Manitoba plans to protect boreal woodland caribou

Manitoba is moving forward with a 10-year boreal woodland caribou recovery strategy to create an environment where herds can thrive, the provincial government announced on Thursday.

The strategy's key goals are to maintain self-sustaining local populations and create the opportunity for effective management and protection of their habitat, Conservation Minister Tom Nevakshonoff said in a news release.

"[It] will help government make decisions that balance the demand for boreal forest resource use with caribou conservation," Nevakshonoff said.

• Petition asks province to protect Manitoba's caribou

Boreal caribou were listed as threatened in Manitoba in 2006 under the Endangered Species and Ecosystems Act. Forest fires, disease, over-hunting and habitat fragmentation from roads, trails and logging operations put the subspecies, which belongs to the deer family, at risk.

In the future, the province says it will include input from indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations and Manitobans in the plan, with the goal to protect both the caribou's environment and the provincial economy.