RANGIFER AS AN INDICATOR OF CHANGE IN THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC:
Developing a monitoring program
Based on discussions at Minary, New Hampshire, Feb. 1-3
Don Russell, Canadian Wildlife Service, Yukon, CANADA

How concept of monitoring Rangifer started

• In Iqaluit, Canada (1998), the Arctic Council ministers directed Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) to "identify elements of a program to monitor circumpolar biodiversity" and to "assess the effects of climate change on Arctic ecosystems".

CAFF's response

• In Iceland (2000) CAFF biodiversity working group gathered to develop a framework for a circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program, specifying approach and key parameters, against which national and international monitoring programs can be evaluated and linked.

Indicators agreed upon at CAFF meeting

• Arctic Char, Seabirds, Ringed seals, Waders, ITEX plants, and Rangifer

Network terms of reference

CAFF drafted terms of reference for these proposed species networks. These are:

• A Rangifer Monitoring Network will be a voluntary activity for individuals and countries involved
• CAFF has no financial obligation in pilot phase of the network
• Don Russell, Canadian Wildlife Service, Yukon, Canada was identified "Rangifer netmaster"
• The netmaster is responsible to identify people, preferably one per Arctic country
• Netmaster is to coordinate work and report to CAFF on progress
• Objectives of pilot project are:

• a. Assess the interest and need for a monitoring network, especially in relation to climate change
• b. Propose set of achievable activities that use biological, remote sensing and community-based monitoring methods
• c. Consider practical issues of funding, data gathering and harmonisation
• d. Report its preliminary findings to CAFF

Proposed monitoring goal
By monitoring Rangifer systems, determine the relative impact of the three forces for change (climate, industrial development and institutional) on the terrestrial northern ecosystem and northern cultures. - first proposed Rovaniemi, Finland Feb. 1999 (Polar Record 2(9) p. 34.

Questions addressed by an assessment and monitoring program

• Remote sensing
  • a. Has the weather changed in the last few decades?
  • b. How has this change affected reindeer/caribou habitat?
  • c. How can we use satellites to monitor change in the range of a herd?
• Herd assessment and monitoring
  • a. What do we know about each herd?
  • b. What role has/does global change play in the health of the herd?
  • c. How will change affect the health of the herd?
  • d. What are the implications of those changes to people's relationship with the resource?
• Community monitoring
  • a. What are the hunters and herders telling us about changes?
  • b. How have changes affected reindeer/caribou's health, movements, and behavior?
  • c. How have changes affected people's access to animals and quality of grazing lands
  • d. How can climate change information be used by communities to help monitor the health of the herd?
• Communications
  • a. How can this information be shared?
  • b. How will management decisions affect users and reindeer/caribou if forces of change increase?

Principles to get monitoring going

• Develop protocol for "common" indicators
• Keep it simple
• Go slowly and build on successes
• Build strong communication program
• Learn from others - share experiences

Questions we need to discuss

• Advantages and disadvantages of forming network?
• Existing monitoring initiatives?
• What Human-Rangifer Systems and what Rangifer ecotypes?
• Forces of change to consider?
• Regional and community partners?
• How to communicate and report?
• Herder or hunter role and responsibility?
• Funding possibilities?

Key Discussion points from Minary meeting

Value of monitoring - a number of participants discussed of value and concerns with a circumpolar monitoring of Rangifer.

Here are a few of the positive aspects:

• Raise overall awareness by exchange of information on a few key indicators
• A good program to involve hunter/herder communities in monitoring and management
• Able to put together the baseline information to conduct cross-herd comparisons
• Facilitate better environmental assessment by taking advantage of information from herds that are subjected to a spectrum global change impacts
• Coordination of effort can provide some economies of scale - don't try to monitor everything within one region or country
• Generally increase our knowledge about the resilience of Rangifer as a species

There were some cautions expressed.

• Researchers will have to be concerned about the quality of the data.
• How do we deal with a mix of domestic and wild reindeer when monitoring
• If we take advantage of existing systems, how do we ensure datasets are comparable
• Linkage between habitat and animals important even though many management agencies are not using the habitat data.
• Must consider the array of management systems and the data that they depend on.
• Must consider the variability in the "richness" of the data for different herds. For example there is not good enough data on many Russian herds to compare with North American herds
• Have to go to each country expert to determine which herds are good candidates for monitoring
• We don't have the money to monitor everything so have to be careful to pick a few strategic indicators that span the population, the individual animals, the habitat and the user communities

Example of Projects already underway

RENMAN - The reindeer management research project involves eight countries in an effort to integrate management related observations of researchers and herders. Objectives of the project are quite extensive, but will include the collection of concurrent information from both viewpoints using remote sensing as one key activity.

Sustainability of Reindeer Husbandry - This project is designed to address the decline in the present reindeer husbandry industry. To document the current state of the industry the project will evaluate a common set of indicators. These indicators can be coordinated with a circumpolar monitoring program.

North American Caribou Simulation - Researchers are conducting a continent-wide assessment of North American migratory caribou herds. The project involves the creation of a relational database, a retrospective of range conditions using remote sensing and a community-monitoring component.

www.rangifer.net - Initially established as a part of the International Arctic Science Council (IASC) Human-Rangifer Systems Project, this web site serves as a portal for such initiatives as Profile of Herds, the Human Role of Reindeer/caribou systems research planning process, and a compendium of current research projects. The site could act as the window for any circumpolar Rangifer monitoring program.

Indicators generated at Minary

Key Questions suggested to evaluate indicators:

1) Are there baseline data available?
2) Is measure a good indicator of change?
3) Is measure feasible to monitor in the future?

Habitat :

Weather

Individual Animals

• disease/parasites (e.g. necrobacillus, brucella, warble, mosquito)

Population

Human:

1. Demography

2. Health/Education

3. Institutional

4. Economic

5. Social

Suggested Country REPS and contacts

• Canada -, John Nagy, Anne Gunn,Mitch Campbell, Serge Couturier
• U. S. - Brad Griffith, Gary Kofinas, Dave Klein
• Norway - Nick Tyler, Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten
• Sweden - Hugh Beach, Oje Danell
• Russia - Konstantin Klokov, Margarita Magadova, Leonid Baskin, Leonid Kolpashikov, Boris Komorov
• Finland - Sakari Kankaanpaa, Timo Helle
• Iceland - Sakari Kankaanpaa, Skarøedin Øorisson,
• Greenland/Denmark - Christine Cuyler, Rasmus Rasmussen

Monitoring - where do we go from here?

• Summarize discussion - DR
• Distill indicators - DR + volunteers
• Draft introductory document - scope, principles, roles and responsibilities - DR
• Report prepared for CAFF Management meeting, 2-4 April, Stockholm - DR
• Notify identified contacts (not at this meeting) - REPS
• Identify additional contacts as necessary - REPS
• Notify country CAFF representatives - REPS
• Notify and assess opportunities to link with existing programs - RENMAN, Sustainable Reindeer husbandry - ALL
• Draft and distribute work plan - DR
• Link to Human Role in Reindeer/Caribou Systems on research proposal.
• Decide on need of special gathering to launch monitoring…