Federal Government Places Mountain Caribou on 'Threatened Species List'

Since 1983, Woodland caribou in the Selkirk Mountains have been under protection of the Endangered Species Act. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded their status from "endangered" to "threatened."

Despite the downgrade, the caribou will still receive the protection they need. The decision came in response to a petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation on the grounds that the caribou herd in the U.S. was too small a subset of animals to warrant a listing from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"We're just glad they stayed protected," said Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that helps protect the caribou, in this ABC News article. "As far as the protections a species gets, the difference between endangered and threatened is not substantial."

The herd of Woodland caribou that is protected by the government consists of less than 30 animals, but they interact with a much-larger herd on the Canadian side of the Selkirk Mountains, which extend 200 miles from Idaho and eastern Washington and into British Columbia. Canadian groups have also proposed a recovery plan for the endangered caribou in their country.

In British Columbia there's a population of 85 mountain caribou in the Selkirk Mountains. A total of 19 environmental groups signed a joint submission in November of 2006 to develop a strategy to save the rapidly declining population of the caribou. The Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal would provide a habitat for the remaining caribou and was proposed in 2011.

Similarly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service planned to establish a habitat in excess of 375,000 acres, but they're currently battling in court with pro-business groups who claim that such a large habitat would affect the economy of the area. The proposal in Canada is gaining ground as over 100 scientists acknowledged the need to protect the caribou in the region.

According to Jason Rylander, an attorner for Defenders of Wildlife, scientists in both the United States and Canada determined that the caribou are significant and proper measures need to be taken to ensure their survival.