Protect Woodland Caribou in USA and Canada from XL Pipeline, Areva's uranium mine etc.

  • by: Isa Villanen
  • recipient: President of the USA, mr. Barak Obama, Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of USA, the USA Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, Canada's Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz

According to scientists, the causes of the global caribou decline are straightforward: rapidly rising Arctic temperatures are throwing caribou out of sync with the environment in which they evolved; oil and gas development, mining, logging, and hydropower projects in the Far North are impinging on the caribou’s range; and, though not a major factor, hunting is further depleting already beleaguered caribou populations.

The caribou is better adapted to cold than they are to warmer, moister weather. In cold, dry winters there is less snow to slow them down and sap their energy while they’re on the move or being chased by wolves. Less snow, especially if it is not icy and hard-packed, also makes it easier for them to dig down to the vegetation they need in order to get them through to the summer months.

But the icing problem is only one of a host of warming-related effects now plaguing caribou.  As spring arrives earlier and earlier, “the flush of highly nutritious plant growth” has advanced. Yet caribou reproduction and calving are not occurring earlier, meaning the calves are born past the peak of prime forage availability.

In addition, the lichen and other tundra plants favored by caribou are gradually being replaced by shrubs and trees that are advancing northward as the Arctic warms. Vladislav Nuvano, an expert on the history of reindeer herding in Chukotka, in the Russian Far East, told me recently that reindeer herders there are seeing woody shrubs expand at the expense of lichens and other reindeer food.

Rising temperatures have led to an increase in mosquitoes and flies, whose harassment of caribou interferes with their ability to forage and ultimately means that the animals gain less weight. One study in southern Norway showed that rather than increasing foraging times to compensate for harrying by insects, the animals lost body mass, which makes it harder for the calves to survive the winter and for adults to successfully reproduce.The other major threat to global caribou populations is industrial encroachment — the roads, pipelines, drilling platforms, mines, dams, and other human development that is shrinking the size and quality of the habitat these animals can move to when they become stressed by climate changes and overhunting.

In northern Canada, French mining giant Areva is proposing a $1.5 billion uranium mine near the calving grounds of the Beverly caribou herd, located in Nunavut Territory. That herd’s numbers have fluctuated considerably in recent decades, going from an estimated 210,00 in 1971 to 110,000 in 1980, to 286,000 in 1994. Aerial surveys done in the past several years show a steep drop in both the number of cows and calves, indicating that the herd now contains far fewer animals than in the mid-1990s.

The Canadian government is backing the Areva project, which will include four open pit mines, one underground mine, and the construction of roads, and bridges. The project promises to create 400 jobs, many of which will go to the chronically underemployed Inuit in the region. But indigenous hunters oppose the mine, saying it could seal the fate of the Beverly caribou herd and create a precedent that will endanger other herds in the Canadian tundra. Half of the world’s caribou populations live in Canada’s Far North, which also contains most of the world’s uranium.

Farther south in Canada, logging and other human activities have led to a steady decline in numbers of woodland and mountain caribou. Yet, according to University of Montana caribou expert Mark Hebblewhite, Environment Canada has dragged its feet for years on creating reserves and migration corridors for these caribou sub-species.

The other major threat to global caribou populations is industrial encroachment — the roads, pipelines, drilling platforms, mines, dams, and other human development that is shrinking the size and quality of the habitat these animals can move to when they become stressed by climate changes and overhunting.

Mr, President, Prime ministers of USA and Canada, and the corresponding ministries,


We, the undersigned, ask you to grant full protection and listing to the Woodland Caribou. The species is under attack by many sources:


- Global warming,


- habitat distruction and over-hunting,


- logging and industrial construction and mining.


Because the Arctic temperatures are rising, the Caribou have great difficulties to find lichen under ica sheets covering the snow. Humans have deliberately hunted the magnificent Caribou for trophies. Many older males have quite spectacular antlers, like massive crowns.


The worst threat is also caused by humans. First is the Keystone XL pipeline, driven stongly by the Canadian government, thanks to the oil business lobbers. This pipeline is not threatening only animals, but also their habitats, and it will, if built, cause futher damage to the nature it runs through. The possibilities for a disaster in any area at any given time along the pipeline are only a matter of when. If it would happen, the destruction of nature is not the only damage caused. The soil would become infertile, and the oil deposit may even pollute the ground water. Futhermore it would render tha area of nature unsuitable for berry and mushroom picking, if they grew in such a site at all.


The second threat is a much debated, government backed mining operation by a French mining company Areva. They are plannin to open a series of uranium mines, four would be open guarries and one would be undergroung. Not only would the mining action destroy the natinal woodland site's scenic value, but also cause much vaster areas to be destroyed, as they need a road system for transportation of uranium ore to shipping sites and power plants. The radiation and pollution from such a mining operation is underestimated, but it might be the last blow to the Woodland Caribou, as its very numbers today make it an endangered species.


Please, reconsider your positions in these matters again, and in favour of wildlife under direct threat. The Woodland Caribou could be extinct in a decade, if nothing is done to stop these vast and dangerous undertakings.

Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.