An Ongoing Struggle to Protect one of Canada’s Most Iconic Species at Risk
When you think of Canada and its wildlife, there are a few iconic animal species that might immediately come to mind. Perhaps you think of the beaver, the grizzly bear, or the orca, or what about the caribou?
Canadian caribou are key to the Canadian wilderness in part due to the caribou’s historical connection with Canada’s Indigenous and Inuit peoples and in part due to their migratory patterns and far-reaching ranges which mean that caribou herds can be found across the country.
The caribou is even featured on our 25-cent coin!
Caribou are considered by biologists to be a keystone species and could historically be found across Canada.[1] In fact, Canada has four sub-species of caribou: the woodland caribou, the peary caribou, the barren ground caribou, and Grant’s caribou. There was a fifth subspecies which lived on Haida Gwaii, an island off the coast of British Columbia, however they are now extinct – an unfortunate reality that seems to be far too possible for the remaining Canadian caribou herds.
Caribou subspecies are then broken down into well-known herds, generally based on location. The woodland caribou subspecies includes the boreal caribou population which can be found in 9 provinces and territories across Canada and which is the focus of much of the current government action on caribou.
The biggest threat facing caribou populations in Canada comes from habitat fragmentation, which usually occurs due to human expansion and industrial activity. Fragmentation can be a side effect of logging operations, oil and gas exploration, and mining developments as well as other invasive human activity. Changes to historic caribou habitat have also increased predator access, making it easier for caribou’s main predators – namely wolves, lynx, cougars, coyotes, and bears – to find the herds. Caribou are not adapted to these higher levels of predation and have not been able to cope.
Other factors such as hunting and poaching, noise and light disturbances, parasites and disease, as well as weather and climate change also affect caribou populations. Unfortunately, protection efforts have been slow and caribou populations across Canada continue to decline.
Woodland caribou were listed as threatened in 2002 and subsequently added to the federal Species at Risk Act endangered species list. However, a federal Recovery Strategy was not released until 2012 – 10 years later. The recovery goal identified in this report was to achieve self-sustaining local populations in all boreal caribou ranges throughout their current distribution in Canada, to the extent possible.
What came next?
Even after this report was finally released, change was slow, and little has been done to protect caribou habitat across the country. To encourage faster progress, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) filed an application for judicial review in Spring 2017. CPAWS argued that under the Species at Risk Act, the federal environment minister is required to form an opinion about whether or not the caribou’s critical habitat is protected and to report on any progress that has been made. This lawsuit prompted the Canadian Government to finally release the Report on the Progress of Recovery Strategy Implementation for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal population, in Canada for the period 2012-2017.
This report reviews the 2012 Recovery Strategy’s goal of 65% undisturbed habitat and outlines the importance of range planning on a local level to meet this goal. It makes note of any progress that has occurred and, notably, highlights the fact that in 2012, 21 of 51 caribou ranges had 65% or greater undisturbed habitat but that this number dropped to 19 of the 51 ranges by 2017. Even this single statistic highlights the immediate need for increased habitat protection.
Additionally, the 2012 federal Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou included an important deadline. It called for the provinces to release their own range plans for the recovery of caribou herds on their respective provincial lands. The original deadline for the completion of these reports was October 2017, however this date has long come and gone and most provinces are still nowhere close to meeting this deadline. In fact, between 2012 and 2017, the habitat condition in most Canadian caribou ranges declined instead of improving.
Alberta was one of the provinces that did not complete their required plans by the deadline. As of 2026, Alberta has decided to implement its caribou range planning under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act which means that it has divided caribou ranges into 11 sub-regional plans – set out on this map. To date, the only caribou planning sub-regions for which plans have been released are the Cold Lake, Bistcho Lake, and Upper Smoky sub-regions. In terms of woodland caribou recovery, the objective of these plans is to meet or exceed provisions contained in the federal and provincial recovery plans by ensuring that habitat conditions improve over time and that caribou populations can persist while their habitat is conserved and recovered. The expected outcome is to “enable habitat to consistently recover towards a minimum level of 65% undisturbed critical habitat within 50-100 years. Most recently, in March 2025 a draft plan for the Upper Smoky regional area was released for review. However, some Alberta conservation groups have argued that these plans do not do enough to protect caribou habitat and will not achieve conservation goals.
It is largely agreed upon by the environmental community that caribou across Canada are facing significant threats and that significant and fast-paced change is needed if we will be successful in protecting this iconic Canadian species.
[1] World Wide Fund for Nature, “Living Planet Report Canada: A National Look at Wildlife Loss” (2017) at 13.