1. Fortymile Caribou Herd Recovery
Harvest and the
Fortymile Caribou Herd Recovery

2. A hundred here, a thousand there A score down in the hollow,
Spread far and wide in countless bands
As far as glass could follow.
* * *
Three days we camped there in their midst
Our work around completing
Through all northwestward held their course
We noticed no depleting.
H.S. Bostock, 1979
Except from “The Caribou”, a poem recounting one of the last great migrations of the Fortymile herd south of the Dawson Range in 1933.
Historical photo of Fortymile caribou swimming the Yukon River near Dawson
The Fortymile Caribou Herd (FMCH) (Rangifer tarandus granti) ranged both in Yukon and Alaska.
The herd has undergone major population fluctuations and shifts in distribution in the last century.
During the gold rush in the late 19800’s, early 1900’s, historical references frequently mention thousands of caribou covering the hillsides, becoming very scarce as time went on.

3. Fortymile Caribou
1930 to 1939
The herd seemed to have recovered well after the gold rush and Olaus Murie estimated over 500,000 caribou in This was a crude estimate by our standards today but it was clear that there were many thousands of caribou in the herd.
Historical numbers show that the herd again declined from the 1920’s to the 1940’s however caribou distribution in Yukon was the largest recorded in the 1930’s.
Hunting regulations were very liberal, harvest remained very high and wolf predation was probably high. 3

4. Fortymile Caribou
1976 to 1990
The population decline in the 1970’s was well documented. Wolf predation was probably still high but dropping. Harvest regulations went from liberal to restrictive by the mid 1970’s. From about 1973 onward, harvest in Yukon was insignificant as few caribou crossed the border. 4

5. Fortymile Caribou
Herd range shrank on both sides of the border – caribou were now scarce along the Steese Highway in Alaska. The herd’s range was about one quarter of its maximum size and the population size at 22,000 caribou was a fraction of the size it was 80 years ago. The majority of the herd’s historic range in Yukon has been abandoned for 50 years now.

6. The vision for the Fortymile herd and its ecosystem:
Fortymile Caribou
Fortymile Caribou Herd Management Plan (1995)
The vision for the Fortymile herd and its ecosystem:
To restore the abundance and diversity of wildlife in this ecosystem, of which the Fortymile herd is the most important indicator species.
To promote healthy wildlife populations for their intrinsic value, as well as consumptive and nonconsumptive uses.
In the mid 1990’s the 40Mile Caribou Herd Planning Team was formed to develop a management or recovery plan for the herd. The team consisted of a diverse group of Alaskan and Yukon residents and representatives from state, federal, and territorial wildlife managing agencies.
In the management plan, the vision was to restore the abundance and diversity of wildlife to the whole 40Mile ecosystem and to promote healthy wildlife populations. While caribou were of key concerns, the team considered other wildlife as well as caribou.

7. Fortymile Caribou 5 sections: Limit effects of harvest
Reduce predation effects
Habitat protection
Monitor plan’s effectiveness
Maintain public awareness and acceptance

8. Fortymile Caribou
Sound science, reviewed by National Academy of Sciences:
Each year we conducted a calf mortality study
Herd census
Composition Survey
Herd and range condition sampling
Wolf survey
Moose and sheep surveys to evaluate additional effects of wolf control

9. Fortymile Caribou

10. Fortymile Caribou Post-management plan
Harvest management plans and
(Drafting of the next plan underway)
Primary management goal = herd growth
Secondary goal = increased harvest
Harvest started at 2%, shared with Yukon 65:35

11. Fortymile Caribou

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13. Fortymile Caribou