While I appreciate the…

While I appreciate the information, this posting was a long and bureaucratic read. It strikes me that one of the main challenges with caribou conservation and recovery is all the layers of government and agencies involved. Is the federal govt responsible? Provincial govt? Is it the environment ministry? Is it the natural resource ministry? Point being that if no one group holds responsibility…then no one holds responsibility. We see this time and time again on a range of issues, and as a result, there is never any meaningful progress (though I think there may be many well intentioned individuals involved). As a person who has lived and worked across northern Ontario, I have never seen a caribou. Now, I’m not suggesting they aren’t there, or shouldn’t have a home there, but we need to be realistic about your definition of success. When we consider climate change, there is a question of whether we are knowingly fighting a losing battle (particularly along the northern shores of Lk Superior in the ‘discontinuous range’). When we look into the future 10, 20, 30 years, is there any prospect that the climate conditions will allow for caribou to exist here? On forestry, the province has implemented massive clear cuts (govt has a different name for them now, but anyone living and working in the north knows what they are) in the name of creating caribou habitat. These clear cuts are planning with a 20, 30, 40 year outlook. Most of the govt officials making these plans will be long gone and retired by the time you know if they worked. Will caribou even have the prospect of living in these cuts by that time? I know with almost certainty, that there are some areas that were clear cut which have virtually no prospect for caribou to return there, but on we go. These areas are moose country, wolf country (occasionally the odd deer), yet the govt fights Mother Nature to change it ‘back’ to caribou country, but you are fighting a losing battle. I think many govt officials must intuitively know this. Those that don’t, I suspect they’ve not been in the bush of the north in some time to see it. And it comes back to my original point, that the layers of govt, bureaucracy and no clear accountability will dim any slim chance of success (no offence, but you can readily see that in the long-winded posting about all the layers of govt and agencies involved). My suggestion is to delegate responsibility to one agency/group, and focus on the far north…if you do that, you may have success, and I hope you do. Thank you.