The National Boreal Caribou Knowledge Consortium

Boreal caribou, a distinct population of Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), are broadly distributed across Canada's Boreal forests, with home ranges spanning hundreds of square kilometres. Despite their immense range, these caribou are often challenging to find, owing to their tendency to congregate in small groups and their preference for remote areas.

Boreal caribou are intricately linked to many Canadians. They are ingrained in the cultural practices, traditions, and histories of many Indigenous Peoples. Given their sensitivity to disturbance and their preference for continuous intact habitat, Boreal caribou also serve as an indicator and umbrella species. Existing and ongoing development and resource extraction across the boreal caribou range threatens to destroy the habitat upon which they depend.

Given their broad distribution across many parts of Canada, there are many governments and others responsible for, and engaged in, the management and conservation of Boreal caribou. Provincial and territorial governments hold responsibility for management within their jurisdictions, while the federal government oversees implementation of protective measures pertaining to obligations under the Species at Risk Act. Indigenous Peoples also play a key role in informing and implementing caribou conservation programs. All of these parties, each with their own responsibilities and priorities, can contribute to fragmented and variable governance, and management. The case of the boreal caribou highlights the need for a coordinated and collaborative approach, rooted in clear communication as well as cross-boundary and cross–cultural alignment of priorities, where diverse perspectives and ways of knowing boreal caribou can be integrated to best inform management, conservation, and recovery actions.

The Federal Recovery Strategy and Action Plan for Boreal Caribou highlighted the need for further effort towards boreal caribou conservation and recovery. As part of the Action Plan, the federal government outlined three key pillars to guide the implementation of recovery efforts, centered around knowledge generation and sharing, recovery and protection of caribou and its critical habitat, as well as ongoing progress reporting. As a result of this commitment towards collaborative knowledge generation and sharing, the National Boreal Caribou Knowledge Consortium was born.

The National Boreal Caribou Knowledge Consortium (NBCKC) is a forum for knowledge sharing, knowledge generation, and knowledge mobilization. The NBCKC sought, for the first time in Canada, to enable all parties involved in boreal caribou conservation and recovery the opportunity to collaboratively address key knowledge gaps, regularly share knowledge and lessons learned, and undertake studies to support boreal caribou recovery.

Interact with this map to see the members of the NBCKC and where they occur across Canada. You can find the legend icon in the bottom left hand corner of your screen.

Members of the NBCKC represent federal, provincial, and territorial governments, Wildlife Management Boards, Indigenous Peoples and communities, industry, environmental non-governmental organizations, and academic researchers. Since its launch in June 2018, the NBCKC has grown considerably in membership, scope, and relevance. In addition to over 50 NBCKC representatives that meet bi-annually, the NBCKC now also includes several additional groups whose members meet more frequently to identify and resolve knowledge gaps related to monitoring, habitat restoration, management, and health.

Several representatives who are part of the NBCKC are also members of a parallel body known as the Indigenous Knowledge Circle (IKC). The IKC advocates for the respectful inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge, supports the transition towards Indigenous-led management to support the recovery of caribou, and provides opportunities for learning about what is working and not working in Indigenous contexts. With 50+ members from First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities, the IKC strives for a future where Indigenous Peoples have relationships with caribou that restore balance to both people and caribou for harvesting, sharing, social and ceremonial purposes.

The IKC or its Steering Committee meets every month. Meetings allow IKC members to share about Indigenous-led caribou conservation initiatives, provide Indigenous input to NBCKC projects, and initiate their own projects. To date, the IKC has commissioned a report on the characteristics and successes of Indigenous-led caribou conservation projects in Canada, begun the development of a toolkit to facilitate collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups, started a series of caribou range planning seminars, and co-founded the Chronic Wasting Disease Knowledge Network. The IKC continues to grow its membership and expand its reach.

The NBCKC also includes several working groups and knowledge networks that were formed to assess what we already know, to ask what we still need to know, and to determine how to apply what we know to further caribou conservation and recovery goals. To date, three working groups tackled three key topics: caribou monitoring, habitat restoration, and management. Most recently, a knowledge network was launched to communicate about the emerging threat to caribou health presented by chronic wasting disease.

Monitoring Working Group: In order to make decisions on how to best conserve and protect caribou, we need to have accurate information on which to base those decisions. This information can be applied more generally if everyone collects the same kind of data in the same way, yet the variability of caribou habitat across the country makes such standardization difficult. For example, what works for monitoring caribou in the mountains of British Columbia, may not work in the boreal plains of Saskatchewan, the forests of Quebec, or the hills of Labrador. Therefore, for caribou monitoring programs to be successful in the long term, they must consider the array of methods available for Knowing Caribou, and follow best practices when applying each of those methods.

In 2018, the NBCKC formed the Monitoring Working Group (MWG) to investigate caribou population monitoring priorities, methods, constraints, and best practices. The Monitoring Working Group has released a number of important tools aimed at maximizing what we know and understand about monitoring caribou. These tools provide valuable and accessible guidance for anyone engaged in, or planning to initiate, monitoring programs. In the coming months the working group will continue to add to the tools already available in the  Caribou Monitoring Toolkit , so that they will be accessible for use by anyone embarking upon their own monitoring program.

Habitat Restoration Working Group: The core driver of boreal caribou decline is habitat disturbance, primarily due to industrial activity in the Canadian boreal forest. Therefore, for caribou population recovery to be successful in the long term, plans must include making space for caribou through habitat protection and habitat restoration. Restoring habitat to a state suitable for caribou is a top priority in highly disturbed areas of the boreal caribou range; however, our collective understanding of habitat restoration for caribou is incomplete. 

In March 2019, the NBCKC established the Habitat Restoration Working Group (HRWG) which meets regularly to share lessons learned about habitat restoration in a community of practice and to develop tools to support caribou habitat restoration efficacy. Together the group aims to better understand how restoration activities influence the boreal caribou ecosystem and improve our efficacy of restoration activities to ensure that boreal caribou have the space they need to thrive in the future.

Move the slider on this interactive map and use the zoom tool to see the human disturbance footprint (black) in detail for each boreal caribou range. The ‘human-disturbed’ areas include a 500 m buffer around actual disturbance features.

Population Management Working Group: Habitat restoration and protection are key management actions for stabilizing and recovering caribou populations in the long-term. It may take decades however, for the restoration of disturbed forested areas to reach the old-growth conditions needed by boreal caribou. For some boreal caribou populations which are small and currently in rapid decline, interim actions (referred to as ‘population management actions’) are needed to help sustain these populations until the effects of habitat protection and restoration can be realized.

In 2020, the NBCKC formed the Population Management Working Group (PMWG) to build a national-level community of practice to discuss the efficacy of current population management activities for caribou across Canada. The broad goals of the PMWG are to promote information sharing (lessons learned) in real-time, to better understand under what scenarios the use of different population management strategies would be most appropriate, and to help the broader public understand how the different types of population management tools help support caribou recovery. The PMWG plans to release a number of communication tools including an interactive map that highlights population management efforts happening across the country as well as a series of infographics that explore the different types of management techniques that are currently used to support caribou recovery.

This image, from Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild, shows maternal penning, a form of caribou management that can improve calf survival.

The Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Knowledge Network: Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological illness affecting North American cervids. Though it has not yet been detected in Canadian caribou, it is present in several deer species in North America, and there is concern that it could spread to nearby caribou populations in the future. Communication and collaboration between various regions will be required to avoid potential impacts that CWD may have on caribou populations. Early in 2021, the NBCKC convened the first meeting of the Chronic Wasting Disease Knowledge Network, providing a forum for knowledge sharing on the status of research, monitoring and activities to reduce the potential for CWD transmission to caribou.

There is tremendous value in bringing together experts and knowledge holders to communicate, share lessons learned, and build relationships. The NBCKC working groups and knowledge networks have taken things a step further. They have set for themselves ambitious targets and deadlines to fill knowledge gaps; they have developed guidance and practical advice for the managers of caribou recovery. They have built a powerful interactive map that provides up-to-date information on over 100 caribou projects, the majority of which involve Indigenous peoples. These working groups provide guidance for those who want to restore disturbed habitat for caribou or initiate new monitoring programs, and practical considerations for reconciling Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing caribou. These resources are made widely available on a powerful knowledge sharing portal.

Interact with this map to learn more about the many caribou projects.

Despite boasting a large membership consisting of keen, skilled, and focused individuals, the NBCKC has strived to increase its profile even further by teaming up with other initiatives. For example, it has partnered with conservation organizations to build a knowledge portal, leveraged federal funding to support nearly 30 Indigenous-led caribou projects, partnered with universities to inform caribou health and genomics research, and teamed up with environmental, non-governmental organizations to produce tools for Indigenous communities. As the NBCKC has gained recognition, the number of potential new collaborations and partnerships increases. Each year, the NBCKC continues to foster the work and the coordination that supports caribou conservation across Canada.

Having sound guidance to support caribou conservation is paramount; but we also need to ensure this information is readily accessible to users. Given the broad array of work underway for boreal caribou, both within the NBCKC and out, it can be difficult to know where to look. Peer reviewed publications have a home in journals but what about other sources of key information and data that are housed in reports, assessments, reviews and other resources? The NBCKC delivers a multi-pronged communications approach. 

Alongside the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute’s Caribou Monitoring Unit, the NBCKC proudly co-hosts a widely attended seminar series aimed at sharing new information central to caribou recovery. Every two months, the NBCKC provides key updates and announcements via the  newsletter . Finally, when possible, members of the NBCKC Secretariat have travelled across the country to participate in information exchanges with Indigenous communities and organizations.

The Canadian Conservation and Land Management (CCLM) Knowledge Network is a multi-stakeholder group that formed in 2019 to address the lack of a centralized place to share and exchange information and learnings about wetland and boreal caribou conservation and land management. Through collaboration and pooling resources, they collectively developed the  CCLM Knowledge Portal , an accessible online platform for sharing resources and connecting practitioners across Canada. The collaborating organizations that contribute to the CCLM include Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), InnoTech Alberta, the National Boreal Caribou Knowledge Consortium (NBCKC), Natural Resources Canada – Canadian Forest Service (NRCan – CFS), and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). The power of the CCLM collaboration continues to drive the future of the CCLM Knowledge Portal. From future web development, to collective communications efforts, to identifying and securing future partnerships, the people behind the CCLM Knowledge Portal are committed to helping the site continue to meet the needs of its users.