How can managing wolf populations help caribou?

Wolves are the main predator of barren-ground caribou. Supporting wolf harvesting is one of many actions being taken by the GNWT and our co-management partners to help support our declining caribou herds.

Monitoring and research are also an important part of effective wolf management and will help us better understand wolf ecology in the NWT and assess the impact our actions are having on wolves and caribou recovery.

What incentives are available for harvesters?

Wolves are harvested as both furbearers and big game in the NWT. Most regions have had a harvest incentive program for wolves since 2010 to encourage more wolves to be harvested to support the traditional economy and NWT harvesters as well as the recovery of caribou.

Harvest incentives for wolves across the NWT were increased to $200/wolf carcass (skinned or unskinned) for the 2015/16 harvest season in response to community and harvester concerns, declines in barren-ground caribou numbers and to support the traditional economy.

Additional incentives may be available in certain regions. Please contact your local or regional ECC office for information on further incentives and specific samples requested from hunters or trappers who legally harvest wolves and provide the associated harvest information. Collection of skulls and other samples helps us to examine the age, diet, and overall health of the wolf population.

There are three options for harvesters to receive incentives for harvesting wolves:

1. A harvester can bring the entire wolf carcass into an ECC office and receive $200.

2. A harvester can bring a wolf pelt in that has been prepared to traditional standards (i.e. paws and lips intact) and receive $400. If the hunter also processes the skull, they will receive an additional $50.

3. If a harvester brings in a wolf pelt prepared to Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program taxidermy standards, they will receive the following:

• Immediately: $400
• Processed skull: $50
• Prime Fur Bonus (if the pelt sells for more than $200 at auction): $350

Joint Wolf (Dìga) Management Program

To help address the significant declines seen in the Bathurst and Bluenose-East caribou (ekwò), the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and Tłı̨chǫ Government developed a joint approach to wolf (dìga) management in the North Slave region.

The Joint TG-GNWT Wolf (Dìga) Management Program focused on reducing the number of wolves on the Bathurst and Bluenose-East caribou winter ranges over five years through enhanced support for harvesters.

From 2019-2024, the GNWT increased payments for harvested wolves, eliminated fees for wolf tags, and offered workshops on best practices for wolf harvesting and pelt preparation to encourage and support harvesting efforts. The joint approach included the Tłı̨chǫ Government’s Community-based Dìga Harvest Training Program to train local harvesters in humane harvesting techniques and pelt preparation.

In collaboration with the Government of Nunavut, the GNWT also offered enhanced incentives to Nunavut hunters harvesting wolves in their traditional area within the North Slave enhanced wolf harvest incentive area.

While our focus was on supporting harvesters to achieve the wolf removal levels necessary to support caribou recovery, some aerial removals were required in 2019-20 because the number of wolves harvested by hunters was less than removal targets. Aerial removals have not been implemented since.

Increasing knowledge about wolves

There is currently limited information about wolf populations in the NWT. Part of the goal of the wolf management program was to improve our understanding of wolves and wolf-caribou interactions.

Wolves collected from the winter ranges of Bathurst and Bluenose-East caribou were studied to learn more about the diet, health and life history of wolf populations. We also continue to monitor wolf population abundance, movement and interaction with caribou using a combination of methods, including sample collection and analysis, GPS collar deployment, remote cameras, and aerial surveys.

Results

*numbers include total wolf harvest even if payment was not provided, which includes aerial removals in 2019-2020, wolves hit by vehicles, outfitter harvest, and defense of life and property. In years prior to 2023-2024, Inuit harvesters received $900 from GNWT and $300 from GN. At least 70 different harvesters participated in the program from 2020-2024.

How will we know if these actions helped?

The Wek’èezhìi Renewable Resources Board, Tłı̨chǫ Government and GNWT are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the joint program, which will help determine the effectiveness of the program and inform next steps.

However, overall success of wolf management actions will take time to determine. Information collected from harvesters and satellite collars, along with scientific analysis, will help us learn more about wolves and assess the effectiveness of our management actions on caribou. Multiple factors affect caribou in complex ways, so it will be important to look at any changes in caribou populations in the context of environmental conditions and all management actions that occurred, and not just wolf management alone.

Resources

Annual reports on the Joint Wolf (Dìga) Management Program (North Slave) are available below:

• Wolf (Dìga) Management Pilot Program Technical Report 2020
• Technical Report: Wolf (Dìga) Management Program January – May 2021
• Technical Report: Wolf (Dìga) Management Program January – June 2022
• Technical Report: Wolf (Dìga) Management Program December 2022 – September 2023
• Technical Report: Wolf (Dìga) Management Program January – October 2024