The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society has released its latest update on caribou preservation efforts across the country.
In Saskatchewan, new forest management plans must demonstrate how a company will keep at least 65 per cent of boreal caribou habitat undisturbed.
Gord Vaadeland, the Executive Director of CPAWS Saskatchewan says that is good news.
He says caribou numbers in the La Ronge area have been dropping for years, but not enough to consider a ban on Aboriginal hunting.
“I don’t think a lot of caribou in the boreal plain are harvested every year anyway” he adds “with the treaty hunting I don’t think it’s a big driver, I think that there’s a pretty big understanding that the big driver of the drop in population is the fragmenting of the habitat”.
The fragmentation is caused by roads and ATV trails in the north.
Vaadeland says information gathered so far seems to indicate that last summer’s fires will not have a major negative impact on caribou numbers in the north.
He also says says Saskatchewan is making good progress in developing a caribou range plan for the federal government, which must be submitted by 2017.