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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Out & About: Endangered Selkirk Mountain caribou dwindle to 11

FILE - In this November 2005 file photo provided by the British Columbia Forest Service are part of a Southern Selkirk caribou herd moving north through the Selkirk Mountains about three miles north of the Washington state border into Canada. A bounty of snow has snuffed out this year's maternal pen project in British Columbia to preserve a critically endangered remnant group of mountain caribou that ranges into the United States in the Selkirk Mountains. (Garry Beaudry / AP)
From staff and wire reports

OUTNUMBERED – About a dozen animals may be all that remains of the woodland caribou in the endangered Southern Selkirk herd that roams near the U.S.-Canada border, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Reporting on the annual late-winter helicopter survey conducted last month by the Selkirk Caribou International Technical Working Group, the department’s weekly Wildlife Program report showed the photo above and said, “This small herd of 11 caribou is the extent of the Selkirk population as photographed north of Canada Highway 3 near Kootenay Pass in British Columbia.”

A similar survey in 2015 found 14 caribou remaining in the herd, which survives high in the Selkirks on lichen from old-growth trees during the winter while roaming on top of the deep mountain snowpack.

More of the caribou subspecies roam farther north in Canada, but they, too, are struggling.

Dramatic measures have been undertaken in attempts to save the Southern Selkirk herd, which suffers from old-growth habitat destruction, highway collisions in Canada and predation. Lawsuits have challenged U.S. Forest Service decisions to reduce habitat protections for caribou.

Eleven wolves were killed in the Southern Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia by provincial wildlife staff last year during a winter effort to reduce predation on the dwindling caribou herd that ranges in Canada as well as in Idaho and Washington.

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho contracted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015 to write a draft endangered species recovery plan for the South Selkirk herd.

Big Horn visitors

more Bear Aware

OUTREACH – Getting the word out about safely coexisting with grizzly bears is a full-time job for Chuck Bartlebaugh of the Be Bear Aware campaign based in Missoula.

The recent Big Horn Outdoor Recreation Show in Spokane gave a boost to his effort to educate the public in avoiding bear encounters. Fewer bear encounters and attacks spells fewer reasons to shoot, trap or euthanize bears, he reasons.

His materials cover topics raging from bear habits and living near bears to avoiding attacks and using bear spray.

From his traveling trailer at the Big Horn Show, Bartlebaugh said he handed out nearly 10,000 Be Bear Aware brochures and black bear-grizzly ID cards, plus 5,000 coloring books that help educate kids about bears.

“Who knows,” he said. “Maybe my stop in Spokane will result in a future bad bear encounter being avoided.”