Introduction

Chapter 1. Caribou Preservation in Canada

Video Case Study

Caribou Preservation in Canada

In this activity you will be watching a 3:33 video entitled Another Chance produced by Leanne Allison for Parks Canada. This short video features the status of caribou populations in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. You will be encouraged through this exercise to learn about how caribou populations have been affected by both human and natural events, and how park managers plan to restore caribou populations.

In each section of the activity you’ll be asked to think about elements of the video’s content and presentation as they relate to environmental literacy, which you learned about in Chapter #.

Instructions

Watch the video with this question in mind: Why have caribou declined in Banff National Park? After watching the video, answer the below questions.

1.

Have caribou been numerous in the past in Banff National Park?

2.

What evidence do you have for your answer to the previous question?

3.

What major event occurred in 2009 caused a sudden decline in caribou?

4.

What other key factor(s) led to caribou decline?

Factors
poor weather
hunting
predation
competition
disease
tourism
industrial activity

Instructions

1. Watch the video again.

2. As you watch, note the answers to the following questions.

5.

Where is Banff National Park located?

6.

What do landscapes typical of this park include? (Please name three different items in your response.)

7.

What species were mentioned in the video as being present in the park? (Please name five different species in your response.)

List characteristics that make the park suitable or unsuitable for caribou.

8.

Suitable characteristics

9.

Unsuitable characteristics

10.

Describe a timeline of events in the park relating to caribou populations from the pre-1990s to the present.

Instructions

1. Watch the video again if necessary.

2. This time concentrate on the text shown in the video.

11.

How does Banff National Park plan to foster caribou in the park?

Plans
predator control
captive breeding
hunting restrictions
cull of competitor species
transfer of Arctic herds to the park

12.

Why are they using this method?

Reason
lack of source populations
caribou are a preferred species
disease in source populations
wolves are not an appropriate species

13.

Who is the park working with on its caribou reintroduction program?

14.

Where will caribou reintroductions be done?

Location
Alberta
Saskatchewan
British Columbia
Manitoba

15.

Why has predator control been so common?

Location
to prevent spread of disease in predator populations
for fur
to preserve natural prey populations
to preserve livestock populations
for tourism/recreation (hunting)
to reduce human safety risks

Why is predator control such a problematic activity?

16.

Can you think of other similar species interventions in other parts of the world?

17.

What were the outcomes of these other species interventions?

18.

19.

Having watched Another Chance, do you feel that you are fully aware of the causes and consequences of human impacts on caribou populations?

20.

What other factors might be at work that were not mentioned in the video?

Factors
disease
competition
habitat fragmentation
hunting
other:

Instructions

Having viewed the video clip and focused on environmental literacy, now read the following article and related responses.

"The Arctic Oil and Wildlife Refuge" W. Wayt Gibbs, Scientific American, May 2001 Responses in Letters, Scientific American, September 2001, and November 2001

21.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was created because the area provides premium Arctic habitat for wildlife. Provide three examples of this.

22.

Why was the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 created?

23.

In Banff National Park, no industrial activities are permitted in order to maintain the area in as natural a state as possible, and protect species living there. In Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge, development seems likely. List some of the players in deciding whether this area will be developed for oil extraction?

24.

W. Wayt Gibbs’ 2001 article describes the natural Northern Alaska landscape and the landscape features that result from oil and gas exploration and extraction. Check off the typical natural landscape mentioned in this article.

Feature
prairie
mountains
tundra
lakes
rivers
coastal plain
wetlands
permafrost
ocean
forest
ponds
alpine meadow
snow
grasslands
foothills
plateau
hummocks
ice pockets
river deltas
rock outcrops

25.

List at least nine landscape features that will result from oil and gas exploration and extraction activities. Then, check off the landscape features from this list that could impact caribou.

Feature

26.

Do we have enough information to predict with confidence how local wildlife such as caribou will respond to land use changes in the Arctic?

Why?

27.

Do we have enough information to predict with confidence how local wildlife such as caribou will respond to land use changes in the Arctic?

Activity results are being submitted.