Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 22/02) - Delegates to a meeting about highway caribou hunting regulations voiced concerns that increased snowmobile use might be affecting the habitat the Porcupine caribou herd relies on.

"There's been a growing public concern about off-road vehicles, and potential habitat damage and displacement of wildlife through disturbance," said Clayton White, a board member with the Fish and Wildlife Management Board, a Yukon advisory organization.

"The issue goes beyond hunting. Snowmobile traffic has definitely increased substantially."

Biologist Doug Larsen, with the Yukon territorial government, said there is little information available regarding how the caribou might be affected by snowmobile traffic, but he said snowmobile tracks can leave scars on the landscape that last for years. He said broader restrictions might help to reduce off-road vehicle traffic.

Of particular concern is recreational joy riders who go "high marking," the practice of riding up steep hillsides to see how high up they can go, Larsen said.

Meanwhile, James Andre, president of the Tetlit Gwich'in Renewable Resource Council in Fort McPherson, said snowmobiles are an essential tool for hunters.

He expressed frustration with suggestions that snowmobile use be restricted further. "We talk about disruption to the caribou," he said, "What about the big trucks on the highway?"

About 35 delegates from communities in the Yukon, Alaska, and the NWT attended the two-day meeting in Inuvik organized by the Porcupine Caribou Management Board.

The purpose of the meeting was to review hunting restrictions on the Dempster Highway in the Yukon and NWT.

The restrictions include a 500-metre no-hunting corridor on either side of the Dempster, a one-week hunting closure during the spring and fall migration, and a ban on off-road vehicles before the ground has frozen and sufficient snow cover has been reached 15 centimetres. In the Yukon, all three restrictions were enforced for the first time last fall, but in the NWT, only the restriction on motor vehicle use and the one-week closure have been legislated. The 500-metre no-hunting corridor is still a voluntary restriction in the NWT.

Most delegates voiced support for continuing the restrictions on both sides of the border, although there was much disagreement on the details.

The Porcupine Caribou Management Board is collecting input from the user communities to make recommendations to the Yukon and NWT territorial governments about the Dempster caribou hunting regulations.