The “Life Ursus” project
The origin and evolution of the “Life Ursus” project and the current state of human-bear coexistence were at the center of a recent meeting between representatives of the Adamello Brenta Natural Park – with the president Walter Ferrazza and the scientific research representative Andrea Mustoni – and a French delegation led by Christine Téqui, president of the Province of Ariege, in the Pyrenees, who during the day was also a guest of the provincial councilor for Forestry, hunting and fishing of the Autonomous Province of Trento Roberto Failoni. At the center of the meeting were the problems relating to the management of large carnivores in the two territories, which present many similarities. Common objective: to reconcile the conservation of the protected species with the needs of man and above all of mountain communities, protecting their safety and economic and social activities. President Ferrazza first explained to the guests the reasons that led to the creation of the Park; among these, as I know, is the presence of the last population of brown bears in this part of the Alpine arc, in the area of Lake Tovel.
Bear management
This was followed by a detailed focus with Mustoni on the “Life Ursus” project and the role played by the Park Authority until 2004, the year after which, once the repopulation activity ceased, the responsibility for managing the bear passed to Autonomous Province of Trento. In summary, the proposal to implement the project was presented to the European Union in 1996. Precisely in that year the presence of the last 3 male brown bears in the Park territory was ascertained; the species could therefore be considered biologically extinct. The first bears were released in May 1999, after a long preparation phase, during which an attempt was made to build a solid basis of sharing and social consensus, through public meetings with the local population, opinion polls and information activities also aimed at mass media.
Environmental education
The feedback at the time was very strong and overall there was strong, widespread support for the project. The Park's leaders have therefore refuted the opinion, now very widespread, that at the time of the development of the project the population had not been informed about it, even if the environmental education activity must be continuously nurtured and where necessary strengthened, both at a local level, also with an assiduous presence in schools, and by addressing tourists and occasional visitors to protected areas interested in the presence of plantigrades. What was missing, perhaps, was instead a closer connection between the political and technical sides. “Today – said Ferrazza – we can certainly say that from a technical point of view the project was successful. That number was reached and then exceeded, from 40 to 60 specimens, identified by experts to affirm that a minimum viable population of bears exists in the area, and that the risk of their extinction has been removed. However, this was not the case from a political point of view and more generally from a social consensus point of view. The debate is still intense both due to the well-known, even tragic, recent news events, and because some issues, such as the one relating to the maximum number of bears that the territory can support, have not been resolved".
Problematic specimens
During the meeting we also talked about confident bears. The Park's position is clear: the Authority has always maintained that bears should adapt to humans and not vice versa. Therefore the problematic specimen must be removed, also to ensure the safety of the species as a whole. Ferrazza explained that in 2011 a project to contain the species was presented, which contemplated the possibility of influencing its expansion in a scientific way, but it was never implemented. Even in the Pyrenees, the growth of the bear population, after the reintroductions that began in 1991, continues to fuel tensions, in particular with breeders who consider their presence incompatible with economic activity. The number of bears present today is around a hundred individuals and there are problems of social coexistence similar to those in Trentino. The hope is therefore that the dialogue between the institutions that govern these mountain territories, which are similar in many respects, continues and can represent an element of growth for everyone (source: Adamello Brenta Park).