Caribou are some of the most difficult local wildlife to see. They are not typically found anywhere near people, or even the slightest signs of people. There is one exception, it happens to be near here, and that is where the Prince George Naturalist Club will go on a guided field trip this Saturday.
"Local experts Dale Seip and Doug Heard will be our guides to explain the province's caribou recovery program for this region," said club liaison David Breault. They will go as a group to the wilderness neighbourhood known as Kennedy Siding about 190 km north of Prince George.
Seip said this trip comes in the immediate wake of a major protection step for this particular collection of caribou. It was announced last week that privately held land located in the heart of this herd's winter range had been purchased by the Nature Trust of British Columbia. There was always the worry, said Seip, that some industrial activity or private development might occur on that spot, but the purchase of this 245-hectare property puts those fears to rest.
"The herd there is actually up to about 65 animals," said Seip, who works for the B.C. Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy. Caribou recovery is one of his main files. There are a number of herds in the northern and central B.C. region, and all of them have been critically threatened with extinction.
"All caribou in Canada are at risk," he said. "The Kennedy Siding are considered endangered. They are involved in the Central Mountain Caribou group which dropped from about 800 animals to 200 animals in the past decade, and the Kennedy Siding herd specifically dropped from 120 down to 50. They were facing imminent extinction at that rate, but the numbers are starting to climb back up."
The reason is harsh but unmistakable, Seip said. The provincial wolf cull initiative is saving the lives of these critically threatened ungulates.
"Virtually every herd is declining except where wolf control is happening," he said.
To supplement the survival of the Kennedy Siding herd, a nutrition program is also involved. The pellet rations are not saving any caribou lives directly, they can still eat enough lichen (their primary food source) to survive naturally, but it gives them a health boost at this critical juncture in their existence.
"This is maybe the only area you can reliably go and see caribou in the wild in all of B.C.," said Seip.
Each year, school children from the nearby town of Mackenzie get to trek to the Kennedy Siding site to see these rare creatures, and an annual field trip for UNBC students also occurs. The PG Naturalist Club goes every second year.
This field trip is open to any paid up members of the club. Anyone interested can email Breault at davidnobreault@gmail.com to find out details.
