NWT Species at Risk says the threats faced by barren-ground caribou are “unprecedented.” Their first ever progress report on the barren-ground caribou was released Thursday. The report includes eight distinct caribou herds from those in stark decline, like the Bathurst and those that appear to be increasing, like the Beverly herd.
Some barren ground caribou herds listed in the report are more at risk than others, each having separate management plans.
“Overall, barren-ground in the N.W.T. are considered threatened, not endangered. However, that could change at the 2027 [mark], when they are reassessed again,” said Chairperson of the Conference of Management Authorities Jody Pellissey.
“There’s climate change, predation, industrial development, wildfires which are usually the result of climate change. All of these things together are cumulatively, the combined threats are unprecedented,” explained Pellissey.
More than 350 different recovery actions were mobilized by various management authorities across the territory.
“There is still more work that can be done,” said Pellissey.
“The progress plan just identifies all of the actions that have been implemented over the last five years to help mitigate, help recover, help reconserve the caribou,” she added.
The majority of the actions are still ongoing.
“There are some things that are outside of our control, climate change being one. Also with industrial development, it has to be a balance out that on the land so that there can be an economy in the NWT but we still have caribou on the landscape, but finding that balance can be tricky,” said Pellissey.
About 15 years ago the NWT’s Wildlife Management Advisory Council, Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board, Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board), Wek’èezhìı Renewable Resources Board, Tłı̨chǫ Government and territorial government began a recovery strategy as the Conference of Management Authorities.
At that time discussions took place around which approaches should be priority for implementation over the next five years and they recommended changes to some approaches.
The Species at Risk Act calls requires review of the Recovery Strategy every five years. Joslyn Oosenbrug with NWT Species at Risk Secretariat said the purpose of that review is to determine whether the NWT Recovery Strategy for Barren-ground Caribou is responding to conservation and recovery goals.
According to the report, N.W.T.’s barren-ground caribou populations declined, hitting lows between 2010 and 2020.
“As of 2025, two NWT herds continue to decline (Bathurst and Qamanirjuaq), one appears stable at low numbers (Bluenose-West), and four appear to be increasing (Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-East, and Beverly) although their numbers remain below historic highs,” said the report’s authors.
Pellissey said that while the Union and Dolphin caribou are considered barren-land caribou they are not part of the report.
Jessica Norris, Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife Management Advisory Council and the Species at Risk Secretariat has pointed out Dolphin and Union caribou are morphologically and behaviorally distinct from other barren ground caribou populations.
Norris has said that having recovery strategies in place is important for identifying actions in response and advocating to ensure that restrictions do not automatically restrict harvesting.
“It also helps raise awareness and identify all the challenges that we’re seeing and the potential solutions that we can do to maintain the herds for current and future generations.”
The progress report broadly identifies key actions taken to implement the Recovery Strategy for Barren-ground Caribou including community-based stewardship planning, population surveys, community-based monitoring, conservation of important habitats, management of the impacts of human development, harvest management and predator management, gathering and sharing of Indigenous knowledge and science on barren-ground caribou and the factors that influence their well-being.
Pellissey said the Porcupine caribou herd was not included in the recovery strategy, but for the sake of “completeness” management actions were.
“They were considered not at risk at the time of the initial assessment. They were considered geographically distinct so they were assessed separately from the barren-ground caribou.,” said Pellissey.
According to the report, the Porcupine caribou reached a “peak” in 2017, but is now declining.
Of the barren ground caribou, some herds are more at risk than others.
The Bathurst herd amongst them has faced particularly sharp declines, from a population of about 470,000 in the mid-1980s down to about to 3,609.
The Union and Dolphin caribou’s latest population estimate was about 5,200 in 2023, down from 34, 000 in the mid 90s.
As noted by Norris, the Union and Dolphin Caribou were first listed as a species of risk in 2015.
At that time the population estimate was about 18, 400. The herd has declined by 72 per cent since that time, that was 10 years ago. The situation of the herd was reassessed by the Species at Risk committee in 2023.
“In 2024, they were uplifted to endangered species in the NWT bumping them up
Pellissey said that the Union and Dolphin herds are also considered to be barren-ground caribou.
“They are found a little bit in the NWT, but they are [considered] primarily a Nunavut species and there’s a separate assessment for Union and Dolphin caribou and its own recovery strategy.
Pellissey said there is a lot of ongoing collaborative work across stakeholders from many different regions of the N.W.T. involved in the recovery strategy.
The formal process of the status assessment by the NWT Species at Risk Committee began about 10 years ago.
“[The committee] found that barren-ground caribou in the NWT were declining in such a way that they could disappear from the NWT within our children’s lifetime. This was based on steep reductions in many herd sizes between 1989 and 2016, and an overall trend of continued decline,” the authors of the report noted.
“Habitat changes due to climate change and wildfires, as well as industrial development and predation were identified as threats to barren-ground caribou, according to both scientific and traditional knowledge,” they added.
The Recovery strategy also looks at herd-specific management plans and community conservation plans as having “key roles” in the work of monitoring and management..
Back in 2020, the NWT’s Wildlife Management Advisory Council, Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board, Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board), Wek’èezhìı Renewable Resources Board, Tłı̨chǫ Government and territorial government “accepted the recovery strategy” as the Conference of Management Authorities. There are also a number of co-management partners involved in barren-ground caribou recovery.
Management partners discussed which approaches should be priority for implementation over the next five years and they recommended changes to some approaches. The report’s authors said these approaches “could be considered” if or when the strategy is revised.
The Species at Risk Act calls for a review of the Recovery Strategy every five years. Oosenbrug said the purpose of that review is to determine whether the NWT Recovery Strategy for Barren-ground Caribou is responding to conservation and recovery goals as identified by management partners. The review is also helps partners “adapt and prioritize” actions in response to the latest data.
“As part of the review process, management partners suggested a handful of adjustments to the Recovery Strategy to be considered if/when the strategy is revised. These include things like updates to the text in the strategy (based on progress that has been made in the last 5 years) and potential new approaches (e.g., on community-driven monitoring and in support of traditional caribou-related skills),” said Oosenbrug.
“These recommendations are not adopted and do not trigger amendments to the Recovery Strategy; rather they are intended to help partners determine if the current Recovery Strategy continues to meet their needs (it does) and are recorded for consideration if/when the Recovery Strategy is amended in the future,” added Oosenbrug.
The barren ground caribou are scheduled for reassessment by the NWT Species at Risk Committee in 2027.
Story Update April 20: Joslyn Oosenbrug with NWT Species at Risk Secretariat wanted to clarify that the identification of threats to the barren ground-carbou as “unprecedented” was first made in 2017. Ossenbrug added it was the Species at Risk Committee (SARC) who had assessed threats to the barren-ground caribou.
“Rather, the Species at Risk Committee (SARC) assesses the biological status of a species and threats to the species and its habitat. The assessment of threats to barren-ground caribou as “unprecedented” was made in 2017, when BG caribou were assessed by SARC as Threatened in the NWT.”
Oosenbrug also said the progress report released this month (compiled by the Conference of Management Authorities) is “not interchangeable” with the five-year review.
Oosenbrug said the status of barren-ground caribou is not being reviewed and reported on in the progress report but will be reassessed by SARC next year.
