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DEH CHO
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will be conducting a large-scale moose survey over the next two weeks to determine the animals' health and sustainability.

A moose, top, and a boreal caribou were spotted five km south of Willowlake River during the 2009 moose monitoring survey conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. This year the department is conducting a larger scale survey. - NNSL file photo

The first moose survey in the Deh Cho was conducted in November 2003 and February 2004 after communities identified moose as an area of interest.

For the survey, the region was divided into 2,000 16-square-kilometre blocks and 180 of the blocks were flown over, said Nic Larter, the regional biologist with the department.

The first survey estimated a density of 4.5 to five moose per 100 square kilometres as a baseline. Between 2004 and 2010 smaller surveys were conducted across 70 of the blocks to monitor the population.

Last October at the Deh Cho Regional Wildlife Workshop, delegates from the Deh Cho communities requested another large-scale survey be done.

"People feel very comfortable when we do surveys," said Larter. "People want to know about moose. Moose is very important to them."

Larter said residents want to know whether the moose are healthy and if the population is sustainable from a hunting perspective.

Compounding the concern is whether the limited access hunters have to the barren ground caribou is adding harvesting pressure to the moose population, he said.

Residents want to know if the moose population can withstand an increased harvest, said Larter.

He said during this survey, which started on Nov. 14, he's hoping to find moose densities similar to those established in the first survey.

There have been positive signs. Each of the smaller surveys found at least 35 calves per 100 cows and at least one set of twins. The presence of twins shows the habitat is healthy or they couldn't be supported, said Larter. A lot of residents have also reported hunting healthy, fat moose during the recent fall hunt.

Since last October, staff with the department have been visiting Deh Cho communities in preparation for the survey.

Residents were asked to examine survey blocks from the 2003-2004 survey and decide if the sections needed to be reclassified.

During the initial survey, residents were asked to look at the blocks and decide where moose populations were high or low based on their experience and traditional knowledge.

It's important not to survey only high density blocks or the survey won't give an accurate picture of what is happening, said Larter.

Based on requests from communities, the survey area has been slightly modified.

To meet the needs of Fort Liard, the survey area has been extended into British Columbia along the Liard River as far as Sandy Creek. Two of those blocks will be included in this survey.

Based on other requests, the survey boundary has also been extended east along the Mackenzie River while the area around Bulmer Lake has been reduced.

If weather permits, the survey is expected to take two weeks. Large-scale surveys aren't held every year because of logistical and cost considerations, said Larter.

If all the scheduled blocks are flown, the cost for the aircraft and fuel will be between $50,000 and $60,000.

Along with the department's staff, each community has been asked to provide observers to assist with counting the moose from the air.

"We're trying to get as many observers up as we can," said Larter.

Chief Stan Sanguez of Jean Marie River First Nations said he is interested in the results of the survey.

"We're always concerned about the health of the moose and the population of it," said Sanguez. "You can tell there's pressure on the moose already."

In the last three to four years, Sanguez said hunters from other parts of the territory and Alberta have been coming into the community's traditional area to hunt moose. The wolf population is also getting too large, he said.

The community has been taking its own steps to safeguard the moose population.

Hunters have been asked not to kill cows between the fall hunt and the spring so the animals have a chance to give birth. The community has also requested two bison tags from Fort Providence.

Sanguez said he hopes to have the results of this survey by the spring so he can work with Dehcho First Nations to promote similar measures across the region.

"It's really important to us here," he said.

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