham, a senior industry analyst with Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, says his government will prepare detailed site assessments in 2006 to develop decommissioning and reclamation plans to submit to environmental regulatory agencies. When clean-up starts depends on the level of work involved, and environmental approvals.

Road reaction
Consultations between January and April in 15 communities in Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region and northern Manitoba discovered most people were positive about a 1,200-kilometre winter road linking the two jurisdictions, but that “caribou is a universal concern,” says biologist and SNC-Lavalin Inc. subcontractor Ben Hubert. The road, eventually to be an all-season road, would connect Rankin Inlet to Manitoba’s all-weather road system at Lynn Lake, Thompson or Gillam. The Port of Churchill would also be linked. Bad weather nixed a consultation in Whale Cove but study team members intend to return. For now, they’re analyzing issues following information gathered from communities and doing a technical evaluation.

BQCMB meetings
The annual fall get-together in Winnipeg has been moved up to Nov. 7-9 in order to accommodate schedules and clinch available hotel rooms before Grey Cup fever hits Winnipeg later that month. In the spring of 2007, the BQCMB will find itself in Thompson, Manitoba.

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PRO-URANIUM POSITION ELICITS GRAVE CONCERNS

The March 5, 2006 draft policy and consultation documents, penned by NTI’s Lands Policy Advisory Committee, don’t adequately prove “that ‘the use of nuclear energy to produce electricity is safe, environmentally-friendly and necessary’ . . . or that exploration and mining of uranium in Nunavut will result in positive net benefits for Nunavummiut,” writes BQCMB chairman Jerome Denechezhe in a May 1, 2006 letter to NTI.

In this and an earlier April 13 letter, the BQCMB lists more than 20 concerns about the documents, which were distributed to government departments, Inuit and Nunavut organizations, uranium mining companies and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The BQCMB was not consulted, but obtained a copy of the files.

“We have received (the BQCMB’s) comments, and they will be considered,” relays NTI communications director Kerry McCluskey. “The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is the main wildlife management organization in Nunavut, and they have assured us that they will be commenting on the draft policy also.”

Uranium fears voiced before

But Nunavut is also home to most of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds’ calving and post-calving areas, and communities on the caribou ranges – from Black Lake in Saskatchewan to Baker Lake and Arviat in Nunavut – have voiced fears about uranium mining before. In 1989, after listening to Baker Lake residents and hunters from other communities worried about the effects a uranium mine would have on caribou, the BQCMB recommended governments not approve Urangesellschaft Canada Limited’s proposal for developing the Kiggavik uranium mine near Baker Lake (governments later heeded this recommendation).

In fact, the outcry spurred NTI to indicate on its Exploration Agreements with mining companies that it does not grant the right to explore for and mine uranium (and thorium) on subsurface Inuit-owned land.

Nunavut mostly Crown lands

Now, given that certain conditions are met, “NTI supports uranium mining in Nunavut,” says the March 2006 draft policy. Although subsurface Inuit-owned land amounts to only two per cent of Nunavut’s land mass, the NTI draft policy states that “NTI has an interest in all matters that impact the lives of Inuit. Thus, this policy includes NTI’s position on uranium mining in general for all of Nunavut.”

Yet it is INAC that has jurisdiction for Crown lands, the vast bulk of the territory. “Your policy should make it clear that NTI does not have the mandate to dictate policy that applies to all lands and waters of Nunavut,” says the BQCMB’s May 1 letter to NTI.

According to Spencer Dewar, manager of land administration with INAC’s Nunavut office, INAC has no specific policy on uranium exploration in Nunavut, and under the Canada Mining Regulations, must issue prospecting and land use permits to companies that provide complete and accurate applications following all rules and regulations.

Dewar adds that if the proposed exploration activity is in a region with an approved land use plan, the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) must first decide if the application conforms to the land use plan.

As the BQCMB points out to NTI, the Keewatin Regional Land Use Plan prohibits uranium development until “the NPC, NIRB, the NWB and the NWMB have reviewed all of the issues relevant to uranium exploration and mining” and, the plan also states, until “any future proposal to mine uranium (is) approved by the people of the region.”

The BQCMB notes other problems:

• NTI’s draft consultation document and uranium policy’s one-sided viewpoint won’t allow NTI and RIOs to really weigh the pros and cons
• there’s not enough information about the potential impacts of radioactivity released into the environment
• the documents stress that uranium is a clean energy choice that helps avoid climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions – but the fact that uranium exploration, mining and transportation will use fossil fuels and churn out lots of greenhouse gas emissions is never acknowledged.

Click here for a complete list of the BQCMB's concerns with NTI's proposed
uranium policy.

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STRIVING FOR HEADWAY ON CARIBOU PROTECTION

The BQCMB still hopes to meet with the Baker Lake and Arviat hunters and trappers organizations (HTOs) to get community feedback on recommendations from the Board’s 2004 position paper, Protecting Calving Grounds, Post-Calving Areas and Other Important Habitats for Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou. Meetings with the Kivalliq Wildlife Board and Nunavut Wildlife Management Board are also a priority.

BQCMB consulting biologist Leslie Wakelyn initially met with the Baker Lake HTO board in October 2005 but because some members were not present, the full HTO board was to consider later whether they would support the BQCMB’s recommendations in principle. Poor weather halted a planned trip to Arviat at the same time to meet with that community’s HTO and regional NPC staff.

Baker Lake has been the hub of intense development pressures lately and as can be seen by comments raised at the final Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) hearing of the proposed Meadowbank gold mine in late March this year, many organizations are counting on the economic developments the mine promises to bring. (NIRB’s website, nirb.nunavut.ca, has hearing transcripts.)

Statistics Canada’s 2001 Census pegs unemployment in Baker Lake at more than 26 per cent, and people are said to be afraid to speak out against projects that could bring jobs to the community (see “NTI think they know the answers”).

On a different note, the BQCMB will write once more to the ministers of Nunavut’s Department of Environment, NWT’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Saskatchewan Environment, Manitoba Conservation and INAC, urging them to follow up and take action on the recommendations proposed in the BQCMB’s 2004 position paper. The Board will be asking what specific plans each government has made or will be making to protect the caribou herds and their habitats.

The BQCMB will also write a letter of support to NWT’s Environment and Natural Resources, lauding its caribou management blueprint, Caribou Forever – Our Heritage, Our Responsibility. A Barren-ground Caribou Management Strategy for the Northwest Territories, 2006 – 2010. The Strategy identifies numerous field projects and other work that would greatly increase current knowledge of the health of the Beverly caribou. However, no specific work is outlined to achieve protection of caribou habitats.

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CONSULTATION SHUT-OUT “VERY DISAPPOINTING”

After five years in the works, the Nunavut Mineral Exploration and Mining Strategy should be published by early October, says Gordon MacKay, Nunavut’s director of minerals and petroleum resources, Department of Economic Development and Transportation.

An update of the Strategy’s progress, available at www.nunavutminingsymposium.ca, lists numerous organizations that were consulted. The BQCMB, however, is not among them.

“There’s no more consultations planned for the Strategy,” MacKay told Caribou News in Brief in late June. Nunavut members on the BQCMB were consulted in the capacity of their own organizations, says MacKay (in this case, Nunavut’s Department of Environment and the Nunavut Regional Office of INAC) and there was a consultation in Baker Lake, although MacKay didn’t know if BQCMB community members were in attendance.

MacKay also said his department “had a consultation that involved the World Wildlife Fund.” WWF-Canada is an active BQCMB supporter.

BQCMB secretary-treasurer Ross Thompson called MacKay’s comments “very disappointing.”

“The Board is not the government reps, the Board is not the WWF,” he stressed. “We provide a collaborative viewpoint. Our understanding was that industry was to be consulted first, and now was not the chance to give our input. We were anxiously awaiting our chance to input, and now we’ve missed that chance.”

WWF-Canada president emeritus Monte Hummel, during a May 2005 consultation in Ottawa, stressed that Nunavut, with its lack of protected areas, should develop a Conservation Areas Strategy in parallel with the Nunavut Mineral Strategy. “I’m not very hopeful,” Hummel told Caribou News in Brief. “It’s a very hostile agenda to protected areas and very aggressively friendly to mining companies.”

When asked how the Nunavut government’s mining strategy ranks with NTI’s mining policy – a policy that, according to NTI documents, “presents NTI’s position on mining on all lands in Nunavut” – MacKay says that “Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., on Inuit-owned subsurface land, have total say on what happens on the lands that they control” whereas the government of Nunavut is a public government. “NTI has a tremendous influence on what we do and how we do it. They’re a very positive and forward-looking organization that works hard with us.”

Ultimately, though, INAC still manages Nunavut’s Crown lands, which account for most of the territory.

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OBSTACLES CONFRONT LAND USE PLANNING

With no funding for two years now from Saskatchewan Environment – a key partner in the multi-party Athabasca Land Use Planning process – the Athabasca Interim Advisory Panel and Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) have asked the BQCMB for a show of support.

The first of three planning stages should be submitted to provincial Cabinet for review in 2007, says PAGC land use planning department project co-ordinator Diane McDonald. Stage I covers a 50-kilometre wide corridor encompassing the Wollaston Lake winter road to Black Lake, Stony Rapids and Fond du Lac. The combined Stage II/III covers a much larger area, running from Saskatchewan’s borders with Alberta, NWT and Manitoba south to the Athabasca Sand Dunes and Cree Lake area.

The BQCMB will comply with the PAGC’s request to write to the government of Saskatchewan on four issues, including a request for a development freeze on all lands and the withdrawal of Crown minerals until the completion and implementation of the Stage II/III Land Use Plan, and urging adequate funding for the Panel in order to complete and implement the Stage II/III Land Use Plan before the Wollaston Lake road is finished.

Peter Brook, also of PAGC’s land use planning department, says Saskatchewan Environment cutbacks along with the province’s “very active support for uranium development,” intense levels of mineral exploration and mining industry opposition “around protected areas planning for any land use policies that may restrict the current approach to mineral exploration” combine to hurt land use planning. Nonetheless, with the financial help of environmental groups, Stage II/III work has started and the focus this year is on protected areas planning.

Meanwhile, efforts to update the Kivalliq regional land use plan remain stalled. The government of Nunavut withdrew from NPC land use planning processes in January 2005, stating that the Nunavut government, federal government, NPC and NTI must first establish current board planning policies, objectives and goals for the Nunavut Settlement Area according to section 11.4.1 (a) of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Adrian Boyd, NPC’s director of policy development, says NPC will be moving talks on this ahead in the early fall and hopes to resolve the matter by the end of 2006.

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PEOPLE AND CARIBOU

Elytook and Angalik met their new BQCMB colleagues in Prince Albert this past May at a meeting which drew, among others, Prince Albert Grand Council vice-chief Don Deranger, Fond du Lac chief Victor Fern, and Board alternate members Pierre Robillard of Black Lake, Joe Martin of Fond du Lac and George Tsannie of Wollaston Lake.

Earlier in the meeting, NTI associate director of wildlife Bert Dean described NTI’s consultation process for its draft uranium policy, and WWF-Canada president emeritus Monte Hummel outlined the latest efforts of his group, working with Lutselk’e and Baker Lake, to link the Queen Maud Gulf Bird Sanctuary and the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary with adjacent proposed special management areas in a 50-million-acre protected stretch of land. SNC-Lavalin Inc.’s Mike Patterson recapped developments with the Manitoba-Nunavut road route study.

Two Fond du Lac Grade 12 students, Trevor Olson and Craig Adam, got a taste of caribou management when they sat in on the BQCMB’s May meeting in Prince Albert. The two, chaperoned by Fond du Lac councillor Georgie McDonald, travelled to P.A. as potential youth delegates to the BQCMB, an attempt to involve young up-and-coming hunters and wildlife managers who could eventually replace long-time Board members.

Caribou News in Brief is funded by the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board. It is produced twice a year by M.E.S. Editing and Writing Services. ISSN 1489-3436. Opinions expressed are those of the editor and contributors. Back issues available at www.arctic-caribou.com and in microform from Micromedia Limited. All comments and suggestions are welcome, and may be sent to:

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