Refinement of Caribou Herd Boundaries – Finlay Herd

Northern Ecotype Caribou are sparsely distributed throughout the FWCP’s Peace Region. The Finlay herd, located north of the Akie River, is currently designated as “special concern” by COSEWIC, and has declined from ~300 animals in 1996 to 26 in 2002. Since the early 1990s, studies have documented the movements and distribution of individual caribou across all seasonal ranges. From these studies, there is evidence of caribou moving over the height-of-land to the east, into what is currently designated as the Pink Mountain herd. Similar results in the Pink Mountain herd have shown movement between the two herds. This project will use existing data to refine the Finlay and Pink Mountain caribou herd boundaries to reflect more accurate and biologically relevant boundaries.