• Defenders of Wildlife
Woodland caribou may receive habitat protections
FWS to decide critical habitat for rare caribou by 2012
WASHINGTON—After seven years of getting the cold shoulder from the Bush administration, woodland caribou may finally receive protections for the habitat they need to survive and recover, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced earlier this week.
Settling a longstanding legal petition filed by a coalition of conservation organizations in 2002, the Obama administration has agreed to review whether woodland caribou need habitat protections – pledging to have a draft decision ready by November 2011 and a possible final designation of critical habitat complete by 2012.
“After years of doing little for this critically endangered species, it’s time we protect the last habitat these magnificent animals have left,” said Mike Leahy, the Rocky Mountain region director for Defenders of Wildlife. “We are pleased the Fish and Wildlife Service is finally moving toward protecting the places which are crucial for survival of the woodland caribou.”
This settlement marks a sharp turn in the management of one of the nation’s most endangered species. Confined to borderlands between the Selkirk Mountains in northern Idaho and Canada, the U.S. population of woodland caribou is down to a single herd of as few as 45 animals. The Selkirk herd used to roam as far south as northern Idaho and into northwestern Washington state.
But recent surveys show that as few as three caribou have ventured south of the Canadian border each year. The rest of the herd has been effectively excluded from much of the U.S. portion of its habitat – over half of its entire range – by the combined effects of past logging and roads and heavy, ongoing recreational use. They also face similar threats in Canada.
“You can't protect woodland caribou without protecting the
places they live,” said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the
Center for Biological Diversity. “If we want to again see these animals roam our
forests, we need places free from excessive logging, snow mobiles and other
threats.”
Since 1984, the woodland caribou has been protected under
the Endangered Species Act, but has failed to recover because the little habitat
left to them remains largely unprotected. A critical habitat designation would
decrease pressures on areas that woodland caribou depend on by ensuring federal
actions do not disturb their habitat.
“It may be a long time before we see caribou roaming the lower-48 states as they did for thousands of years,” said Mike Petersen, the executive director of The Lands Council. “Though we may never again see as many caribou on the land as we did in the past, we have an obligation to ensure that there’s still a place for them in the wild.”
Learn more about what Defenders is doing to help woodland caribou.
The coalition of wildlife groups includes Defenders of Wildlife, Selkirk Conservation Alliance, The Lands Council and the Center for Biological Diversity.
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The Lands Council • Defenders of Wildlife •
Center for Biological Diversity
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