The first federal survey of what the provinces are doing to preserve caribou says herds and habitat continue to generally decline.

The report says provinces have taken steps toward preserving crucial caribou range.

But it concludes none of them has met the goals and deadlines laid out five years ago by the federal government.

None of Canada’s 51 caribou herds is known to be growing.

Twenty are in decline and not enough is known about 21 of the herds to assess their numbers.

Most of the habitat the caribou depend on is more disturbed than it was five years ago, largely from industrial activity.

The Canadian Press