To provide essential knowledge for improving woodland caribou recovery plans, the Canadian Forest Service initiated an integrative research project in collaboration with the Pessamit Innu community (QC North Shore). This community is very concerned  about caribou and has carefully monitored populations across their ancestral territory, the nitassinan, in recent years

The project has six interrelated components that integrate science and indigenous knowledge:

• Mobilizing scientific and indigenous knowledge and add the community’s perspective to inform the North Shore caribou  recovery plan

• Prediction of disturbance, climate change and forest management impacts on caribou habitat quality

• A decision support tool for caribou and its habitat in northern Ontario

• Development of genomic tools to characterize the caribou diet and microbiome from feces

• Assessing the potential of caribou as an umbrella species for maintaining biodiversity

• Assessing food habitat quality of different forest types

Project Description:

The programme de suivi des population de caribou au Québec vise le suivi de 12 indicateurs biologiques, regroupés sous 6 thématique / The monitoring program of caribou populations in Québec targets 12 biological indicators grouped into 6 themes:

• Population status
  • Abundance (Population size and density) : aerial surveys
  • Population structure : classifications (determination of sex and age class of caribou observed during aerial surveys)
• Demography - Survival
  • Survival rate : telemetry monitoring
  • Contribution of different mortality causes : visit of mortality sites
• Demography – Recruitment and productivity
  • Recruitment : classifications (determination of sex and age class of caribou observed during aerial surveys)
  • Female productivity : feces collection
• Population trend
  • Demographic trend
• Health condition
  • Body condition: Measurements during capture
  • Parasites and diseases: Exams and collection of samples during capture
• Space use
  • Definition of habitat selection, seasonal areas and critical habitats : telemetry monitoring

Project Outcomes or Intended Outcomes:

• Mettre à jour l’abondance de caribou forestier dans les populations et à travers sa distribution provinciale / Update the abundance of boreal caribou within the populations and across the provincial range
• Préciser la répartition du caribou forestier de part et d’autre de la limite nordique d’attribution des forêts / Clarify the distribution of boreal caribou on both site of the northern limit of commercial forest allocation
• Déterminer la tendance démographique des populations/Determine the demographic trend of populations;
• Évaluer la productivité des populations / Assess the productivity of populations
• Évaluer l’état de santé des populations et l’influence de la condition corporelle sur les indicateurs démographiques / Assess the health status of populations and the influence of body condition on demographic indicators
• Évaluer l’état de référence des maladies et parasites présents et évaluer la présence de certains parasites potentiellement délétères dans les populations / Assess the baseline conditions in diseases and parasites and and assess the presence of deleterious parasites in the populations
• Évaluer la contribution des différentes causes de mortalités / Assess the contribution of different mortality causes
• Définir les populations en termes d’unités territoriales de gestion / Define population as management units