Caribou in Court

The Selkirk caribou herd--one component of NEW's wildlife index--just became the center of a legal battle. A coalition of conservation groups are suing to ban snowmobiles from the caribou's winter range in the United States, arguing that snowmobiles are stressing and displacing the animals whose numbers are already perilously low. Read all about the lawsuit in a Seattle Times article.

The Selkirk herd's range dips from British Columbia into northern Idaho and northeastern Washington, making them the last herd of woodland caribou to visit the lower 48 states. The Selkirk caribou are often classified as "mountain caribou" an ecotype of woodland caribou, whose numbers are imperiled throughout much of its range, even in British Columbia's comparatively remote mountains. Much more about the species here.