Wildlife and Outdoor Activities: We Need to Find the Right Balance

Luca Rotelli Free Lance Biologist This is how all began…

San Martino di Castrozza (Trentino), 1937: sledge- «Panzer» The Alps The second tourist area in the world (Bartaletti, 2011)

Tourists

Tourists/year Ca. 250 mio. Data of the resorts in the Alps (Different sources) In winter Ca. 60% Km of Ski In summer Ca. 40% Country Ski lifts ski resorts No. of skiers in Europa Ca. 60 mio. slopes France 201 3346 4752 Germany 90 257 656 Switzerland 62 1390 4984 Austria 252 2696 8307 Italy 163 1651 5183

Slovenia 17 138 257

Alps 785 9478 24139 Sport and leisure activities can be divided into two broad categories

• Those with high environmental impact, which need infrastructures to be practiced. Their construction has negative repercussions on the environment. The most important sport activity of this type is alpine skiing (ski slopes, ski-lifts, snowmaking systems, water basins, hotels and restaurants, etc.);

• Those with low environmental impact, which don’t need any infrastucture to be practiced. To this category belong the outdoor activities like ski , snowshoeing, paragliding, etc. The exploitation of mountain areas for alpine skiing has caused the habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation for many species Tetraonids found dead because of the collision against the cables of ski facilities and electric lines in Trentino in the period 2011-2018 (N = 18)

Rock Ptarmigan 11%

Black grouse hen 22%

Capercaillie cock 17%

Black grouse cock 22% Capercaillie hen 28% In France the cables of the ski facilities have been equipped with devices capable to increase their visibility Outdoor activities practiced in the Alps in different periods

Traditional tourist activities practiced in New disciplines appeared later on, from the Alps until the end of the 60’s, the 70’s beginning of the 70’s • Free-, , ice- • Alpinism climbing • Alpine skiing • Freeride and ski out of bounds • Cross-country skiing • Hang- • • Mountain-biking (downhill, fat bike) • Mushroom and berry gathering • • Paragliding • Ski mountaineering • Snowshoeing • Water sports: , With the increase of the number of outdoor participants, even the so called low environmental impact activities are not so anymore

• As these activities can be practiced everywhere, their negative ripercussions can be spread on large areas inside the natural habitats where they take place.

Val Venegia, Dolomites, Trentino 26.2.2016 Target groups in winter

• Alpine skiers • Mountaineriing skiers • Freeriders • Snowborders • Snowshoe hikers • Fat bike bikers Target groups in summer

• Hikers • Climbers • Mountain bikers • Downhill bikers • Orienteering runners • Paragleiders • Mushroom pickers Moreover many outdoor activities that were originally practiced just for fun have become sport competitions

Mass Events

Sport Competitions

Photo Cai Pallanza

Photo R. Faggiana

Photo A. Venturato King of Dolomites After having lost wide areas due to the construction of ski resorts, now the spread of outdoor activities has caused the loss of the last habitats left undisturbed for the wildlife

Val Venegia, Dolomites, Trentino 11.2.16 Fuciade, Dolomites, Trentino 4.3.15

Schwarzwassertal, Austria, Winter 1994-95 Schwarzwassertal, Austria, Winter 1994-95 The result is that the interactions between people and wildlife are always more frequent What are the major problems in the spread of the outdoor activities?

• Wildlife gets not used to disturbances that are not in some way predictable; • Wildlife loses areas important for their activity (e.g. wintering and breeding areas); • Wildlife has less time for their activities (e.g. feeding, resting); • People who spent their time in the nature are not aware that the wildlife lives in the same habitats. 2600

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Distribution of the Tetraonids along the altitudinal gradient in the Alps 2600

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The distribution of the ungulates along the altitudinal gradient in the Alps The motto of the alpine wildlife in winter is to reduce the activity to the lowest level possible

Val Venegia, Dolomites, Trentino, 8.1.2016 Tetraonids can successfully face the rigours of winter through different adaptations

• Morphological adaptations • Anatomy-physiological adaptations • Behavioural adaptations Black grouse digestive tract

Feathers have a long downy Photo N. Zbinden aftershaft that increases insulation The digestive tract in Toes are feathered tetronids is very long, especially the ceca Activity pattern of a radiotagged black grouse male during three days in the Veglia-Devero Nature Park (27.-29. December 2004)

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Orario How can a disturbance be defined?

Each external stimulus able to cause the change of the temporary behaviour of an animal, whose effects can negatively influence its energy budget.

Energy requirements needed for different activities in ungulates, as a function of the basal metabolic rate

Ungulato di 40 kg di peso 18

Metabolismo basale Dispendio energetico aggiuntivo rate 16

metabolic 14

basal 12 of the of 10

function 8

a a as 6

4 requirements 2

Dispendiodiquelloinfunzione basale energetico Energy 0 RiposareResting StareStanding in piedi CamminareWalking AlimentarsiFeeding RunningCorrere CorrereRunning in nevein deepaltasnow What influnces most the reaction of an animal to the disturbance?

• Characteristics of the outdoor activity: – Way the animal is approached (e.g. along or outside marked paths); – Our position with respect to the animal (e.g. above or under) – Movement direction (e.g. straight towards or alongside); – Speed (e.g. fast or slow); – Noise (e.g. loud or quiet) – Presence of a dog; • Characteristics of the species: – Sex (e.g. males or females with youngs) – Activity (e.g. feeding or resting) – Distance from shelter (e.g. far or close); – Habituation Possible consequences of disturbance

• Fitness reduction; • Habitat loss; • Reduction of the survival rate; • Reduction of the breeding success; • Damages to the forest rejuvenation;

These consequences can lead to the decrease of the population. The study case Hoher Ifen Plateau in Schwarzwassertal (Vorarlberg, Austria) As the area could not be closed indefinitely, to reduce the disturbance it was decided di mark the ski mountaineering and snowshoeing tours

Recommended Chamois area tour

Protected area We evalueted the response of the ski mountaineers to the recommended tour, observing their behaviour and the reaction of the chamois

• 53 days of observation between January and April 1995 • 46 interactions between ski mountaineers and chamois – 17 flights (by running) – 23 shifts (by walking) – 6 no reaction

• 419 chamois were involved • 328 (78,28%) have shown a reaction • 193 (58,85%) have fled by running, while 135 (41,15%) shifted by walking • 821 ski mountaineers reached the top of Hählekopf, with peaks up to 100 a day. Is it possible to reduce the impact of the outdoor activities? Distances covered by chamois after a flight/shift depending on the position of the ski mountaineers (along or outside marked tours) and relative reaction distances in the period January-April 1995 (N = 328)

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Distanzeinmetri 400 375 375 275 250 200 150 150 75 75 75 0 TragittiDist. c overedlungo gli TragittiDist. cfuoriovered dagli ReactionReazionedistance alla ReactionReazionedistance alla itinerarialong marked marcati itinerarioutside markedmarcati fugaalong lungomarked gli fugaoutside fuorimarked dagli tours(n=28)(N = 28) tours(n=14)(N = 14) itineraritours (N marcati = 23) itineraritours (N marcati = 11) (n=23) (n=11) In order to reduce the impact of the outdoor activities in many alpine countries information campaigns have been promoted

“Respektiere Deine Grenzen” Voralrberg, Salzburg “Natur & Freizeit”

“Sport de neige et respect – “Natürlich auf Tour” Respecter c’est protéger” In Italy until now no information campaign has been proposed at the national level

Of the seven alpine regions of the Italian Alps, only one, South Tyrol, has developed an information campaign, called “Libertà e rispetto”-“Freiheit mit Rücksicht”, while some other tries have been promoted at local level

Foto R. Sascor

Project “Freeride & Eliski” in Livigno Summary of the most important conservation measures that can be useful in order to reduce the impact of the outdoor activities

• Education and information campaigns; • General behaviour rules for outdoor participants; • Specific rules for each activity; • Establishment of protected areas; • Outside protected areas the flow of outdoor participants should be way canalized (signed tours); • Avoid to build new roads and paths, because they are the first step for the exploitation of new natural areas by the people. When they are absolutely necessary, the needs of the fauna should be taken in account in the planning. Hikers, ski mountaineers, freeriders, snowboarders, orienteering runners, snowshoers, mushroom pickers, mountain bikers and paragliders everywhere….

Finally I found a quiet place where to stay...

Col Margherita, Dolomites, Trentino 3.3.2015 Luca Rotelli Free Lance Biologist Via Valverde 98 21100 Varese Italy T +39 335 6680658 [email protected]

HUMAN-NATURE INTERACTIONS AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP │ 27-27 NOVEMBER 2018 │ EURAC RESEARCH - BOLZANO/BOZEN - ITALY 35