When the Mountain Caribou was listed as endangered in 2006, the perilous status of the small herds in the Cariboo and Monashee mountain ranges drew attention to all of the activities occurring in the back country, including commercial recreation.
Heli-ski operator Mike Wiegele collaborates on research with TRU on endangered Mountain Caribou
Mike Wiegele is one of the area’s major heli-skiing expedition operators. He approached TRU with a desire to collaborate on research that would shed light on how his business operations may or may not affect the herds in the high country that’s attractive to skiers and caribou.
Wiegele’s need for hard data was the research opportunity Katharina Huebel needed for her Masters thesis and it turned into a sound proposal for a NSERC graduate scholarship.
Huebel will analyze GIS data collected from caribou originally radio-collared in 1989. She will determine where they move to and what areas they use most. The radio-collar data will be correlated with data gathered with Wiegele’s helicopters, plotted onto maps and then assessed to determine where and when the herd is active.
Ultimately, Huebel hopes to determine if helicopter activity disturbs the caribou, either causing them to avoid preferred areas or to move away from preferred areas while helicopters are in the area.
