The Distribution of Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tar and us caribou) and Moose (Alces alces) in the Fort St. James Region of Northern British Columbia, 1800-1950 Domenico Santomauro B.A., University of Bologna, Italy, 2003 Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For The Degree Of Master in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies The University of Northern British Columbia September 2009 © Domenico Santomauro, 2009 Library and Archives Bibliothgque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'6dition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre r6f£rence ISBN: 978-0-494-60853-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-60853-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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M Canada ABSTRACT The Distribution of Woodland Caribou {Rangifer tarandus caribou) and Moose (Alces alces) in the Fort St. James Region of Northern British Columbia, 1800-1950 By Domenico Santomauro Throughout the 1800s and the 1900s, woodland caribou {Rangifer tarandus caribou) disappeared from the upper Nechako lowlands of the interior of British Columbia, and herds in the surrounding mountain ranges contracted. Conversely, moose {Alces alces) populations expanded during the 1900s and rapidly colonized former caribou habitat. Using historical-ecological methods of research and Geographic Information System (GIS) software, I documented caribou and moose historical distribution and abundance, and examined the causative mechanisms that led to caribou decline. I gathered historical information from four sources: 1) secondary literature; 2) semi-structured interviews with aboriginal and non-aboriginal elders; 3) journals of the Hudson's Bay Company of Fort St. James; 4) other written primary sources. The findings of this study provide evidence of greater historical distribution and abundance of caribou, and confirm the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge of First Nations (TEK) and of long-term historical perspectives for the study of ecological changes over time. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iv List of Tables vi List of Figures vii Acknowledgement vii i Chapter One Introduction 1 Research Background 1 Thesis Structure 3 Woodland Caribou 4 Ecology 4 Distribution and Abundance 5 Overview of Threats to Caribou as Gathered From Scientific ^ Literature Predation 7 Natural Disturbance 8 Fire 8 Climate Change 8 Disease and Insect-harassment 9 Habitat Loss Due to Anthropogenic Influence 9 Hunting 10 Moose 11 Ecology 11 Distribution and Abundance 12 Historical Ecology 13 Local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge 15 Study Area 17 Morphology 18 History 19 Chapter Two Research Methods 26 Introduction 26 Secondary Literature 27 Interviews 28 Participants 28 Preparation 28 Fieldwork 29 Research Progression 29 Interviewing and Transcribing 31 iii Content Analysis 33 Hudson's Bay Company Archives 34 Other Written Evidence 35 Organization of Results 36 Maps and Timelines 38 Evaluation 39 Theoretical Underpinnings 39 Evaluation Criteria 41 Chapter Three Results 43 Secondary Literature 43 Archaeological Literature 43 The Pre-Contact Period: Archaeology of Caribou and ^ Moose Artefacts 47 Anthropological Literature 49 Ecological Literature 50 Evaluation of Results from Secondary Literature 52 Summary 55 Interviews 55 Caribou Knowledge 55 Moose Knowledge 59 Evaluation of Results from Interviews 63 Summary 66 Fort St. James HBC Post Journals 66 Evaluation of Results from the HBC Post Journals 70 Summary 73 Evaluation of Results from Primary Written Sources 81 Summary 83 Summary of Findings 84 Evaluation: Summary of Results and Comparison of the 86 Sources Chapter Four Discussion 90 Introduction 90 Trends Amongst the Data 90 Caribou in the 1800s: Evidence for Greater Abundance and 90 Wider Distribution Caribou in the 1800s: Competing Evidence for Scarcity 93 Moose in the 1800s 94 Moose in the 1900s 96 Historical Distribution and Abundance: Conclusions 98 Caribou 98 Moose 99 Hypotheses of Caribou Decline 100 Hypothesis One: Habitat Change 101 Hypothesis Two: Increased Predation 103 iv Hypothesis Three: Habitat Loss due to Anthropogenic 103 Influence and Industrial Activities Hypothesis Four: Over-Hunting 105 Conclusions 108 Potential Biases of Historical-Ecological Information 110 Suggestions for Further Research 111 Literature Cited 113 Appendix I Result Tables, Interviews 129 Appendix II Collateral Information on the Historical Landscapes of the 134 Study Area Gathered from Interviews. Appendix III Result Tables, HBC Journals 136 Appendix IV Result Tables, Other Written Sources 137 Appendix V Interview Guide 141 Appendix VI Interviewee Informed Consent Form 142 Appendix VII Band Consent 144 v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Ethnic identity of persons selected as potential interviewees of the 30 project. Table 2.2 Distribution of completed interviews for Tl'azt'en, Nak'azdli and non- 31 aboriginal participants. Table 2.3 Example of statement gathered from the HBC journals organized in a 37 result table (See Appendices I-IV for full tables). Table 3.1 List of caribou and moose artefacts from the Athapascan Collection of 48 the National Museum of Civilization (Gatineau, Quebec). Table 3.9 Comparison of the individual qualities of the sources of data employed 87 in this project, based on the four criteria of evaluation outlined in section 2.8 (Evaluation Criteria). * vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Distribution of woodland caribou herds across British Columbia (2008), 23 including boundary of historical distribution (BC Ministry of Environment). Figure 1.2. Telemetry locations of present caribou populations within the study area 24 of the Takla (Poole et al., 2000), Wolverine (Johnson et al., 2002) and Chase herds (Wood and Terry, 1999). Figure 1.3 Study area and boundaries of the traditional territory (T.T.) of the 25 Tl'azt'en and Nak'azdli First Nations. The borders of the study area approximately correspond to the geographic range of the information provided by the four sources of data. Figure 3.2 Caribou scraper photographed in the house of interviewee #6 during the 48 interview session. Reproduced with permission of Interviewee #6 Figure 3.3 Timeline of caribou and moose historical observations gathered from the 61 interviews with local aboriginal and non-aboriginal elders. Figure 3.4 Caribou and moose historical observations gathered from the 62 interviews plotted on a map of the study area using GIS software. Figure 3.5 Timeline of caribou and moose historical observations gathered from the 68 HBC journals of Fort St. James. Figure 3.6 Caribou and moose historical observations gathered from the HBC 69 journals of Fort St. James plotted on a map of the study area using GIS software. Figure 3.7 Timeline of caribou and moose historical observations gathered from 79 other written sources. Figure 3.8 Caribou and moose historical observations gathered from other written 80 sources plotted on a map of the study area using GIS software. Figure 4.1 Master timeline of historical observations of caribou and moose 91 derived from semi-structured interviews with local aboriginal and non- aboriginal elders, HBC journals of Fort St. James, other written sources and secondary literature. Vll Acknowledgement Field Research was funded through the BC Real Estate Foundation Partnering Fund, a partnership generated by an endowment to the University of Northern British Columbia to assist faculty and students in obtaining and leveraging funding for research. UNBC and the Real Estate Foundation of BC share a mutual interest in advancing practices for the use and conservation of land that enhance the social, economic and environmental well-being of northern communities. My sincere thanks go to Gail Fondahl and Christopher Johnson, supervisors of this project, for their continuous support, encouragement and patience. I would also like to thank Ted Binnema, member of my Committee, for his ideas and support in