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Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project – Annual report 1999 Photo. Lesser White-fronted Geese (one adult with one juvenile and two adults with three juveniles) with White-fronted Geese on the shore of Lake Korzhynkol, Kazakstan © Petteri Tolvanen, October 1999 which has resulted in an increased hunting pressure on geese. In the Kurgaldzhino–Tengiz region there is a large nature reserve – The Kurgaldshinskiy Zapovednik. However, none of the important roosting lakes for geese in this region are situated inside the reserve. Inside the reserve all kinds of resource exploitation is forbidden, including agriculture. The German Society for Nature Conservation (NABU) has been working actively in the region since 1996, and now NABU and its partners in Kazakstan are preparing a biosphere reserve (in the framework of the UNESCO’s programme on Man and Biosphere) in the area around Lake Tengiz. The suggested biosphere reserve would include the whole territory of the Kurgaldshinskiy Zapovednik with some proposed enlargements as the core zone, surrounded by a buffer zone, and a zone of sustainable land use around the buffer zone. This area (including the buffer and sustainable land use zones) is almost ten times larger than the current reserve. Formerly the Kurgaldshinskiy Zapovednik was to a much higher extent used by roosting geese. Also at that time cultivation inside the zapovednik was prohibited, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the wheat production decreased in the areas outside the reserve, especially in the climatic border zone south of Lake Tengiz. As a consequence, there is at present clearly less wheat fields close to the reserve, and therefore only a small proportion of the staging geese presently use the lakes inside the reserve as compared with the situation 10 years ago. Only when the geese arrive in the area, and at the end of their stay in the region, they use the large Lake Tengiz and other lakes inside the reserve in significant numbers. The most important roosting lakes are situated in the area to the north of the reserve. The hunting and disturbance pressure for geese in the Kurgaldzhino–Tengiz region is clearly higher than in the Kustanay region. This is mainly due to the close localisation of the new capital Astana (only 120 km NE of Kurgaldzhino). There has been suggestions to transform the strictly protected Kurgaldshinskiy Zapovednik into a "national park” where hunting, fishing and other utilisation would be allowed. Furthermore, there is still plans e.g. to establish hunting clubs in the area for high authorities and wealthy citizens of Astana. Almost all of the surveyed important roosting Tolvanen et al: Monitoring the autumn staging of Lesser White-fronted Geese in Kazakstan, October 1999 Table 5. Total numbers of geese, minimum estimates of total Lesser White-fronted Goose numbers and the juvenile proportion of LWfG in the Kustanay region in October 1996, 1998 and 1999. For the 1996 results, see Tolvanen & Pynnönen (1998); for the 1998 results, see Tolvanen et al. (1999b). Period Total no. LWfG number LWfG of geese (min estimate) juv % 4–15 October, 1996 280,000 7,900 33.3 5–16 October, 1998 293,000 7,300 43.3 1–13 October, 1999 247,000 3,880 43.9 lakes in the Kurgaldzhino–Tengiz region are rented by private hunting companies (e.g. Lake Kubikol rented by the company ‘Chesna’) or privately owned (e.g. Lake Shandykol), and we recorded a heavy hunting pressure on geese at these lakes. Also at most of these lakes, up to 1,500 m broad hunting free zones around the lakes have been established. In the Kustanay region, altogether c. 110 lakes have been rented for fishing, which has resulted in increased disturbance of geese, but at the moment the private hunting business has not yet been established in this region. In addition to the urgent need for direct conservation efforts at the most important staging places of LWfG and Red-breasted Goose, there evidently is need for further public awareness campaigns and educational work to inform about the endangered status of the LWfG for local hunters. Many hunters and even hunting inspectors e.g. erroneously identify young White-fronted Geese as LWfG. During the surveys, awareness on the critical situation of LWfG was highlighted by distributing stickers and posters in Russian and Kazakh languages (see Øien et al. 2000, p. 57–58 in this report), and by giving interviews in the local television channel and newspaper. 5. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Murat Aytjanov, the director of the Kurgadzhinskiy Zapovednik for the arrangemets in the Kurgalzhino- Tengiz area. Transportation was provided by The Forest, Fish and Hunting Inspection Committee of the Kustanay Region, and by Ivan Luft from the Kurgadzhinskiy Zapovednik. The help of Tatyana Bragina and Evgeny Bragin from Naurzum Zapovednik was 49
Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project – Annual report 1999 Tolvanen et al: Monitoring the autumn staging of Lesser White-fronted Geese in Kazakstan, October 1999 indispensable in the arrangements and during the field work in the Kustanay region, and Sami Timonen and Aki Arkiomaa both did a good job in the Kustanay survey team. References Gurtovaya, E., Tolvanen, P., Eskelin, T., Øien, I.J., Bragina, T., Aarvak, T., Eichhorn, G., Arkiomaa, A. & Timonen, S. 1999: Preliminary results of the Lesser White-fronted Goose monitoring in Kazakstan in October 1999. – Casarca 5:145–154. (In Russian with English summary) Hunter, J.M., Black, J.M., Rusev, I., Michev, T. & Munteanu, D. 1999: Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis). In: Madsen, J., Cracknell, G. & Fox, A.D. (eds.): Goose populations of the Western Palearctic. A review of status and distribution. – Wetlands International Publ. No. 48, Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. National Environmental Research Institute, Rønde, Denmark. Pp. 328–340. Lorentsen, S.-H., Øien, I.J., Aarvak, T., Markkola, J., von Essen, L., Farago, S., Morozov, V., Syroechkovsky Jr., E. & Tolvanen, P. 1999: Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus). In: Madsen, J., Cracknell, G. & Fox, A.D. (eds.): Goose populations of the Western Palearctic. A review of status and distribution. – Wetlands International Publ. No. 48, Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. National Environmental Research Institute, Rønde, Denmark. Pp. 144–161. Markkola, J., Pynnönen, P., Tolvanen, P., Veersalu, A. & Yerohov, S. 1998: The second international Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus expedition in NW Kazakstan in May 1997. In: Tolvanen, P., Ruokolainen, K., Markkola, J. & Karvonen R. (eds.): Finnish Lesser White-fronted Goose Conservation Project. Annual report 1997. – WWF Finland report 9:21–22. Øien, I.J., Tolvanen, P., Aarvak, T., Litvin, K.E. & Markkola, J. 1999: Surveys and catching of Lesser White-fronted Geese at Taimyr Peninsula 1998 - preliminary results on autumn migration routes mapped by means of satellite telemetry. In: Tolvanen, P., Øien, I.J. & Ruokolainen, K. (eds.): Fennoscandian Lesser Whitefronted Goose conservation project. Annual report 1998. – WWF 50 Finland Report 10 & Norwegian Ornithological Society, NOF Rapportserie Report no 1-1999:37–41. Øien, I. J., Kostadinova, I. & Aarvak, T. 2000: Status on the awareness campaign for the Lesser White-fronted Goose. In Tolvanen, P., Øien, I. J. & Ruokolainen, K. (eds.): Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose Conservation Project. Annual report 1999. – WWF Finland Report 12 & Norwegian Ornithological Society, NOF Rapportserie Report no. 1-2000:57–58. Tolvanen, P. & Pynnönen, P. 1998: Monitoring the autumn migration of Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus and other geese in NW Kazakstan in October 1996. In Tolvanen, P., Ruokolainen, K., Markkola, J. & Karvonen R. (eds.): Finnish Lesser White-fronted Goose Conservation Project. Annual report 1997. – WWF Finland Report 9:19–20. Tolvanen, P., Markkola, J., Aarvak, T. & Øien, I.J. 1999a: Introduction. In: Tolvanen, P., Øien, I. J. & Ruokolainen, K. (eds.): Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project. Annual report 1998. – WWF Finland Report 10 & Norwegian Ornithological Society, NOF Rapportserie Report no. 1-1999:5–8. Tolvanen, P., Litvin, K. E. & Lampila, P. 1999b: Monitoring the autumn staging of Lesser White-fronted Goose in north-western Kazakstan, October 1998. In: Tolvanen, P., Øien, I. J. & Ruokolainen, K. (eds.): Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project. Annual report 1998. – WWF Finland Report 10 & Norwegian Ornithological Society, NOF Rapportserie Report no. 1-1999:42–46. Tolvanen, P., Pynnönen, P., Markkola, J., Aarvak, T. & Øien, I.J. 1999c: Monitoring instructions for Lesser White-fronted Goose surveys. In: Tolvanen, P., Øien, I.J. & Ruokolainen, K. (eds.): Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose Conservation Project. Annual report 1998. – WWF Finland Report 10 & Norwegian Ornithological Society, NOF Rapportserie Report no. 1-1999:68–71. Vinogradov V. G. 1990: Anser erythropus in the USSR. In: Matthews, G. V. T. (ed.): Managing Waterfowl Populations. – Proc. IWRB Symp., Astrakhan 1989. IWRB Spes. Publ. 12, Slimbridge, UK:199–203.
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