Study Looks at Beetle Impacts on Caribou Forage

March 5, 2003

A study of caribou habitat in the Lakes Timber Supply area is looking at how harvesting and the mountain pine beetle epidemic are affecting the presence of key winter forage for the Tweedsmuir-Entiako caribou herd.

The herd of 300 to 400 animals winters in mature lodgepole pine forests in the Entiako and East Ootsa areas, forests which have been hard hit by the mountain pine beetle epidemic. During the winter the caribou forage in these areas primarily by digging through the snowpack to the ground where the slow-growing lichens lie buried.

The ecology of these forests is expected to change as beetle management efforts, and the beetles themselves, alter the forest canopy. The critical study question is, how will this change affect the occurrence of the lichens and therefore forage availability?

The study is a partnership between the Morice & Lakes Innovative Forest Practices Agreement and BC Parks. The Morice & Lakes IFPA is funding the East Ootsa portion of the study area, while BC Parks is funding work in the Entiako area.

"We are operating in caribou migration corridors and it's important for us to understand the ecology of these sites as part of our management efforts," said Tom Olafson, forestry operations supervisor with Fraser Lakes Sawmills. "We want to ensure that we minimize disruption to the herd." He added his company has been integrating the needs of the Tweedsmuir-Entiako herd into its forest management planning efforts since 1985. Fraser Lakes Sawmills is one of six forest licensees partnered in the Morice & Lakes IFPA.

Consultants Debbie Cichowski of Caribou Ecological Consulting  and Patrick Williston of Mnium Ecological Research are working on the study. Cichowski is a wildlife biologist and caribou specialist while Williston brings expertise on lichens to the project.

The pair has been establishing permanent sample plots throughout the study area for the past two years. Multiple measurements will be made in these plots over the coming years to evaluate lichen abundance as the beetles advance and management efforts proceed.

"We've been spending three weeks in each of the past two summers establishing the plots and gathering data," said Cichowski. The plots are eight metres in diameter and were established in a variety of ecological zones. In addition to collecting ecological data at the sample plots, precise photographs were taken of the ground cover to document the presence of the lichens and competing vegetation. Some 65 plots were established in the East Ootsa area and 15 in the Entiako.

"Both harvesting and the beetle epidemic change the structure of the forest canopy," said Cichowski. "Harvesting represents a rapid change while beetle-attacked forests are altered at a slower rate. This study will get a handle on how these changing conditions affect important caribou forage."