A tiny caribou herd is threatened by a coal minig project, according to a First Nation near Chetwynd, B.C. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

A First Nation group from northeast British Columbia has gone to court to fight to protect a tiny, endangered caribou herd from a potential coal mine development.

The West Moberly First Nation of the Chetwynd area wants the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn mining exploration permits to save the habitat of the 11-member Burnt Pine caribou herd.

The B.C. government recognizes the area as a wintering habitat for the caribou where the animals feed on lichen to survive until spring, West Moberly Chief Roland Willson said Monday outside court.

The province has moved previously to protect dwindling Rocky Mountain caribou herds by limiting logging and road building activities spanning 2.2 million hectares but exploration sample permits were still issued by the Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Ministry for the Chetwynd area.

Permit granted

Willson said the area where the exploration is currently permitted to go ahead is within critical core wintering habitat of the Burnt Pine caribou herd.

"It confuses us as to why mining is allowed to go cut a tree down when the Ministry of Forests is not," he said. "It's a double standard there. Our big concern is this is going to wipe this herd out."

Willson said thousands of caribou used to roam the province's northeast.

The Vancouver-based First Coal Corporation was granted a permit last September to extract 50,000 tonnes of area coal as a test sample.

First Coal said it plans to have its mine in production by the end of this year, producing 245,000 tonnes of coal. The company said working with local First Nations is a priority.

The company website said First Coal has developed a Burnt Pine caribou Stewardship Group, which involves caribou specialists.