FEAT U RE FAU N A
Boreal Woodland Caribou
Rangifer tarandus caribou
AUTHOR ERIKA DRIEDGER
PHOTO JACOB W. FRANK
B
oreal woodland caribou (Rangifer
tarandus caribou) are a subspecies
of reindeer found in nine provinces
across Canada. This forest-dwelling species
has large, crescent-shaped hooves that help
it stay on top of snow and allow it to dig for
ground lichen, its primary source of winter
food. The distribution of boreal caribou in
Canada extends from the westernmost
provinces to the east, and as far south as
the lake area near the United States border.
However, the distribution has been moving
northward since the 1900s. Boreal caribou
are now red-listed under Canada’s Species
at Risk Act (SARA) due to an observed
population reduction of over 30 percent
in the last 20 years. Aboriginal Traditional
Knowledge attributes this northward
movement and population decline to
habitat loss in Canada’s southern regions.
Pikangikum Traditional
Knowledge
Pikangikum is an Ojibway First Nation
located on Pikangikum Lake in Ontario.
Pikangikum elders described people’s
interactions with caribou and the environment as customary stewardship. The relationship is reciprocal: the land provides
everything needed for the Pikangikum,
and the people acknowledge this gift by
harvesting the abundance and leaving the
rest to return.
The Whitefeather Forest
Initiative
In the past, Pikangikum relied heavily
on the fur trade for income, but with the
collapse of the trade due to animal rights
activism, the community has seen a decline
in employment and community wellbeing. The Pikangikum adopted the Whitefeather Forest Initiative in 2006 to provide
Forager 2 Fall 2015
employment in commercial forestry for
community members and as a way to keep
with ancestral stewardship roles of caring
for the land. The Initiative incl VFW2