A new survey of dall sheep in the Richardson Mountains, between Aklavik and Fort McPherson, shows the population鈥檚 numbers on the rise, which means the Gwich鈥檌n Renewable Resources Board is lifting its voluntary closure on hunting the animals.

The GRRB鈥檚 June survey showed the population has climbed from 496 in 2014 to 647 now.

When the population fell below 500, the GRRB enacted a recommendation in its management plan to call for a voluntary closure of hunting dall sheep, but now the population is back in a safer range.

Wildlife biologist 脡douard B茅langer, who took part in the survey, said it鈥檚 difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons for the population change.

鈥淲hy it increased in the last three years, it鈥檚 hard to say,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to speculate. There are a lot of potential ecological processes that could explain that.鈥�

The GRRB鈥檚 management plan states that a legislated closure, instead of just voluntary, would be enacted if the population fell below 350.

Dall sheep, or divii in Gwich鈥檌n, have been traditionally used for food, hides, medicines and tools.

B茅langer said there is another population of dall sheep in the southern Gwich鈥檌n Settlement Area in the Mackenzie Mountains.

He took part in the helicopter survey of the Richardson population in June and said community members and hunters have helped the GRRB a lot to track the population.

Amy Amos, executive director of the GRRB, said the board is going to try to work with the communities on more monitoring in between survey years. The next helicopter survey is scheduled to be in 2020.

鈥淭he board is going to start some communication to let people know that voluntary closure is now lifted,鈥� said Amos.