November 24, 2010
Effects of the MPB Epidemic on Northern Caribou Habitat Use
Debbie Cichowski, Caribou Ecological Consulting, Smithers
During winter, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the Tweedsmuir-Entiako population in west-central British Columbia use mature lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests at low elevations where they forage primarily on terrestrial lichens. In the mid 1990s, mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) numbers began increasing in west-central British Columbia, and by 2006 over 200 000 ha of the Tweedsmuir-Entiako caribou range were heavily attacked. By then, most attacked trees had lost their needles and were in the grey phase of the attack (MPB-Grey), potentially affecting snow conditions. Since this scale of mountain pine beetle attack was unprecedented on caribou ranges in recent history, no information was available on the effects of mountain pine beetles on caribou. This prompted interest in examining whether caribou would use grey-attacked stands given potential changes to snow conditions.