If logging and recreation activities were proceeding at such a rate that entire ecosystems were imperiled, would you want to see changes to human actions?
Like the canary in the coalmine — whose health is indicative of health for others — the mountain caribou’s health is indicative of the health of the inland temperate rainforest of southeastern B.C. Because it feeds on lichen that grows on old trees, the mountain caribou needs large expanses of old-growth forest for its survival.
The caribou has been extinguished throughout much of its range; there are fewer than 2,000 left. Its dramatic decline over the past several decades is due to logging, recreation and other human activities. Does this spell doom for the last inland temperate rainforests?
Every species is unique, but the viability of some species has more significance than others. As an indicator of this globally significant ecosystem’s overall health, the mountain caribou’s fate should concern us deeply.
Last year the province took steps toward improving the prospects for the mountain caribou (and B.C.’s inland temperate rainforest). A conservation plan was released that calls for increased habitat protection and better management of recreation activities.
The key now is to ensure that the plan is well implemented to protect caribou and the ecosystem so that this is not the mountain caribou’s swan song.
