Mountain Caribou and snowmobilers share much of the same terrain in late winter within the Interior Wet Belt of east-central and southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. The rarity of Mountain Caribou and the expansion in both numbers and capability of snowmobiles have raised concerns that snowmobile activity may have negative effects on caribou, such as physiological impacts, increased exposure to dangerous terrain, and displacement or range abandonment. This report examines two types of information, with the goal of increasing our knowledge on the potential relationships between snowmobiling and caribou. It (1) summarizes the observations of a sample of snowmobilers, wildlife managers and others with experiences relevant to the topic, and (2) examines late-winter caribou survey data in relation to mapping of snowmobile-use areas, to determine whether there has been any decrease over time in the proportion of surveyed caribou groups occurring within snowmobiling areas. Data are current to when this report was initially prepared (2003) but literature available to early 2008 has been reviewed during editing.
Kinley, T.. 2008. Snowmobile - Mountain Caribou Interactions: Perceptions and Trends in Caribou Displacement. Ministry of Environment