As required by the Sahtú Dene and Métis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, Section 13.8.21 (b), the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board conducted a public hearing 21-23 November 2007 in Fort Good Hope, NT to hear from all affected and interested parties about establishing a Total Allowable Harvest to reduce harvesting on the Bluenose-West caribou herd. The hearing provided a wide range of interested parties an opportunity to express their views on barren-ground caribou management in the Sahtu Settlement Area. Information related to the hearing can be found on the SRRB’s Public Registry at: www.srrb.nt.ca.

The Sahtu Renewable Resources Board provided the following recommendations concerning a Total Allowable Harvest and Sahtu Needs Level for the Bluenose-West herd as well as additional recommendations about caribou management to the Department of Environment & Natural Resources:

1. A Total Allowable Harvest of 4% should be set for the Bluenose-West caribou herd.

2. The harvest of Bluenose-West caribou should be biased toward bulls.

3. A Sahtu Needs Level should be established and allocated to Sahtu communities based on their average share, since 2005, of total harvests of BNW caribou.

4. The Sahtu Needs Level should be enforced and monitored.

5. The current muskox quotas in the Sahtu Region should be increased.

6. There should be increased conservation education in the Sahtu communities.

7. Ensure caribou harvest data is obtained from the three communities in the Sahtu that harvest Bluenose-West caribou.

8. There should be increased management efforts on alternative game.

9. Every effort should be made to ensure community participation in management studies.

10. Barren-ground caribou hunting zones in the Sahtu should be modified to reflect herd specific management.

11. The most current population management techniques should be brought to bear in making management decisions on the Bluenose-West herd.

The Sahtu Renewable Resources Board provided the following recommendations about development, habitat, and caribou management to Indian & Northern Affairs Canada:

1. Conditions on land use and water licenses should reflect the need to minimize disturbance and protect caribou habitat.

2. Caribou protection measures must be updated and implemented where practical.

The NWT Minister of Environment and Natural Resources responded to the SRRB's Final Report on the Bluenose West Hearing point by point in this 6 page letter.

This is the Advisory Committee for Cooperation on Wildlife Management's Bluenose Caribou Herds Management Plan. It is titled Taking Care of Caribou. The Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West and Bluenose-East Barrren-Ground Caribou Herds Management Plan. The SRRB prepared a summary of this 96-page plan (2015).

During the period 2009-2013, NWT Environment and Natural Resources undertook community engagement in the Sahtú region as part of larger cross-regional community engagements toward development of the Taking Care of Caribou plan for Cape Bathurst, Bluenose West and Bluenose East barren-ground caribou. The plan is supported by two companion documents - a technical report by NWT Environment and Natural Resources, and the community knowledge report, "We have been taking care of the caribou all our lives..." The SRRB created this 84-page compilation of the Sahtú sections from the larger 196-page report. As well, the SRRB created an even shorter 9-page document with a table summarizing the main messages or key themes that came up during the meetings in the Sahtú communities.
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Soon after the Taking Care of Caribou plan for Cape Bathurst, Bluenose West and Bluenose East barren-ground caribou was approved by Member Boards of the ACCWM (Advisory Committee for Cooperation on Wildlife Management) (2014), the SRRB prepared this 19-page summary document for Sahtú communities.

This report presents the recent scientific knowledge and status of the Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West and Bluenose-East caribou herds and gaps in knowledge. Research suggestions are presented for consideration by the co-management boards responsible for managing these herds.

This technical report is one of two companion documents to Taking Care of Caribou: The Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West and Bluenose-East Caribou Herds Management Plan. The other companion report compiles comments made by community members during engagement meetings on the plan. Readers should refer to that document for a community perspective on the topics discussed in this report.

Délı̨nę's Belare Wı́le Gots'ę́ Ɂekwę́ - Caribou for All Time Plan was approved by the Ɂehdzo Got'ı̨nę Gots'ę́ Nákedı (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board) in its Final Report on the Bluenose East Ɂekwę́ Hearing (2016). The plan was in turn approved by the NWT Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

This is the Final Report of the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board Bluenose East Ɂekwę́ (Caribou) Hearing 2016. It was submitted to the Honorable Wally Schuman, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources on July 28, 2016.

A complete archive from the 2016 Public Hearing can be found here.

This document contains the final decisions and reply of the Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board – SRRB) to a September 26, 2016 letter from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR). In the September 26 letter, the Minister responded to the Ɂekwę́ hé Dene Ts’ı̨lı̨ - Sustaining Relationships: Final Report on the Sahtú Bluenose East Ɂekwę́ Hearing 2016 (the “BNE Report”) released by the SRRB on July 28, 2016.

In these SRRB final decisions and recommendations which reply to the Minister’s response, the SRRB groups its comments by themes. These themes capture the key areas where the Minister has suggested that the SRRB’s decisions and recommendations be varied:In these SRRB final decisions and recommendations which reply to the Minister’s response, the SRRB groups its comments by themes. These themes capture the key areas where the Minister has suggested that the SRRB’s decisions and recommendations be varied:

• Conservation Approach (including harvest rates and male/female ratio for harvesting) – related to SRRB Decisions 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39
• Cross-Regional Coordination – related to SRRB decisions 22, 26, 36 primarily; also related to SRRB Decisions 15, 25, 30 and 33
• Herd Status – related to SRRB decisions 2, 4, 5
• Research Needs – related to SRRB decisions 1, 3, 6, 16, 20, 35
• Policy Reform – related to SRRB decisions 17, 19, 21, 22, 29, 31, 36, 38
• Funding – related to SRRB decision 12 as well as research and policy decisions
• Youth and Education – related to SRRB decisions 8, 9 13

Included with this document are a summary of actions (Appendix A) and a proposed workplan with timelines (Appendix B). The overall objective of the SRRB is to support the potential success of the Délı̨nę plan as a model for community conservation planning. The SRRB also, in these final decisions and recommendations, prioritizes the need for the inter-regional user dialogue needed in order to protect the institutional space for the Délı̨nę plan to be piloted.

A complete archive from the 2016 Public Hearing can be found here.

-The Northwest Territories Species at Risk Committee met in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories on April 5, 2017 and assessed the biological status of barren-ground caribou and Porcupine caribou in the Northwest Territories (including the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West, Bluenose-East, Bathurst, Beverly, Ahiak, and Qamanirjuaq herds).The assessment was based on this approved status report. The assessment process and objective biological criteria used by the Species at Risk Committee are available at: www.nwtspeciesatrisk.ca.

Barren-Ground Caribou Assessment: Threatened in the Northwest Territories

Likely to become endangered in the Northwest Territories if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction.

Reasons for the assessment: Barren-ground caribou fit criterion (a) for Threatened.

(a) There is evidence that the population is declining in such a way that it could disappear from the Northwest Territories in our children‘s lifetime.

Main Factors:

• This means that there is a 10% chance that barren-ground caribou could disappear from the Northwest Territories within 75 years.
• Although about 530,000 barren-ground caribou still reside either entirely or partially within the NWT, overall, the numbers have declined by more than 85% for all herds where we have trend information, except the Qamanirjuaq herd, during the past three caribou generations (about 25 years).
• Overall trend demonstrates a continued population decline even though two herds (Cape Bathurst and Bluenose-West) appear to have recently stabilized at very low numbers.
• The main threats are:
  • Climate change may act as a continuing threat to barren-ground caribou through a complex mechanism involving shifts in timing of green-up, changes in summer forage quality, rain-on-snow and icing events on the winter range, longer fire seasons, melting permafrost and erosion, changes to freeze-up and thaw timing, and increasing shrub cover. Parasites and diseases are a potential and complex threat under a warmer climate.
  • Predation can affect survival and reproduction and therefore abundance, and there are reports of increasing predator populations in some areas.
  • Industrial development is considered to be one of the most significant factors affecting barren-ground caribou. It can disturb caribou and affect their behaviour, the quality of habitat and forage, and ultimately, the survivability of the species. It can also facilitate access for both humans and predators.
  • Forest fires represent the most visible factor driving habitat fragmentation and change, impacting forage availability and movement. This threat is particularly important in the winter range. Climate change may lead to even hotter and drier summers in the NWT, possibly increasing the frequency and intensity of fires.

Additional Factors:

• Barren-ground caribou populations undergo large fluctuations over several decades. The causes of these fluctuations in abundance are complex and likely driven by climate interacting with forage availability, predation, and parasites. Harvest and predation play a stronger role when barren-ground caribou are at low numbers.
• The threats mentioned above are acting in addition to these large fluctuations. The cumulative effects from multiple interacting threats are considered unprecedented.

In February 2018, the NWT Conference of Management Authorities on Species At Risk reached a Consensus Agreement on to add barren-ground caribou to the Northwest Territories List of Species at Risk as a Threatened species.

On April 12, 2017, the Northwest Territories (NWT) Species at Risk Committee (SARC) provided the assessment and status report for barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) to the Conference of Management Authorities (CMA) and recommended that barren-ground caribou be added to the NWT List of Species at Risk as a Threatened species. The Species at Risk (NWT) Act provides a 12-month period for the CMA to develop a consensus agreement on listing.

This Consensus Agreement was informed by the completed species status report, SARC's assessment and reasons for assessment, public input (solicited by the Management Authorities), and the results of consultation. No information was provided to SARC by the CMA or the Management Authorities under paragraph 31 ( 1 )( c) of the Species at Risk (NWT) Act.

This is the Advisory Committee for Cooperation on Wildlife Management's Bluenose East Caribou Action Plan for 2019-2020.

This is the Advisory Committee for Cooperation on Wildlife Management's Bluenose West Caribou Action Plan for 2019-2020.

This fact sheet explains why a Barren-Ground Caribou Recovery Strategy is needed and the kinds of actions being considered.

This Draft Recovery Strategy for Barren-Ground Caribou in the Northwest Territories is a result of a collaborative effort among diverse groups representing many different perspectives across the range of barren-ground caribou in the NWT.

This is a letter from the SRRB, addressed to Brett Elkin, NWT Environment and Natural Resources (ENR). The letter provides clarification to the Ministry of ENR regarding the sustainable harvest for Bluenose West  ɂedǝ (caribou) in the Sahtú Region.

Press Release - The Advisory Committee for Cooperation on Wildlife Management (ACCWM) met November 19 to November 21, 2019 in Inuvik to discuss and determine herd status and management actions under the framework of the Taking Care of Caribou: The Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West, and Bluenose-East Barren-ground Caribou Herds Management Plan. 

This document contains a table compiled based on information shared by ACCWM Member Boards in Inuvik on November 19-21, 2019, during the annual status meeting under the framework of the Taking Care of Caribou: The Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West, and Bluenose-East Barren-ground Caribou Herds Management Plan. This table focuses on the Bluenose-East herd.

This document contains a table compiled based on information shared by ACCWM Member Boards in Inuvik on November 19-21, 2019, during the annual status meeting under the framework of the Taking Care of Caribou: The Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West, and Bluenose-East Barren-ground Caribou Herds Management Plan. This table focuses on the Bluenose-West herd.

The Kugluktuk Angoniatit Association (KAA) - Hunters’ and Trappers’ Organization was unable to attend the Colville 2020 Public Listening Session, but was confirmed as a Party. On February 6, the KAA requested that their submission to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) related to their upcoming Bluenose East Hearing be posted to the Colville 2020 Public Registry.

The KAA's submission is also available on the NWMB's Public Registry for the In-person Public Hearing to Consider the Government of Nunavut’s Proposal to Modify the Total Allowable Harvest of Bluenose East Caribou From 340 to 107 and to Establish a Male-Only Harvest Non-Quota Limitation. The NWMB Public Hearing is scheduled to take place in Kugluktuk on March 2-3, 2020 (with possible extension to March 4). The NWMB's December 13, 2019 invitation and proposal are also available on the Colville 2020 Public Registry.