Welcome to our new website

Our website has been recently upgraded thanks to efforts from CAFF, some features are still under development. See What''s New below for a link to the agenda for CARMA 8.

Who We Are?

CARMA is a network of researchers, managers and community people who share information on the status of the world''s wild Rangifer (reindeer and caribou) populations, and how they are affected by global changes, such as climate change and industrial development.

What''s New?

 CARMA 8 was held in Vancouver, Canada from Dec. 4-6, 2012. The theme of this years'' meeting focussed on priorities identified at CARMA 7: 1) Managing and monitoring through abundance, 2) calving ground conservation, 3) assessment of cumulative effects of development and climate change. Click here for the AGENDA and PROCEEDINGS.

Click here for a list of events that CARMA has participated in.

Featured herd: Taimyr - A Lesson in Harvest Management

by Leonid Kolpashikov and Don Russell

The Taimyr wild reindeer herd was at the turn of this century the largest wild reindeer or caribou herd in the world. Estimated at 1,000,000 animals in 2000, the herd increased from about 400,000 in the early 1970''s. Like other herds across the globe, numbers dramatically increased from the 1970''s for the next 30 years. Unlike other herds, especially in North America, the State initiated a very aggressive commercial harvest of this herd in 1970 to create a strong local economy and to limit population growth. Thus high harvests were recorded over the next 20 years with the highest recorded harvest of over 100,000 animals in 1990. By 1990 there were signs the range was impacting herd productivity; average female body weights started to decline and annual pregnancy rates declined. However, also in 1990, the Soviet Union collapsed and state subsidies for commercial harvests were removed. It was no longer profitable to harvest reindeer commercially so annual harvest rates declined dramatically. Even though indications were that the herd was nutritionally compromised, the herd, with very low harvest, continued to increase until peaking in 2000. A number of factors are now contributing to the present decline (estimated at 650,000 in 2009) with uncontrolled poaching, range deterioration, increased incidence of disease and parasites as some of the leading factors.

Coming events

See our new Coming Events page.

CONTACT CARMA

Email: askcarma(at)gmail.com