Bluenose Caribou Herds Draft Management Plan Update

At its July Board meeting in Wekweètì, the WRRB reviewed a draft management plan for the Bluenose Caribou herds, and agreed to support it when it is reviewed by the Advisory Committee for the Cooperation on Wildlife Management (ACCWM) at its upcoming meeting this September.

Once the draft plan, Taking Care of Caribou, is approved by the ACCWM by consensus, it will be forwarded to the various governments within the range of the Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West and Bluenose-East Caribou herds.  Each government will follow a consultation process and then implement the plan. 

The plan was developed through the involvement of 17 communities, in six land claim areas, that harvest from the three Bluenose Caribou herds.  The draft includes current information on the health of the herds, and current population estimates and trends. It also describes different threshholds for varying population levels and the types of actions that will be taken if a herd's status changes.  Those action areas include education, land use activities, predators and harvest.  Two companion documents accompany the draft plan --a science report detailing the current state of knowledge of the herds and a community report on information recorded during community meetings.