Multidisciplinary Approaches to Recovering Caribou in Mountain Ecosystems conference

• Start Date: May 29, 2006
• End Date: May 31, 2006
• City: Revelstoke, BC

Conference description

In 2002, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated caribou within the Southern Mountains National Ecological Area as “threatened”. This area, which includes southern British Columbia and Alberta, contains numerous caribou herds that have declined sharply. Preparing and implementing recovery plans is paramount to prevent local extirpations of caribou. However, the combination of habitat loss and fragmentation, accompanied by early seral habitat creation, roads, alteration of predator/prey systems, intensive recreation, and likely climate warming, are challenging recovery planning efforts. Integrating these biological factors with political, social, and economic factors requires us to examine a multidisciplinary approach to caribou recovery.

This conference addressed recovery planning for caribou in the Southern Mountains National Ecological Area. These woodland caribou occupy the plateaux and mountains of southern British Columbia, the mountains and foothills of adjacent Alberta, and bordering Idaho and Washington.

The conference included an evening speaker on May 29, two days of presentations, a poster session, and speaker / audience discussions. About 120 people attended this event.

To download the conference summary for this event, click here. This is a 3.5 MB document in PDF format.

Conference partners and supporters

The Columbia Mountains Institute is proud to have worked with the following agencies in hosting this conference.

• B.C. Ministry of Environment
• B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Species at Risk Coordination Office
• B.C. Timber Sales, Ministry of Forests and Range
• Canfor Corporation
• Columbia Basin Trust, through the Columbia Kootenay Fisheries Renewal Partnership
• Forest Practices Board
• Global Precision Inc.
• Mountain Labyrinths Inc.
• Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation
• Veridian Ecological Consulting
• Weyerhaeuser Company Limited
• West Fraser Timber