"Finally": with this word, pronounced with emphasis, the national president of theNational Association of Alpine Zone hunters, Sandro Flaim, opened the 55th Annual Assembly. In the presence of the Monte Rosa glacier, in Macugnaga (Vco), the appointment missed last year due to the Covid emergency saw the representatives of the provincial sections and clubs meet to obey what are now the precepts of the event: exchange knowledge, create culture and cultivate friendship and the desire to be together. Mission accomplished thanks to the organizational skills of Bruno Campagnoli, president of the provincial section, and Eugenio Morandi, president of the local section, with the collaboration of some volunteers including Piero Nanni and Riccardo Morandi.
Mayor Stefano Corsi gave the welcome during the opening ceremony at the Kongresshaus, recalling how in Macugnaga a mountain culture like the Walser one is alive and well. "It is precisely the mountain culture that we want to defend and spread: - Flaim reiterated - not of the mountain-postcard, but that of herdsmen and grazing cattle ". In the evening, the documentarian and writer Teresio Valsesia showed two of his productions: "Old ibex and young chamois" and “Il Camminaitalia 1995” dedicated to the sector of the Alps. On Saturday morning, at the same time as the excursion dedicated to ladies, the conference “Climate change, environment and fauna on the Alps” was held, the highlight of the event. In the first contribution, "Limits and climatic and environmental opportunities for the ecology of mountain avifauna", the technician Davide Scridel described some examples of adaptation strategies by some species such as the diuca alibianche and our local alpine finch, "but some adaptations occurred over many years they can be counterproductive in the face of the current rapid climatic changes, - he warned - which affect not only through the increase in temperature, but also with extreme weather events ”.
Recent studies on 14 European mountain species have recorded a decline of 7% in 12 years, with peaks of 12% for the species typical of higher altitudes, more significant decreases than those found in species of warm climates. “With careful forest management - he concluded - it is possible to mitigate the harmful effects”. Dr. Roberta Chirichella treated "Alpine ungulates: demonstrated and expected effects of the changing climate". “In the Alps, especially between 1.500 and 2.000 meters, the changes were more marked, - he began - with an extra 2nd and more extreme events”. Some species, such as wild boar, have benefited from these modifications, others have not, like chamois and ibex.
Regarding the latter, for example, young subjects, due to the increase in temperature, are forced to climb higher using sub-optimal areas for foraging, which is poorer in proteins. In his conclusions Chirichella summarized the consequences of climate change: direct effects on thermoregulation and indirect effects on the availability of forage and the ability to acquire it; push to adapt, which however it takes a long time; new intraspecific competitions. “But studies in this area provide mixed results. - he said - To predict what will happen, data is needed, and hunting is a great reservoir from which research can draw ". The professor. Luca Rossi illustrated the "Climate change and state of health of alpine ungulates", a report drawn up with his colleague Pier Giuseppe Meneguz, present in the room.
The two teachers analyzed the effects of the increase in temperature, precipitation and humidity on parasites, with a first effect of disruption of the host-parasite balance. This causes not only more infestations, but also more time to heal and fewer comebacks. If abroad this dynamic has now been widely recognized, for example in the musk ox, we also see the first timid signs: the liver fluke was detected in chamois at 2.100 meters and the ticks reached higher altitudes. On the basis of various studies Rossi and Meneguz have also formulated some predictions: for some diseases with direct transmission, such as keratoconjunctivitis, the impact will be less, but those affected will recover with more difficulty; some gastrointestinal parasites will become more active, although not diffusely. What are the possible solutions? “We must be resilient - Rossi hoped - ready to face the consequences of the changed climate by asking ourselves whether the current management in the hunting field is responsive to today, relying on suitable figures such as wildlife technicians and promoting data collection at the control centers with the collaboration of hunters ".
A completely different point of view on the subject is that of the intervention of the historian Paolo Crosa Lenz, “The new Alps - climatic and social changes”. “Men also change with the climate. - he declared, and on the geographical and anthropogenic entities concerned he provided some data - The Alps are 1.200 km long and 400 to 240.000 km8 wide in XNUMX states. They host 13 million inhabitants and 150 million tourists ”. The human presence, greater or lesser depending on the climate, has also changed qualitatively: "Since the 800th century the mountain has been a place of exclusive production - he explained - it has become a place of recreation with the birth of tourism and the affirmation of new figures such as there mountain guide and the hotelier. But if tourism has brought well-being to populations that were formerly at the limits of subsistence, - the historian's alarm cry - it has also brought the city to the mountains, and the former is a winner ”. Concern shared by Flaim, who closed the conference reiterating that one of the aims of Uncza is to act as a link between public opinion and the mountains in a cultural and fauna sense.
In addition to this, for the president, the conference demonstrated once again that it is necessary to know the Alpine animal populations in order to manage them even in the face of change. A role, the manager, which once brought to the widest knowledge can improve the relationship between hunters and non-hunters, with the former who, thanks also to the Uncza, must improve their hunting culture. "As some of the speakers said, - he finished - research needs hunters, and hunters need knowledge of scholars to govern the changes ". In the afternoon space for the assembly work, largely involved in the president's report which began, after thanks to the organizers, with a strong reminder of the roots of the Union: “We have been the same since birth. - he argued - We are always looking for hunter-lord, of that 'silent walker' described by Rigoni Stern, whose centenary will be celebrated on 1 November.
To this end we have evolved to face new challenges such as achieving the legitimacy of the hunter figure at the public opinion and the defense of the increasingly threatened mountain culture ”. Regarding the near future, Flaim judged the environmental change undertaken by the company to be positive, but he said he was very worried by the anti-hunt referendum threats: "Anachronistic attempts" defined them. To reject them, Uncza must focus on the cultural growth of hunters, applied research and communication. All the association activities carried out from 2019 to 2021, the Uncza media and those in which it is hosted have been listed below, popular events, cultural events, scientific research in progress, current technical assets.
Once the report was completed and the meeting fulfilments dedicated to some board resolutions and the financial statements of the last two years had been completed, by the director Sandro Eccher, the traditional awarding of the degree theses was carried out: the selected papers were "Evaluation of the correct game meat management intended for marketing ”by Emanuele Pizzini and“ A study on the suitability of the habitat for black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) in the Piccole Dolomiti Vicentine ”by Martina Dal Toè. On Sunday morning, after mass e a luculliana risotto in the open air, the usual exchange of the scheibe between Macugnaga and Sanremo (Im), 2022 seat of the Assembly, concluded the 55th Assembly.