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Where the caribou don't roam
Simple fencing keeps animals away from mine sites, airstrips by Ian Elliot
NNSL (Nov 24/97) - If you build a mine or an airstrip in the North, you're also building a caribou magnet, a new study has shown. But a new report from the West Kitikmeot Slave Study also suggests that the animals can be diverted from open areas around mines and other development by some cheap and simple methods. The report on the behavior of Bathurst caribou around the Lupin mine at Contwoyto Lake shows that caribou use tailing ponds, roads and airstrips because open, unvegetated areas have fewer mosquitoes and they can more easily spot predators on the open ground. "The study showed that if you build a mine, you are building spaces attractive to caribou," said Anne Gunn, a biologist with the territorial Wildlife Department and the project's leader. "That may sound fine, but if you are trying to land an airplane, you don't want a number of caribou lying on your runway." The study monitored animals at the Lupin site with a camera that took photos every 10 minutes, and researchers also took mosquito samples and measured dust on nearby vegetation to study factors influencing the caribou. Researchers also experimented with ways of keeping caribou away from mines and tailing ponds. They tried laying flat sheets of plastic on the ground in hopes that caribou, which do not like unfamiliar surfaces and avoid smooth areas such as windswept ice, would shy away, but the caribou ignored the them. Researchers had more success with ribbon-laced rope strung between wooden uprights in a manner similar to a traditional method used by Dogrib people to divert caribou. Traditional knowledge was taken into account and elders were used as consultants on the caribou study. "After one trial of this method, it looks like it's practical, it's cheap and it's easy to maintain," she said of the fencing. Such fences are much cheaper than large lengths of chain link, she noted. Future phases of the caribou study will examine the effects of dust on nearby plant life and continue observation of the animals at mine sites. |