Woodland Caribou

What is a Woodland Caribou?

Woodland caribou are members of the deer family. They are larger than deer but smaller than elk. Both sexes of caribou have antlers. Their fur is chocolate brown with white areas on the belly, rump, and legs. Their dense body hair provides excellent insulation during cold winters, and helps conserve body heat.

What Do Caribou Eat?

Caribou enjoy a variety of foods including mushrooms, flowering plants, grasses, sedges, and soft shrubs.  They especially like the leaves of huckleberries.  In winter, their diet changes drastically.  During that time they feed on lichens draped from tree branches.  During the late winter months, when deer and elk are on their low-elevation winter ranges, woodland caribou move up to the ridge tops.  There, the deep snows enable them to access lichens growing high up in the trees.

 

Where Do Caribou Live on the Colville National Forest?

Caribou are found on the Newport-Sullivan Lake Ranger Districts in the northeast corner of Washington State.  The Selkirk Mountains Woodland Caribou Recovery Area includes a portion of the districts, as well as public lands in northern Idaho and southern British Columbia.  In Washington, you are most likely to see a caribou in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness.

Why Are Caribou Endangered?

Woodland caribou used to occur in the northern forests of New England, the Great Lakes States and the Inland Northwest.  They are now restricted to the Selkirk Mountains.  Recent surveys indicate that there are only 20 animals in the recovery area. 

Over-hunting in the early decades of the 20th century caused a large decline of this species.  Timber harvest and large wildfires in later decades led to the loss of suitable habitat and forest fragmentation.  Caribou are less resilient to these changes than either deer or elk and have more specialized habitat needs.  Female caribou do not breed until they are 3 1/2 years old and produce only one calf per year.  This reproductive rate is among the lowest in the deer family.  Calves are especially vulnerable to predation.  Many of them die of exposure to the rain, snow, low temperatures and cold winds of their high-elevation rearing areas.  Only about 3 out of 10 calves survive.

How Does the Colville National Forest Manage Caribou Habitat?

Mature cedar / hemlock and subalpine fir / spruce forests provide suitable habitats for caribou.  The Colville National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan contains special guidelines for managing caribou habitat.  Habitat that is presently suitable is protected from harvest.  The Forest is also working to reduce potential conflicts between snowmobile use and caribou on the high-elevation ridges in the recovery area.