INFLUENCE OF FUR TRADE, FAMINE, AND FOREST-FIRES ON MOOSE AND WOODLAND CARIBOU POPULATIONS IN NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO FROM 1786 TO 1911

Hudson's Bay Company records were used to estimate the 1786-1911 annua l number of moose (Alces alces andersonil) and caribou (Rangifer taran dus caribou) involved in trade by northern Ojibwa natives to the compa ny post at Osnaburgh House (51-degrees-10'N 90-degrees-15'W) in northw est Ontario, Canada. The human population for the early 19th century, and the number and severity of human starvations from 1786 to 191 1 we re estimated. The extent of forest fires in the region around Osnaburg h was documented using a ''fire-day'' index computed from Hudson's Bay Company journals and using qualitative archival information. It is ar gued that the human population was too small to have caused the observ ed early 19th century moose and caribou population decline solely thro ugh predation. Likewise, severe early 19th century famines were caused by climatic factors rather than by declines in moose and caribou numb ers. Habitat change caused by increased forest fires correlates with t he observed decline of caribou, while moose increased and subsequently collapsed as winter shelter was destroyed. A burgeoning human populat ion, sustained during winter food shortages on potatoes donated by the Hudson's Bay Company, then kept ungulate populations to low levels un til the late 19th century. Only then did maturing forests and a new ou tbreak of fires provide renewed habitat for resurgences of, respective ly, caribou and moose.