Both Canada and the United States have international obligations with respect to the protection and conservation of the Porcupine caribou herd and the rights of Indigenous users.
In 1987, Canada and the United States signed a treaty aimed to ensure the conservation of the herd and to ensure that caribou remain available to Indigenous peoples for their cultures and subsistence. In Canada, Indigenous rights of the Gwich’in, Na-cho Nyak Dun, Vuntut Gwitchin, Tr’ondek Hwech’in, and Inuvialuit Peoples are legally protected in land claim agreements and the Canadian Constitution.
Each year, the Porcupine caribou herd completes one of the greatest land migrations on earth to the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the herds’ calving, post-calving and insect-relief habitat.
The calving and post calving grounds are critical habitat for the cows and calves during a period they are most vulnerable and sensitive to disturbance. The Coastal Plain of the Refuge provides higher quality forage with lower risk of predation and is used nearly every single year by the herd.
In a herd size of 100,000 to 200,000, between 35,000 and 80,000 calves are born each year. Data show that the calves do better when they are born in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge.
The future importance of this area to the herd, under various climate change models, show the 1002 lands remain critical and will likely become even more so. Climate change is affecting when their food (forage) begins to grow in the spring and summer and when snow melts. Under warming scenarios, forages are predicted to grow earlier and ‘green-up’ faster within the 1002 lands (study here). Caribou actively select high quality forage in areas where snow is melting or melting. Thus, in the coming decades, the 1002 lands will become even more critical to the herd and its conservation.
