Hunting ban necessary to save caribou herd

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Caribou populations in the Carcross area have dropped dramatically, prompting a call to ban hunting for both Native and non-Native hunters.

Ray Quock, Council for Yukon Indians wildlife consultant, is working with First Nations groups in the Carcross area south of Whitehorse to save the area's caribou herd. The herd's numbers have dwindled from thousands to approximately 350 animals separated into six sub-herds in Lorne Mountain, Jubilee Mountain, Montana Mountain, Teslin, Burwash and Squanga Lake.

"In the past, there were thousands and thousands. Nobody knows how many," says Quock. They started to decline with the gold rush and people moving into the area. They used to range all the way from the Haines Road to Tagish Lake.

"Now, they're just directly west of Whitehorse. The decline was probably initially caused the market hunting during the gold rush but now, it's a lot of habitat loss due to human encroachment."

Quock and several First Nations groups, together with the Yukon Department of Renewable Resources, are proposing a ban on hunting the caribou so the Carcross herd can recover.

In 1990, a group of people from Tagish, a small settlement southeast of Whitehorse, contacted Quock about their concerns over the decline of the herd. The Carcross Tagish Wildlife Working Group was formed to deal with the problem.

"We want to stop al hunting of the herd, including first Nations hunting. Everybody's been really receptive," said Quock. "Everybody realizes they're declining but they have a hard time because they live off the land. They're going to definitely start hunting more moose. We're also looking at ways of making agreements with other First Nations groups for caribou such as the Finlayson herd."

Natives in communities in eastern Yukon hunt caribou from the Finlayson herd, which has more than tripled in numbers after a wolf kill was conducted in the 1980s. In 1983 the herd numbered approximately 2,000 animals. But this year, there are more than 7,000 caribou.

Quock is hoping native groups in that area will share their caribou with Carcross and Tagish natives. The working group has drawn up a rough draft of the recovery plan. Now, the band councils of the Kwanlin Dun, Ta'an Kwachas, Carcross Tagish, Champagne Aishihik and Taku River Tlingit First Nations must pass the resolution. Bands are in the process of reviewing the plans.

Until the plan becomes law, the hunting ban is strictly voluntary. But most stick to the ban, said Quock.

"There are few people who don't adhere to that so we're looking at passing legislation to declare the herd endangered," he said. "Then, anybody who doesn't obey

the ban can be fined $20,000 and get up to two years in jail."

This punishment would be handed down to First Nations hunters as well, despite their privileges as native people to take any animals for subsistence use.

The goal is to increase the herd numbers to 2,000 animals, said Quock. But first, the native bands must agree to the ban.

"It's hard for them to make a law like this. They think they're going to set a precedent and that the government is taking their rights," said Quock. "But this comes from the First Nations, not the government. It's such an emergency state that we have to do something now."

Once the six First Nations band council approve the plan, it will go to Renewable Resources minister Bill Brewster. But the process could take from two weeks to two years to legislate, said Quock.