Hi Greasemonkies, thanks for bringing up the ever so relevant caribou question that I read about from time to time, which seem to be the trumph card of the FN and enviromentalists to stop development whenever a mining company wants to do anything in the north.

It seems to me that the caribou is in decline in all the parts of Canada I read about, and I speculate why - and what can be done about it.

The Canadian approach seem to be to stop all development in the north, and hope the number of caribou will increase by itself. Further, when I read about it, there seem to be little or no tangible evidence that e.g. mining development is really disruptive of the caribou (but maybe it's because it's such an obvious fact that noone needs to print it - what do I know).

As per the study the Caribou face trouble in remote areas.

My first speculation is why is the number of caribou declining in northern Ontario, BEFORE any significant mining development, as noone lives there except for a few FN tribes.

Might the answer have something to do with FN people considering Caribou to be "traditional food" that they as stewards of the land have a birth right to hunt.

My observations are the number of FN people is rising, and with ATVs and snow bikes they are probably more mobile than ever. And is hunting for caribou strictly regulated so that there are reliable information about how many caribou that are shot by FN people, or is there any indication that illegal hunting is wide spread.

I mean, it wouldn't be the first time in history people would do something illegal, and blame it on the usual suspects, or the popular suspects, being the mining industry as the disruptive polluter, would it?

My second speculation is, why is it so hard to increase the number of caribou if we really want to. Caribou is basicly the same as reindeer. In northern Scandinavia the Saami culture has been centered around herding reindeer for a thousand years, so I suppose it's not rocket science or woodoo to breed and herd Caribou if people are not satisfied with the numbers. It just takes some know how and effort to "get it right".

My third speculation is why would a rail road with a train passing every hour keep caribou from passing. There are many natural barriers that herds pass all the time, as well as many man made. Here in Europe where the population density is much bigger than in Canada, it seems that the deer have adapted to the reality that roads and railways are everywhere. If the caribou migrate across the railroad at a certain time of year, and the number is only 5,000, you simply herd them across for a few days - if it's really a problem, what I seriously doubt it'll be once the caribou has gotten used to the railroad and the occational train passing.

Anyone care to comment?

Best regards DRA