Mountain Caribou Initiative:
A visual journey into the imperiled world of an endangered species

As their habitat has been steadily altered or destroyed by human activities, mountain caribou have been declining rapidly.

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Looking down on Miller lake and subalpine forests beyond in Mount Revelstoke National Park. Caribou need more than park designations for their habitat to survive. Despite the protections of a national park the mountain caribou herd that frequents this area has dropped from several hundred animals to only 5 in the most recent census.
Logging truck carrying old growth cedar trees out of the Columbia River watershed north of Revelstoke, British Columbia. As the sign notes these trees are coming out of landscapes generally occupied by caribou--though some protections are in place to protect what has been deemed the most critical habitat for caribou from continued logging opporations.
Kim Shelton is dwarfed by the immensity of the rainforest. Low elevation stands of rainforest such as this have provided shelter for mountain caribou in the late fall before snow in the high country consolidates enough to allow caribou to return to the subalpine forests they call home for the winter. Fenger Memorial Grove, Trout Lake, British Columbia.
Clearcutting caribou habitat has lead to increasing populations of moose and deer which in turn has supported the growth of wolf and mountain lion populations which in turn increases the rate of predation by these large carnivores on caribou. Selkirk Mountains, Washingotn.
Predators, especially mountain lions and wolves, have been identified as the primary direct source of mortality for mountain caribou, due to changes in predator-prey dynamics caused by human alternations to the landscape.
Mountain caribou are a discreat ecotype of the woodland caribou found only in the interior mountains of western Canada and the northwestern United States.
A wasteland of discarded slash, churned soil and scattered saplings in the wake of a recent clearcut. Seymour River watershed, British Columbia.
A big bull mountain caribou. Canadian Rockies, Alberta.
A mountain caribou in a subalpine meadow that is being over grown with an advancing forest. In the background the remains of several retreating glaiers are another reminder of the quickly changing landscape this caribou calls home. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate the decline of mountain caribou
Sunset over a shallow subalpine lake in the Columbia mountains. This is classic summer mountain caribou habitat.

David Moskowitz

David Moskowitz is the author of two books,Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest and Wolves in the Land of Salmon. As a biologist, photo…

Topics
Animals Environment
Sub Topics
Endangered Species Habitat Destruction Selkirk Mountain
Regions
Canada North America United States
Endangered Species

About Mountain Caribou Initiative: A visual journey into the imperiled world of an endangered species

The alpine kingdom of mountain caribou in western Canada and the northwestern United States is crumbling around these beautiful and sensitive creatures. As their habitat has been steadily altered or destroyed by human activities, mountain caribou have been declining rapidly.

Unsure whether this project will be documentation of the end of a distinct ecotype of caribou or a step towards inspiring the change in human behavior needed to save these animals, David Moskowitz set out to explore the world of these reclusive animals across the Selkirk, Columbia and Rocky mountains. What he has discovered is a compelling and complicated story, playing out in a strikingly beautiful yet deeply scarred landscape.

It is a story that defies easy answers for the problems people have created and one that illuminates the complicated web of ecological relationships which humans have altered in ways not easily undone. For more information on David’s project, visit:Mountain Caribou Initiative.