EVENSTAD GEOGRAPHIC

outserie n°1 - May 2013

SPECIAL FIELDWORK

Tales of a field-

worker #9Cameras

Comparative#11 You

want more ? #45

#47 About the Author

#33 Fieldworker’s

survival guide 2013

illustrations: Christerik

#1. Preface

#2. Scandlynx Project

#13. Portfolio

#36. Moose & ForESTRY

What’s in ?

Ours

*Design : O. Chuberre & A.Ballanger*Pictures : O.Chuberre except mentions All Rights Reserved*Text: O.Chuberre, second lecture by --

*Printed Edition : Available soon___

Fieldwork Report Edited for HØgskolen i Hedmark, Norway

___

Evenstad geographicSpecial fieldwork MaY 2013

illustrations: Christerik

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Once upon a time in Evenstad, was a student called Oscar Chuberre.

For his second semester in Hedmark University, he had the choice between staying

in the warm buildings or going outside by -25°C. Eating burgers in the

canteen or homemade lunch in the forest. Keeping study

theorethical things or apply it.

He finally choose the cold wind, forget the burgers

and signed for the Applied ecology course.

FHeth

canin

H

“ I cannot see of what use

these slides can be to a field man.

I don't believe in looking at a mountain

through a microscope. ”

Andrew Crombie Ramsey

SCAND-

LYNX

PRO-JECT

SCANDLYNX PROJECT

his story begins in January 2013, in Oslo airport. My plane has just landed from France Into a foggy night and I touched the norwegian ground after 3 weeks back home.

I spent one night in Oslo and reached the Next day the

fieldstation. The Norwegian full time fieldworker, Kjartan, picked

Me up at Svarstad’s bus station and drove me to my apartment.

The welcome and the accomodation were really nice, but the

atmosphere was kind of strange, with a roe deer carcasse in front

of my door and blood from it in the bathroom.. Ambiance.

Currently, SCANDLYNX is a

Norwegian Institute for Nature

Research (NINA) project among

lynx populations in Scandinavia.

The scientists have different

research axes, mainly about demog-

raphy : evaluate the lynx density and

total population, set out the age

repartition, but also understand the

relation with humans, deers, mooses

and wolverines.

For this purpose, they are using

different methods : camera trapping,

live trapping, collaring and footprint

tracking among others. I will so have

to work for it during one month,

under Kjartan’s supervision and

advices, what will give me more

skills about lynx, and more generally

about scientific studies.

Driving is a big part of the fieldwork. Fortunatly,

norwegian roads are beautiful...

g

supervisio

ll give me m

x, and more generally

ic studies.

rtunatly,

beautiful...

The atmosphere was kind of

strange, with a roe deer

carcasse in front of my door,

and blood from it in the

bathroom.

Who is NiNa ?

T

Biogeography of the Eurasian lynx

Distribution :

Eurasian lynx is one of the most

widely distributed cat species, with

a broad distribution from Norway to

eastern Russia and Tibetan plateau.

That makes it the more largely

distributed lynx species. A lot of

projects of reintroductions have

been set up in Europe, not all

succeded. Most of the populations

are small and fragmented, except in

Scandinavia and Russia. Seven

sub-species are represented, often

native from their own area.

His distribution is greatly limited by

the presence of humans and their

activities. Related to forest habitat,

you have more chances to encoun-

ter him in steep areas. He is largely

able to climb or swim if necessary.

Well adapted, you can also find it

occasionally in Tundra habitat in

northern scandinavia and open

wooded places in Asia. However,

the size and the connectivity of the

habitats can be a limitating factor to

his distribution, as well as prey.

Picture from Henrik Andrén

Map from iucnredlist.org

Dispersal :

The youngs leave the mother in April/May but stay close to her

home range during the first months. Real dispersal occurs often

after the summer and yearlings often walk ahead several hundred

kilometers from their natal area. The survival rate decrease during

this phase, due among other to illegual hunting.

Home range :

Males try to maintain exclusive territories, using the core as well as

the peripheries, which are marked with gland secretions, urine and

occasionally faeces. In the study areas of Ostfold and Vestfold,

Their home range is 500 to 1000 km² when those from the females

is about 200 to 500 km². Due to less productivity, the northern areas

are used more broadly by each individual. The home range size can

then reach 2300 km² for the females and up to 3800km² for the

males ! In comparison, the Switzerland lynx has far more little

ranges, never exceeding 250km². Overlapping is very common

between male and females, but males tend to avoid core areas of

females territories when kittens are born, avoiding in this way a

negative prey competition. Movements into the home range are

primarily affected by daytime period and time since the last kill.

I spent my first days with Kjartan in the Vestfold area, to

have a reminder of the technics I had already learnt in

December with Sabrina, the precedent fieldworker.

The West Side

The work principally consists in the management

of a camera pool: backing up the pictures, re-initializing

the memory cards, changing the battery if needed, clean-

ing the lens with anti-mist liquid, and put a tissue soaked

with vegetal/animal oil to attract or make stop the lynxs.

Occasionally, I also have to move a camera if it’s covered

by snow or not in a good place, or even more install a new

one. Additionally, every suspected lynx footprint or

animal carcasses have to be reported with GPS position

and pictures..

Back to the office there is still to extract

data from the pictures: this work is down in a

copied file to keep a backup of the raw pictures.

Every empty pictures are deleted (a lot!) and I

have to keep the best shoot for each “event” (one

passage of one animal). The human, cars and

pets activity in front of the camera have to be

recorded in an Excel file with the number of the

camera, the date, the hour, and the number of

people caught on camera. I created a last file for

the “camera fails” to estimate the number of

events not caught (when under the snow, lack of

flash, …). Finally, every lynx pictures has to be

sent out by e-mail to Kjartan. Camera’s

positions are available on a special map in the

work computer. All the principal data are updat-

ed on a webpage with private access for all the

Scandlynx’s staff.

In january,

beautiful light colors are surrounding

the snowy hills of Vestfold

Days are alike one to each other, but I discover a nice part of norway. Days after

days I take a rythme and manage to make an average of 3 cameras per journey.

Walking is not easy in this deep snow, even with snow shoes, and the slopes are

sometimes really steep. The cameras are often at the bottom or worth at the top

of cliffs that can be a bit dangerous to “climb” with all this snow.

One evening, Kjartan received a call informing

him that a lynx has just been discovered dead

in the area. A man is going to bring the fresh

carcass to the fieldstation before sending it to

an autopsy. I’m invited to come out to observe

the animal. 30 minutes after, a car is comming,

transporting the dead body in the trunk.

Here he is. Around 2 years old, the felin looks

very muscular and has a well devellopped

dentition. the hairs are really long, and the feet

are impressives. Born to hunt, he has finally

been hunted by his only predator : the Human.

Illegually, out of the hunting season.

____

The second camera that we

are checking reserves me a great

surprise : A beautiful lynx picture

who walked trought 3 weeks

before! It’s not the first time that

they catch something on this

camera, but the last one was long

time ago. 4 more pictures will

follow in the month in others places,

with among other one who was not

known before. These pictures are

really useful to identify each indi-

vidual. Currently, everyone has a

different patern of black spots on

the hairs that permits to differenci-

ate them. It also permit to see if it’s

a lonely individual or a family.

“My” first lynx picture, took

by one of the two cameras

used for this purpose.

Lynx tracks. Normally, the dissymetry on the

feet (one toe longer than the 3 others) is more

accentuated but it’s not always clear. They

generally sink into the same depth than a man

walking with snowshoes.

With the size of the volar region of a human’s

hand, they are bigger than fox tracks, and we

can generally see the mark of the beginning of

the leg on the back of the footprint.

____

The East Side

After 2 weeks, it was time for me to change of study area. I took a

boat to pass the fjord and arrived in the evening at Moss. 20 kilometers

later, I arrive at this big house which is the fieldstation, where I already

spent few days in december to learn the methods. It’s really far too big for

me alone, and here I wish that some people could join me this month !

The work here is exactly the same, and even more easier because the snow

layer is smaller and the area is flatter. But these two parameters made the

other area really more attractive, more breathtaking.

One evening, when I was driving back home, it started snowing. But this

apparently good new for the landscape was in fact almost a death warrant

for the car. I slowed down my speed to 60-70 km/h, but this was apparently

still too fast : in a light curve, where the road seemed really clean, the car

started to drift away. I managed to rectify the trajectory but it started to drift

to the other side. This was continuing for maybe 50 meters, just the time to

slow down again my speed, when finally the car ran out of control and went

hitting the crash barriere on the left, bouncing on it and finishing its course

on the right gap after a 180°. I was a bit shocked and it took me several

seconds to realize what just happenned. Going out of the car, I inspected it

to evaluate the dammages. The bull bar was completely smashed but it

fortunately protected the rest of the frontcar. One man was already stopping

on my side to propose his help. I was ok but taking the car out of the gap

was a bit hard, even with 4 wheels driving. Finally, the car did it and I was

again on the road. More fear than hurt, but among all a chance that nobody

was coming in front of me when I’ve lost the control ..

under: The bull bar has

fortunately took on all the

energy of the shock

above: The east side fieldstation

SCANDLYNX PROJECT

From what I’ve learn, The Scandlynx project is the only one following the

lynx populations in long period of time and with regular update of the data.

Thanks to this, scientists and large public can have a better understanding of

this rare animal. His management and hunting quotas can be more relevant

and accurate. As a great carnivore, this one is really important in food chain

and is a good indicator of an healthy ecosystem, but he is also a large source

of questions about his real effect on livestocks, big and small games. For all

this reasons, it is a crucial point to study the Lynx, and forward to protect it.

Emblematic and still mysterious, he hasn’t finish to make speak about him.

Researchs are not focusing only on the lynx itself, but also on intraguild

interactions, to have a wider view of the ecological links among large

predators in boreal forests. We now know for example that brown bears can

displace lynx (from about one third of its kills in the Dinaric mountains).

Moreover, Studies on relations with the wolverine (Gulo gulo), a scavanger

and opportunistic predator, show that increasing lynx population in northern

scandinavia can in some case result in a decrease of reindeer kills. In fact, lynx

reduces wolverine’s predation on the ungulates due to more scavanging

opportunities, provided by lynx kills leftovers. This discovery is only one of

the new parameters we have to take in account when managing predators in

reindeer husbandry areas.

Unlike the Iberian lynx which is classified as “critically endangered” on the

IUCN red list, the eurasian lynx is only listed as “least concern”. However,

habitat destruction/isolation, eutropication and hunting pressure are sensible

factors likely to drive fast and important changes in lynx population, both in

behavior and demography terms.

Which future for the Eurasian lynx ? Larger studies and implications

Kjartan Sjulstad

Tales of a Fieldworker

After several years tracking lynx, Kjartan is a skilled man spending a lot of time outdoor...

And has plenty of stories to tell for who wants !

They get

lazy !

Driving a bit forward, we are turning around

a steep cliff. pointing the rocks he explains :

“ In this area are a lot of lynxs, if you stay

here with a pair of binoculars, a ton of

patience and a leap of luke, you could

“Here once, I saw a roe deer coming out of the

forest, about 20 meters in front of my car. He was bleed-

ing and runing really fast. Few seconds after, a lynx

came out also but gave up the pursuit when he saw my

car, and went back into the forest. I don’t know if the roe

deer is still alive, but at least he had a incredible luke.

Deers have few chances to get safe of a lynx attack, at

least on short distances.

maybe see the felins on their daybeds up there. Lynx

really like steep areas. As you know, they have a excel-

lent view, and like eagles, enjoy embracing the landscape

to have an eye on all what’s happening. All the time, they

see or feel you before you can see them. Then, instead of

escaping like deers would do, they just sneak out of your

path. They stand few meters away observing their prey

or hiding from an eventual danger. We often see tracks

on the roads that are just going few meters out, probably

when a car is coming. Yeah they often use roads and

others pathes in the snow. They get lazy ! But it’s a lot of

energy to spend when walking in deep snow ! ”

I’m here thinking about myself when walking in

snow, even with snowshoes... Indeed it’s a lot of

energy ! Even us, humans, always try to avoid this

lost of calories and are searching for the easiest way

to go from a point to another when it comes to

snowy areas !

“Of course I hunt them. It can seem

strange that a scientist working on lynx

and lynx protection also hunt them. But

you know, it’s just how things are in

Norway. Hunting traditions and relation

to nature are really different than other

parts of europe. The beginning

of the hunting season for lynx in the 1st of February.

It’s going until the 31st of March. The quota is fixed

at 1 quarter of the global population, with quotas by

counties. If you see some hunters when you’re out,

just go back, don’t disturb them. When they shoot

one, I have to go there to identify the lynx and make

a report about the kill shot, to see if some rules are

respected. There is unfortunately people that shoot a

lynx in a area and move the body into another

because the quota is already filled. It happened last

year in Hedmark. There is also poaching and

illegual traffic. They are rarer but they do exist. ”

Roe deers, the favorite

lynx’s prey, are present in

huge numbers in the two

study areas. Red deers

are less common but are

also part of lynx diet.

“ I’ve met a lot of people around here. People knows me, and I

know them. Some are also hunters, others aren’t. Most of them

are really interested in this project and are part of it. They call

me when they see tracks or carcasses. They ask me interesting

questions when they see the logo on the car. Some people even

didn’t knew that they were lynx in this area ! It’s true that they

are really difficult to see. If you see any this month, you are the

luckiest guy I’ve ever seen !

I also have this feeding station for deers and mooses. They

have hard time in winter you know. That’s why I don’t want

you to go too often there taking pictures. We have also a project

with collaring deers. They walk into a box trap, the same kind

of we use for the lynx. Then we just go with four strong men,

taking it by the feet, taking care to not hurt it and quickly put

the collar. It’s a bit stressfull of course, but it’s the better way to

do it with deers, rather than drugs. But for the lynx we use

drugs before collaring them. I would not try to get a lynx out of

a box-trap by pulling him on his legs !!

After a while, when you have followed so much time lynx tracks,

you begin to be able to think as them. You are following these

footprints, and you know if they are going to continue the way

more to the left or to the right, function of the landscape. Where

they are going to rest and where they will just walk trought. But

you can still have some surprised. It’s really common to follow

one lynx and in fact the track suddenly split on 2 or 3 tracks !

Then you know that it was a mother and the kittens. They are

really good to walk in the same footprint.

Conflicts with humans or domesticated animals happen some-

times. But lynx are way far less a problem than wolverines for

exemple. And they don’t come into this bloodrun into which

wolves are coming for exemple. They kill only one animal a

time. But the problem is that they are not so selectives. Wolves

are going to kill the less adapted or the sickest animal when lynx

are just going to kill by surprise. ”

PortfolioMoments gathered in the norwegian winter,

in the fieldwork’s places

Here we are.

in the heart of norway,

in the heart of winter

Here we are.

in the heart of norway, iiiinnn tthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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Portfolio

Stucky, posed on a rock,

Cinclus cinclus is watching for his prey

Norwegian moonshine:

called "Hjemmebrent" or "Heimebrent" ,

moonshine is an homemade distilled whisky,

usually with a very high alcohol content.

It got its name because it was normally distilled

in secret by night, because of its prohibition .

black & white.

It’s what norwegian

winter is all about

Empty spaces,

Beautiful places

Great spotted woodpeckers are part of the

little number of bird species who are

staying in Norway during wintertime.

I took the time to enjoy the view

on the Fjord before checking the

camera trap that was standing

there. Humans are found of these

points of view, lynx too : On the

camera was an uncollared male

walking there by the sunset.

Mooses are not so affraid. Here we stopped

the car by 15 meters from him. He just stood

up, and didn’t mooved anymore, even

when I went out of the car !

A perfect model for wildlife photographers,

an inadapted reaction concerning hunters...

They have also inadapted reactions

concerning wolves, probably because at the

opposite of their north-american cousins,

here in Norway they were not confronted to

these carnivores for several decades.

Frozing sunset

on the Vestfold coast

This roe deer and 2 others were coming

on the edge of the field and were posing

for me on the last sun radiations

Salt is popping out of the water

when this one is freezing,

creating an in�nity of shapes

In the

forest

or in a

field,

roe

deers

were

posing

for me

several

times !

Driving

LicenceNecessary for

most of the

fieldworks, you

should think

about it ! And you

cannot always count on an

eventual binome. Licence are

universal but don’t forget that in Norway,

driving is on the right side ! Snowdriving skills

are appreciated but not compulsory for most of the jobs.

Swiss Army KnifeThe hiker’s friend is also the

fieldworker’s one. From your

lunch to manual work, you

will use it in many situations !

Try it, you will love it ! You can

also take a lighter, even if you are

non-smoker. Very usefull to

unfreeze some stuff or to start

a sausages grilling, every

fieldworker should have it in

his pocket. By the way, clothes

with a lot of pockets are obviously

important when you go out !

Fingerless glovesVery useful to have

and keeping fingers mobility to work.

Wool is probably the best textil for it.

Can be an underlayer if harsh weather : gore-tex gloves

should then be added above.

The Fieldworker’s

Surv val Guide

2013

CookiesChoose your favourite one ..

And bring it with you !

Your survival depends on it !

The Book. The only one who unify christians and muslims,

darwinians and creationists, fieldworkers and headmasters.

Available in several languages, and printed in more

than 1 million copies, How to shit in the woods

by Kathleen Meyer is an inescapable

work for people who spend a lot of

time outside. Ecology is a science,

but this is an art. Read it carefully and

practice the methods regularly to become

an experienced fieldworker, and more !

A

p l i a b l e

measure-stick .

Datas are often about measures.

Trees, tracks, snow depth, bones ...

Everything has to be measured !

Can be combinated with a

diameter measure tool. Warning :

fragile. If you break it,

you will probably have to

pay a beer to your

supervisor !

Hand GPSnecessary to almost all

fieldworks. Collar positions

to check, points recording,

transects, and classical

orientation... The GPS

technology has taken

a great part in applied

ecology this last decade.

GIS software skills are

recommended if you also

want to analyse the GPS

data from the field. A lot of

different brands are available

and the integrated map is an

option you should consider.

Cameras & Binoculars are a must have in the field. For the passionated and

experienced photographers, reflex models combined to

appropriate lens will allow you to well pixelize wildlife.

A 55-300 or 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 are short telezooms but their

relative low weight permits to bring it on easily.

A 18-55 can come to complete the focale range

to shoot landscapes. Tropicalized bodies are

also a great plus on difficult conditions. If

you can’t afford it, you can try one model

of plastic rain cover to protect your material.

to

ize wildlife.

telezooms but theeir

n easily.

e range

are

Fingerless gloves both warm hands

eeping fingers mobility to work.

Wool is probably the best textil for it.

Can be an underlayer if harsh weather : gore-tex gloves

should then be added above.

he Fieldworker’s

Surv val Guide

2013

CookiesChoose your favourite one ..

And bring it with you !

Your survival depends on it !

The Book. The only one who unify christians and muslims,

darwinians and creationists, fieldworkers and headmasters.

Available in several languages, and printed in more

How to shit in the woods

athleen Meyer is an inescapable

work for people who spend a lot of

time outside. Ecology is a science,

this is an art. Read it carefully and

ctice the methods regularly to become

an experienced fieldworker, and more !

To Be or Not to Be ... a Fieldworker ?

If you still don’t manage to figure out

what to do the 2nd semester, here are

7 more reasons to take or not to take

the Applied ecology course.

1. The temperature can reach -35°C, and is often around -10°C. It is relatively ok with good clothes providing that you keep moving.

But for some fieldworks (Moose & Forestry for exemple), the activity is

limited and you can quickly turn yourself into an iceberg.

2.

You can be hosted & paid back for the food and transport.At least for the Scandlynx project. Regarding the lifeprice in norway,

you should think twice about it.

3. Another way of learningAlone on the field, you learn maybe less than in a classic lecture.

But what you learn in the field, you never forget it. Moreover, discussing

with specialists, having time to ask them all the questions you want and

be directly implicated is an unvaluable richness of the mind. You have to

be autonom, organize yourself and work with a partner. A fieldwork

experience is always a good line in a curriculum vitae !

4.

Free lesson of ice drivingAt your own risks ! Of course you should avoid to fall in a gap, but

university’s staff is always there to take you out, and you are insured for

the damages. A good way to practice without too much consequences.

5. Increasing your chances to see wildlifeThat sound obvious but it’s good to remind it. Norway is the land of

large carnivores : wolves, lynx, bear, wolverines. And is also a land for

other animals, as interesting as the latters (Mooses, Grouses, deers ...).

Spending time outside and further to study them is your best card

to see them ! You will maybe have the chance to participate capturing

and collaring/marking some.

6. Your body will be thanksfullWalking, climbing.. what a healthy way of studying !

Way far better than stay on a chair behind a computer,

isn’t it ? It’s the good solution if you don’t want to

become as fat as this bullfinch..

7. BecauseI could also talk about the 30ECTS credits to be

outside and so much other things, but the best way is

to make yourself your own idea of it !

Moose &ForestryProject

Forest covers almost 40% of Norway,

whose more than 7 millions hectares are

potential or already used productive forest.

A lot of private owners (around 100 000) are sharing this giant

natural product, as well as government/municipalities and com-

panies. And as a natural product, they also have to share it with

all the animals that are part of this boreal ecosystem. Moose is

one of them, and as one of the biggest herbivory, he eventually

browse tree’s branches. This can become a real problem in forest-

ry and logging, so further a true norwegian concern when you

know that these activities are the 2nd income for the country.

Browsing reduces tree’s growth rate and deform them. This

results directly into smaller trees with non-straight stems and

with a lot of knots, that need more energy to be cutted and are less

valuable. Moreover, the injuries formed by browsing are a

opened door in the plant for a lot of diseases and parasitisme. In

order to quantify the repartition and the effect of moose browsing

on trees, as well as finding alternative way(s) to regulate it,

this Moose and forestry project has began in 2011.

Economical savings and important

wildlife management decisions are

waiting for the results

of this research

“

Leaded by Karen-Marie Mathisen,

a norwegian post-phd, (below), This

project is divided in two main parts :

Studying moose’s diet and browsing

behavior in one hand; searching for an

alternative way than shooting down

moose population to protect young

forests in the other hand. Economical

saving and important wildlife

management decisions are waiting for

the results of this research. The first part

is done in 8 forest roads between

Koppang and Rena, the second one is

done close to Sweden’s border, In

Graveberget and Ljordalen.

of Norway,

whose more than 7 millions hectares are

ential or already used productive forest.

MOOSE &FOR€$TRYPROJECT

Excited by this project, I come back in Evenstad at

the begining of February, ready to help for this inter-

esting task. Unfortunately, I didn’t measured that it

implies following moose tracks and recording each

tree within one meter on the left and on the right. A

ant job, that nevers ends unless the snow melts !

Each tree as so to be identified, total height

measured as well as top shoot length and diameter.

Economical savings and important

wildlife management decisions are

waiting for the results

of this research

”

Leaded by Karen-Marie Mathisen,

a norwegian post-phd, (below), This

ect is divided in two main parts :

Studying moose’s diet and browsing

behavior in one hand; searching for an

alternative way than shooting down

moose population to protect young

sts in the other hand. Economical

saving and important wildlife

management decisions are waiting for

the results of this research. The first part

is done in 8 forest roads between

Koppang and Rena, the second one is

close to Sweden’s border, In

First part : Counting the trees, that’s your job !

If this tree is freshly browsed, you then have to count

every bite for each “layer” of 50cm high. and again

for the next tree. The maximum distance walk in a

single day work as this never exceed 500 meters !

The moose tracks has to be as fresh as possible and

followed backward to not disturb the animal and so

recording only natural browsing behavior.

We so followed 24 moose and recorded 1020 trees in

one month, that come in addition to 16 mooses and

1259 trees from the last year study. This data set is

now big enough to exctract nice statistics about natu-

ral moose diet and browsing behavior in Hedmark

(Figure 1 next page).

Fig. 2

Fig. 1

Fig 1 : Moose natural feeding records in

Hedmark these two last years (this study)

Fig 2 : Mean daily course of the sectional sap

flow of birchs ans spruce trees

(Forest Ecology and Management)

Fig 3 : Long-term browsing impact around

feeding stations for moose in Southern Norway

(Forest Ecology and Management)

Fig. 3

The logged stands are so divided in “control” (normal

logging) and “experimental” (with piles). They include

pine, spruce and birch, at different logging schedules

(end felling, seed trees felling...). For the first, transects

are established on site, on the longest way of the stand.

Points are made every 50 or 100 meters, depending of

the general size of the stand. At each position,

fieldworkers are then looking for fresh and old moose

clues (pellets, tracks...), available food (living cutted

branches above the snow) and for fresh browsing into

a 10 meters diameter circle.

Fresh browsing estimation is very accurate in summer,

with exact bites counting, but can be more biased in

winter, when the estimation is done in percent of the

available food without bites counting. Another bias

source is the sap flow and viscosity. It’s our main tool

to know the freshness of the bite, but it can unfortu-

nately be different due to humidity, tree part, daytime

and season (Fig2).. For the experimental stands, piles

are randomly selected with a in-between distance of

50 or 100 meters. The work is then the same as for

control stands. All the stands are visited every 2 weeks.

MOOSE & FOR€$TRY PROJECT Second part : The piles

This other part of the project occurs 3 hours driving

from Evenstad, in two areas close to the Swedish border.

These places have been chosen because the forest there

is owned by a unique state compagny, allowing an

easier communication and fieldwork planning.

The goal is here to compare two types of logging.

The “normal one”, basically used all over Norway,

consists in letting the branches on the ground when

removing them from the cutted trees. Or according to

Karen-Marie, this technique, although fast and cheap,

could be improved in a way that moose would get

advantage of it... In fact, when the branches are laying

like this on the ground, they are eventually

covered by snow, making it unaivailable for mooses.

And even if they are not covered, another

problem arises : Mooses pull off the top shoots

more than cutting it. An impossible way here,

the branches aren’t attached to the rest of the tree

anymore and are so too free to be a meal.

The solution proposed and studied here is to

build piles out of the branches, that would stick out

of the snow and maybe be dense enought to tie

all the branches together when frozing. The final point

would be to provide these new natural feeding stations

as an alternative that the moose would choose more than

going browsing and damaging the young forest.

Mara checking piles (below) - Wood

for industry or wood for landscapes,

turism and wildlife? (right)

The logged stands are so divided in “control” (normal

logging) and “experimental” (with piles). They include

pine, spruce and birch, at different logging schedules

(end felling, seed trees felling...). For the first, transects

are established on site, on the longest way of the stand.

Points are made every 50 or 100 meters, depending of

the general size of the stand. At each position,

fieldworkers are then looking for fresh and old moose

clues (pellets, tracks...), available food (living cutted

nches above the snow) and for fresh browsing into

Fresh browsing estimation is very accurate in summer,

with exact bites counting, but can be more biased in

winter, when the estimation is done in percent of the

available food without bites counting. Another bias

source is the sap flow and viscosity. It’s our main tool

to know the freshness of the bite, but it can unfortu-

nately be different due to humidity, tree part, daytime

and season (Fig2).. For the experimental stands, piles

are randomly selected with a in-between distance of

meters. The work is then the same as for

control stands. All the stands are visited every 2 weeks.

Preliminary results already show some trends : As for

trees, mooses concentrate their browsing on the same

piles where they come again and again. The height of

the piles seems to be really important : too low, and the

branches are still too free. Moreover, too low meens

that they will be covered by snow and would probably

be less atractives for the mooses that will have to bend

down the head to eat. This is clearly seen on the big

piles : browsing is found mostly on moose’s head

height. But too big, and it will be a lot of the pile (core

and sommit) that isn’t available. The position of the

shoots and even more the top shoots also seems to be

an important point. Looking down, they are less atrac-

tive and less accessible for the mooses.

The ungulate density in the areas of interest is determi-

nated by pellet counting in spring. At the same time,

young forest stand survey is set out around both control

and experimental sites to evaluate the change in brows-

ing activity. And the first results are encouraging

Despite this first victory, several uncertainties are yet

to be wiped before claiming this solution as a new

paradigm shift in wildlife management and forestry.

As said before, the winter data are way far to be

acurate, because of the variations between fieldwork-

er’s estimations. Moreover, with a 5 to 15 meters inac-

curacy in GPS positions, their is another real risk of

bias : did we checked each time the same piles or did

we sometimes checked others ? Tape or paint marking

would be a simple solution to this question, but the

other side of the coin is a possible disturbance in

moose’s browsing behavior, that we canno’t assess

with certainty. In addition to all this come the same

problems raised in the first part (browsed versus

broken branches, browsing from other animals ...).

Third, as pointed out by previous studies, feeding

places set out by humans can have a pervert effect :

huge increased of damages (ransawking of the soil,

intense browsing...) is often observed in the vicinity of

these places (Fig3), due to the anormal mooses density.

In the other hand, mooses density are already higher in

logging areas, mooses being atracted by the oddor of

fresh cutting and probably by the logging machines

sound, as a pavlov reflex. Finally, as most of scientific

studies comes the problem of generalisation. If this

technique is working out there, will it work also in

other part of Norway ? Of Scandinavia ? Of the

world ? Others monitorings like this will have to be

built out and will show how this solution can be

applied out of this hundreds km² pilot experience.

MOOSE & FOR€$TRY PROJECT

About the Author

Oscar Chuberre - 20 - France Bachelor of Wildlife Management

HØgskolen i Hedmark, Norway

#Photography #Surfing #Hiking

#Diving #Partying

www.oscar-regards.com

Contact

Le Parc Faou, Kergouët - 56410 Erdeven

+33 6 48 23 53 90

oscarider@ymail.com

Oscar Chuberre - 20 - France

#Photography #Surfing #Hiking

This Issue was a long-term work, and I hope you enjoyed it !

A lot of ideas born in the Hottub, and this was one of them.

Instead of writing an enieme scientifical-classical style

report, The possibility was given me to write it in a different

way. I so choose this magazine form, which was I think an

interesting manier to present a report. Involving more inven-

tivity and style, it is also likely to be easier and nicer to read.

I send a special thank to Kjartan for his welcoming at

Svarstad, to Lucrezia for proposing me these fieldworks, to

Karen-Marie and Thomas for taking me into it.

Thanks also to Adrien who helped me with the design and to

all my evenstad friends for the help on this report but more

generally for the amazing time I’ve spent here.

More pictures from my year in Norway are available at

www.follow-the-moose.blogspot.no

To Maike,

who didn’t stayed long enough

to see the mooses !

>EXIT<