The Draft Recovery Strategy and Woodland Caribou's Critical Habitats

According to two participants in the draft recovery strategy, the then National Woodland Caribou Recovery Team defined “critical habitat” for boreal woodland caribou as, “equivalent to caribou ranges and their components” where “range refers to historic and current distribution of boreal woodland caribou and is defined as a geographical area partially or fully occupied by a defined local population of caribou” (Racey and Arsenault 2006: 31).

• “Critical habitat has been biologically defined as a perpetual supply of large, contiguous areas of suitable summer and winter habitat, allowing self-sustaining viable population(s) to disperse at low densities over a large area to avoid predator” (Racey and Arsenault 2006: 34).

Read the article on the draft Recovery Strategy, Racey, G. and A. A. Arsenault (2006). "In search of a critical habitat concept for woodland caribou, boreal population." Rangifer 17: 29-37.