Our vision is a carnivore-compatible method for livestock production in Norwegian outfields that enhances tree growth in young forest stands, increases pollinator abundance and diversity and contributes to local and regional economy and food security. This project contributes to the mitigation of one of Norway’s most pronounced conflict lines related to the use and conservation of outfields. The recovery of large carnivores has triggered multiple, interconnected conflicts of interests along with a drastic decrease in outfield grazing in the forested region of south-eastern Norway. We aim to optimize economic and ecological sustainability for agriculture, forestry, and game harvest in sympatry with large carnivores. We are interested in an agroforestry system that can lead to win-win synergies for different groups of interest.
The intention of the Forest and Moose (Skog og Elg) Project is to investigate mitigation measures, providing new and relevant knowledge for an integrated management of forest and moose in Norway. We aim to increase the general understanding of moose-forest interactions, providing innovative knowledge that is directly applicable to the forestry industry. Our research will benefit forest-based industries, as well as small local landowners by addressing consumptive and non-consumptive effects of moose on forest and wildlife resources.
The overall goal of Grensevilt is to provide a solid base for better transnational, inclusive, conflict-reducing multispecies management of moose, wolves and wolverines in Inner Scandinavia, across the national border outside reindeer herding areas. The project has two main components: 1) building a science-based, management-relevant knowledge base to elucidate border-related issues regarding interactions between the cultural and natural heritage in Inner Scandinavia, and 2) extensive networking and communication to facilitate a transnational, inclusive, conflict-reducing wildlife management. Through a combination of new knowledge, networking and increased dialogue across the border, Grensevilt will reduce border barriers and lead to a more unified, integrated crossborder management of wildlife, and increased understanding among the target groups for the cultural and natural heritages and for different stakeholders’ perspectives in the management across the border.
Moose, the king of the boreal forest, is facing fast and drastic changes as a consequence of global warming. Increasing temperatures in combination with a changed precipitation pattern affects the physiology of moose both directly and indirectly through plant production and snow conditions. The objective of Moose on the Move (Elg i Endring) is to generate detailed knowledge on how moose physiology and behavior relates to various weather and snow conditions, proximity of wolves, hunters and infrastructure, and how migration patterns and forage selection depends on the phenology of plants.
The Scandinavian wolf population is shared by Sweden and Norway. The Scandinavian Wolf Research Project (Skandulv) team coordinates research on this population, and has been working on scientific questions regarding basic and applied wolf ecology and management for over 20 years. Their research ranges from foundational ecological theory to applied ecology and management, covering topics such as predator-prey interactions, population dynamics, genetics, ecosystem function, social science, and management practices.
As wolves recolonize areas of Europe ranging widely in levels of anthropogenic impact, some people express substantial fear based on a perception of the wolf as dangerous and unpredictable, or a fear of the unknown. As a result, people living in wolf areas can experience a diminished quality of life. Fear of wolves affects human attitudes and is a recurring source of conflict in wolf management. Concerns have been raised about wolves losing their shyness due to frequent wolf-human interactions. Knowledge about how wolves behave when encountering humans may reduce fear and improve quality of life in areas with resident wolves. The shared challenges related to fear of wolves across their re-colonized range call for evaluating wolves’ response to humans within and between populations and along a gradient of anthropogenic impact.
Boreal forest is a basis for many societies in the taiga zone where natural and cultural heritage is tightly connected to forests and wildlife. However, exploitation and use of forest resources strongly influences and shapes today’s forests. Moreover, climate change will radically transform these forests in several ways. Because of the changing environmental conditions, the future behaviour of the system can no longer be predicted based on extrapolation of historical observations. This can only be accomplished if we can look into the future outcomes of alternative strategies in a system-wide perspective. Therefore, the objective of the TaigaClimate project is to co-create a prognostic system model with key forest stakeholders to assess future prospects for forestry, wildlife, recreation, and biodiversity.
