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Author: Jack O'Neill 130 St. Joseph's Drive Phone: 905 526-9878 Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are considered endangered in Alberta, Canada. Rapid expansion of oil and gas development in northeastern Alberta has raised concerns about the effects of industrial development on the movement and distribution of caribou. In 1998, a total of 36 caribou were outfitted with programmable GPS collars that collected data for a one-year study. 43,415 locations were used to categorize the locations of the animals with respect to well sites, roads, and seismic lines. Results indicated that functional habitat loss through avoidance was significant. In addition, a modeling exercise was undertaken to discover whether or not the caribou were crossing roads and seismic lines at the same frequency as randomly distributed linear features. Roads appeared to be a significant barrier to caribou movements, and seismic lines were not barriers. This study presents hard data that can be used as a mitigation strategy in light of provincial guidelines for oil and gas activity on caribou range. |
