This recovery strategy is for tǫdzı or Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal population herein referred to as “boreal caribou”, assessed in May 2002 as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Boreal caribou are distributed across Canada, occurring in seven provinces and two territories and extending from the northeast corner of Yukon east to Labrador and south to Lake Superior.

Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service led the development of this recovery strategy. Seven provinces, two territories, one Aboriginal government, four wildlife management boards and the Parks Canada Agency contributed information for this recovery strategy. Additional effort was made by Environment Canada to engage Aboriginal communities that the minister considered directly affected by the recovery strategy. These efforts included two rounds of engagement, one before and the second one after the proposed recovery strategy was posted on the Species at Risk Public Registry, to gather information on boreal caribou and to provide communities with an opportunity to comment on the proposed recovery strategy. In the first round, 271 Aboriginal communities were contacted and 161 engaged, and in the second round, 265 Aboriginal communities were contacted and 87 engaged. In addition, 25 formal submissions were received from Aboriginal communities and organizations.

Following the posting of the proposed recovery strategy on August 26, 2011, the standard 60-day public comment period was extended by 120 days to February 22, 2012 as a result of Environment Canada's desire to consult Aboriginal communities prior to finalizing the recovery strategy. The high level of interest in boreal caribou resulted in the submission of 19,046 comments during and subsequent to the public comment period. The majority of these were received as copies of form letters initiated by environmental group’s campaigns. A total of 192 more detailed and/or technical submissions were received from governments, wildlife management boards, Aboriginal communities and organizations, industry stakeholders, environmental organizations and academia.

The Northwest Territories Species at Risk Committee met in Behchokǫ̨̀̀, Northwest Territories on December 5, 2012 and assessed the biological status of Boreal Caribou in the Northwest Territories. The assessment was based on this approved status report. The assessment process and objective biological criteria used by the Species at Risk Committee are available at www.nwtspeciesatrisk.ca.

Status: Threatened in the Northwest Territories

Likely to become endangered in the Northwest Territories if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction

Reasons for the assessment: Boreal Caribou fits criterion (c) for Threatened

(c) – There is evidence that the population size is small and there is a decline in population size such that it could disappear from the Northwest Territories in our children’s lifetime

• Boreal caribou need large tracts of undisturbed habitat so they can spread out to minimize predation risk. This adaptation results in naturally low densities across a large area, making them more vulnerable to systematic habitat fragmentation.

• Population size is small: about 5,300 mature individuals, 6,500 total population. While there is uncertainty in the estimate (e.g. in the eastern Sahtu region), it is unlikely that the total population size is larger than 10,000 in the Northwest Territories.

• Currently, there is variation across the Northwest Territories in rates and direction of population change. There are documented population declines in parts of the southern Northwest Territories where the majority of boreal caribou occur.

• Current and future threats leading to habitat fragmentation are expected to increase.

• A continuing decline in the amount of secure habitat and in population size is projected.

• There is no foreseen possibility of rescue from outside populations due to severely declining populations in Alberta and British Columbia.

In October 2013, the NWT Conference of Management Authorities on Species At Risk reached a Consensus  Agreement to add tǫdzı or boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) to the Northwest Territories List of Species at Risk as a “threatened” species.

On December 12, 2012, the Northwest Territories (NWT) Species at Risk Committee (SARC) provided the assessment and status report for boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) to the Conference of Management Authorities (CMA) and recommended that boreal caribou be added to the NWT List of Species at Risk as a 'threatened' species. The Species at Risk (NWT) Act provides a 12-month period for the CMA to develop a consensus agreement on listing.

This Consensus Agreement was informed by the completed species status report, SAR C's assessment and reasons for assessment, public input (solicited by the Management Authorities between April and August 2013), and the results of Crown consultation duties, performed by the Government of the Northwest Territories. No information was provided to SARC by the CMA or a Management Authority under paragraph 31 ( 1 )( c) and no written clarification was provided by SARC under section 34 of the Species at Risk (NWT) Act. Actions taken by Management Authorities with respect to the required approvals and their preparation for the development of the Consensus.

NWT Tǫdzı have been listed as Threatened under the Federal and Territorial Species At Risk Acts The purpose of this recovery strategy is to provide an action-oriented planning tool that identifies how the conservation and recovery of tǫdzı or boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou, woodland caribou [boreal population]) can be accomplished in the NWT. This recovery strategy was prepared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) of the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), in accordance with the Conference of Management Authorities' guidelines and template for recovery strategies. There were many steps involved in the process; this included discussions with communities in the NWT, conducting Crown Consultation with regard to Aboriginal or treaty rights, and providing the opportunity for public comment. Their feedback was incorporated into the plan which was edited and reviewed by all parties who have the authority to manage this species, including Government of the Northwest Territories, Tłı̨chǫ Government, Wek'èezhìı Renewable Resources Board, Sahtú Renewable Resources Board, Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board, Wildlife Management Advisory Council (NWT), and Government of Canada.

This document outlines an approach to range planning for tǫdzı or boreal woodland caribou in the Northwest Territories. It provides a common framework for how individual range plans, which manage habitat disturbance at a regional level, will be developed and updated over time. Section 3 of this Framework document describes a management approach that can be tailored to each region to support healthy and sustainable caribou populations, and Section 4 describes additional considerations that decision-makers will use in developing regional range plans.

This Framework addresses the recommendations to develop and implement range plans for boreal caribou habitat outlined in the NWT Boreal Caribou Recovery Strategy as well as obligations to protect critical habitat for boreal caribou identified in Environment and Climate Change Canada’s National Recovery Strategy for Woodland Caribou, Boreal Population. Other approaches to conserve and recover boreal caribou, such as harvest management, research and monitoring, collaborative management and information sharing, are being addressed through additional implementation of the NWT Recovery Strategy, as described in the Conference of Management Authorities Implementation Agreement.