Biodiversity Boreal Caribou Natural resource development

Developing functional restoration guidance for forestry roads in Ontario from a boreal caribou perspective

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]

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Key points

• In Ontario, roads are one of the biggest sources of human disturbance affecting caribou.
• Roads built to facilitate industrial development alter forests and ecosystems, create easier travel routes for predators such as wolves and alter predatory-prey relationships, and facilitate vehicle access, all of which can compound pressures on caribou.
• WCS Canada’s study found that wildlife use of forestry roads varies with season and vehicle traffic. Forestry roads with more vehicle traffic were also used more often by predators in the winter and tended to retain shorter vegetation and less shrub cover that made them easier to travel for some caribou predators and competitors.
• Current forest management guidelines focus largely on remediation after disturbance has already occurred. However, we don’t actually know when a forestry road stops functioning as a road from the wildlife perspective.
• We recommend assessing restoration success based on effective year-round vehicle control, using multiple metrics of vegetation and animal community use, and within the relevant ecological, seasonal, and landscape context.
• As road networks expand into caribou habitat, we need to understand and avoid their impacts before development occurs. Once roads open up intact landscapes, restricting access and reversing their ecological effects becomes much harder.

Recommended citation

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada] (2026). Developing functional restoration guidance for forestry roads in Ontario from a boreal caribou perspective. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://wcscanada.org/resources/developing-functional-restoration-guidance-for-forestry-roads-in-ontario-from-a-boreal-caribou-perspective/