Ptarmigan Conservation and Management: In Trento, a packed room and meeting with a high scientific profile, also applauded by animal rights activists.
The conference dedicated to the management and conservation of the Ptarmigan in the Alps, which was held this morning in Trento, fully grasped the objectives that the Trentino Hunters Association had set itself by organizing it: to open a discussion on the conservation of the Ptarmigan starting from founded and recognized scientific data.
And so it was. With the reception room of the Palazzo della Regione literally crowded with hunters, but also with researchers and wildlife technicians who have come from all the provinces of Northern Italy, attracted by the interest that the topic has in the naturalistic field and by the prestige of the speakers. Which have not betrayed expectations.
Condensing to the maximum the content of the scientific contributions, brought a little from all sides of the Alps, the situation is this: the ptarmigan - a typical species of the Arctic tundra, from Alaska to Scandinavia, also present in the Alps as a "glacial relict ”- does not take any risk worldwide. But the populations of the marginal areas of diffusion, such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, have been in decline for several decades.
The causes? Multiple. Starting from climatic changes, which drastically reduce the habitat favorable to the species; together with predation (corvids and foxes can affect a lot) and human activities: anthropization at high altitude, ski slopes, trekking and ski mountaineering and ... obviously also hunting, if you do.
The problem is therefore not only in hunting. "Our main concern - explains Gianpaolo Sassudelli, president of the Trentini Hunters Association - is precisely this: that we decide to close the hunt (which today in Trentino is already suspended and in recent years concerned a symbolic number of subjects), thinking of resolving the problem. And then, having saved the conscience with a measure at no cost, forget about the partridges, as has already happened for other species. Instead, attention, not only that of hunters, must remain high. And strategic choices must be made on the basis of scientific knowledge ”.
A point of view shared by Gianluca Dall'Olio, President of the Italian Federation of Hunting, who defined hunters from Trentino (as well as those from Bolzano) a spearhead in the Italian hunting world: "because they express skills, responsibility and sensitivity to conservation of the environment that should be emulated in the rest of the country ".
But environmental associations, such as WWF and Legambiente, were also present at the conference. Maddalena Di Tolla Deflorian, president of Legambiente Trento, congratulated the hunters on the quality of the initiative and the type of thoughtful and thoughtful approach they have chosen.
In short, everyone agrees that this splendid bird deserves very special attention. An attention which - as moderator Romano Masé, general manager of the Forest and Mountain Resources Department of the Autonomous Province of Trento has effectively summarized - to concretely contribute to conserving the ptarmigan, must pass through a shared path based on some essential points: research science, constant monitoring of populations, responsibility (and discipline) in all human activities that produce effects on the species. To elaborate management choices to be modulated over time, including the possibility of a conservative hunting sampling.
A solution fully shared by the hunters who - according to the words of President Sassudelli - to save the white also willingly accept not to hunt her, but only if this decision is taken year after year, on the basis of the established amounts; remaining available to continue the burdensome monitoring activities (which each year involve about 90 volunteer hunters and 150 dogs for several days) and making all the animals collected in the future available to the Mach Foundation, for the best continuation of the genetic studies already in progress in the laboratories of San Michele all'Adige.
THE SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS IN A NUTSHELL
• Roger Giovannini (Forestry and Fauna Service of the Autonomous Province of Trento) introduced the work with a report on the status and management of the ptarmigan in Trentino.
• Claude Nova (Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Prades, France) spoke about the demography and regulation of the hunting of ptarmigan in the French Alps and Pyrenees.
• Niklaus Zbinden (Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland) described the situation of the ptarmigan in Switzerland and the conservation strategies implemented.
• Barbara Crestanello (Edmund Mach Foundation, S. Michele all'Adige, Trento) reported the results obtained so far from the ACESAP research project which investigates the genetics of ptarmigan.
• Luke Rotelli (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany) explained the techniques of spring and summer census and monitoring of the species.
• Angel Lasagna (Valle d'Aosta Autonomous Region - Flora Fauna Hunting and Fishing Directorate, Aosta) reported on the hunting wildlife management of ptarmigan in Valle d'Aosta and on some innovative technologies applied to field research.