Caribou plan long overdue: MLA

Old Crow MLA Darius Elias is firmly in support of the new hunting restrictions proposed for the Porcupine caribou herd.

Old Crow MLA Darius Elias is firmly in support of the new hunting restrictions proposed for the Porcupine caribou herd.

And so are his 260 constituents, the Liberal insisted in an interview Monday.

“The conservation of the Porcupine caribou is long overdue, and it’s about damn time the public government got onside with the community of Old Crow.”

Elias emphasized the herd has been in decline since 1992, and there’s absolutely no question about the need for strict principles to increase conservation.

“For those that disagree, stand up and show proof,” he said tersely. “Stand up and show proof that the status quo is not hurting this herd.

“And if you can’t prove it, stand down!”

The MLA is also harshly critical of the Porcupine Caribou Management Board for what he believes are serious shortcomings in its proposed Harvest Management Plan.

The board delivered the final version of its recommended plan to various territorial and first nations governments earlier this month.

It recommends that aboriginal hunters be encouraged to hunt bulls only, though there would be no mandatory requirement. It recommends aboriginal hunters be encouraged to track and report their harvest, though there would be no mandatory requirement.

The Yukon government, however, issued its own proposal this month calling for a mandatory bulls-only harvest and mandatory harvest reporting for all hunters - including aboriginal hunters. (See story, p. 4.)

Residents of Old Crow and the leadership of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation have been demonstrating their own conservation measures since 2000, Elias said.

The MLA said he only hopes Environment Minister Elaine Taylor will have the “courage” to carry through with implementation of the regulations for this coming fall hunting season along the Dempster Highway.

“There will be resistance,” he said of the Yukon’s intention to implement the mandatory bull-only harvest and reporting requirements.

Elias said it just doesn’t make sense to do anything other than tighten restrictions to increase the survival of cows.

To do anything less, he suggested, would be irresponsible, even negligent, and he does not want to look back 50 years from now and say he should have done more to save the herd.

The Porcupine caribou population, Elias emphasized, has been declining since 1992.

“That is 17 years ago, and we are just getting around to doing something now? Like, that is good management.”

Elias said the board’s Harvest Management Plan falls short on several fronts, not just with the recommendations to continue the voluntary bulls-only harvest and voluntary reporting.

Imagine a management plan, said the determined MLA, that doesn’t recommend strict harvest guidelines until the herd’s population falls from 115,000 to 75,000.

“That’s 40,000 caribou.”

Elias said the people of Old Crow have been hunting bulls and restricting their harvest to the bare minimum since the winters of deep snow in the late 1990s gutted the survival rate of Porcupine calves.

The people of Old Crow, he insisted, have been calling for the precautionary approach for years: if you can’t be certain of the population size because of no recent, comprehensive count, then must you take the necessary precautions to minimize impact.

It’s unacceptable when the harvest of 4,000 caribou includes 2,400 cows, Elias said.

“Make no mistake, make no mistake: this is a successful lobby effort by my community of Old Crow,” he said of the government’s proposal to legislate bulls-only harvesting.