There are approximately 34 caribou left crammed into a single habitat in the lower 48 states of the USA, and their numbers continue to dwindle. They contend with a number of competitors, including logging companies, predators, and now an increase in snowmobile tourists roaring across their supposedly protected habitat.
Critics contend snowmobiles disturb caribou during the winter, when they are already struggling to survive on low-nutrition lichen from old-growth trees. Modern snowmobiles have a wider range, allowing them to go deeper into caribou backcountry.Snowmobilers have resisted attempts to ban them from the protected habitat, claiming that a ban would seriously damage the local tourism industry. Some have even attempted to characterize the attempts to close trails on caribou habitat as domestic terrorism. The ban would cover 77 miles of trail and leave 251 miles of other trails in the area open.
The groomed snowmobile trails also provide surer footing for deer, and the cougars that prey on them, to enter caribou habitat.
Categories: caribou | snowmobile
