Developing a management plan for the Moose Horn River caribou herd, Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T.

• Main Author: Collin, George
• Other Authors: Geist, Valerius
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Environmental Design 1983
• Subjects: Caribou - Northwest Territories - Mackenzie Mountains region; Wildlife management - Northwest Territories; Artificial satellites in remote sensing - Northwest Territories; Northwest Territories; Horn River; Moose Horn River; Mackenzie mountains; Subarctic; Tundra
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/22966; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/23000

Bibliography: p. 149-158. This project addresses the fundamental problems of organizing, integrating and synthesizing wildlife population and resource-use data for development of management strategies to affect the continued maintenance of the Moose Horn River caribou ( Rang i fer tarandus) herd. A computer-based information system and satellite imagery were used as organizational tools for handling a variety of existing information. visual interpretation of enhanced LANDSAT satellite imagery was demonstrated as an effective tool for mapping subarctic alpine tundra and subarctic forest caribou habitat. A computer graphic system was used to display the seasonal distribution of Moose Horn caribou. The sport hunting pressure on the Moose Horn herd showed an increasing trend in annual harvests from 44 caribou (1965-68) to 96 caribou (1976-79) and concentrated hunter activity in local areas. Hunter success remained high, averaging 56%. The harvesting strategy used by Dene hunters from Fort Norman showed that a high percentage (49%) of the harvest was young females and that hunts were confined to mainly the Moose Horn River drainage. Physical measurements and reproductive data from female Moose Horn caribou indicated a high quality herd from 1968-1970. Management recommendations focussed on four main issues: monitoriny the productivity of the Moose Horn herd, optimizing the distribution of Dene and non-resident Sf.JO rt hunter-killed caribou, monitoring the general abundance and seasonal distribution of the herd, and protecting caribou from excessive human disturbance on post-calving grounds. The management strategies dealt primarily with restricting industrial activity on critical post-calving habitat, identifying information requirements for modeling the interaction between the Moose Horn herd and user-groups, and maintaining an information management system to compare future collected data with the information base generated from this project.