Bison-Rewilding-Plan-2014

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3.7 Bison conservation as a socio-economic tool3.7.1 New local economiesBison rangers,recruited among thelocal community, aretrained in ecology,bison managementand guiding touristsRewilding Europe aims to help create new jobs,income and business for the people who live inrewilding areas. Helping to establish strong andinnovative nature-based (including bison-based)businesses across rewilding areas is therefore acore tenet of the initiative.Economic development is often seen as athreat to nature, but if designed in a responsibleway, it could offer new finance mechanisms fornature conservation. Rewilding Europe seeks tohelp develop a bold new economy based on usingwildlife, wilderness and wild lands in new, creativeways, in which the European bison will play acrucial role. Rewilding Europe wants to explorerapidly evolving new markets such as nature-basedtourism, which is growing at three times the rate ofconventional tourism. For example, whilst farmingin the Bialowieza Forest has nearly collapsed asan economic activity, eco-tourism is flourishing,with visitor numbers rising year on year, currentlyaround 140,000 visitors, which is contributingmillions of euros to the local economy.Bison reintroductions could also create work andjobs directly. Within the European bison projectsof Rewilding Europe for example, local farmers willproduce hay for the bison during their pre-releasein the acclimatisation zone. Local tour operatorscould offer bison safaris and bison rangers could berecruited among local people. Local people couldalso be offered opportunities to run visitor-orientedbusinesses, including selling local productsand guiding visitors. Rewilding Europe recognisesthat many wildlife and wilderness entrepreneursin the rewilding areas will need investment andfinance to grow and sustain their businesses.Rewilding Europe has therefore developed aninvestment fund (Rewilding Europe Capital) thatallows for cheap loans and small grants for entrepreneursthat are willing to invest in rewildingenterprises across Europe’s rewilding areas.36STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUROPE
JOEP VAN DE VLASAKKERHowever, not all people in the community canprofit from the bison through ecotourism andin some regions the opportunities and/or infrastructureare not sufficient to develop eco-tourism.Although hunting is an integral part of societyin many regions, Rewilding Europe does notrecommend hunting of bison as a game species,for a number of reasons. First of all, the number ofbison does not, in our view, allow for hunting of thespecies at this stage, where it is still considered asVulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Rewilding Europeprefers to use all available bison for building viablepopulations in Europe, and increasing the distributionrange of the species. At a certain point,which is far beyond the scope of this RewildingPlan, when the European bison may be down-listedto a lower extinction risk, and has thus entered asafer and more favourable conservation status,bison hunting could be considered under strictregulations, e.g. only the culling of older bulls thatno longer contribute towards reproduction. Meatcould then be sold locally or left for scavenging.Rewilding Europe will only support bisonhunting if it is needed from a human-bison conflict/acceptance point of view. The EBCC accepts controlledculling as a conservation method. Rewilding Europedoes see culling of older animals as a zootechnicalaction and does not see an ecological need toeliminate old animals as they have the same right tolive in the rewilding areas as younger ones.A very important negative effect of hunting is thatit changes bison behaviour, altering the spatial distributionof the species, and strongly reducing theirvisibility for wildlife-watching tourists. Radio collaringwill help bison rangers to track individuals and protectbison against poaching and illegal hunting.Guiding principles:• Local people must benefit from bison conservationon the basis that if bison provideeconomic benefits, there should be moresupport for reintroducing them to the wild.• Local people should receive training inorder to be able to take part in monitoringand guided tours of bison.• Rewilding Europe does not regard hunting ofbison as opportune at this stage. Focus shouldbe on improving the conservation status ofthe species through setting targets in growthrates and population size, as well as increasingits distribution range by establishing viablepopulations in different parts of Europe.The Tarcu mountainsare one of the mostscenic locationsin Europe to viewbison in their naturalsurroundings, withthe potential to growinto a major touristattraction to supportthe local, ruraleconomy37
Page 1 and 2: BisonRewilding Plan2014-2024Rewildi
Page 4 and 5: STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUROP
Page 6 and 7: Table of contentsForeword 3Executiv
Page 8 and 9: 6STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EURO
Page 10 and 11: 1.2European landscapes: the opportu
Page 12 and 13: 10STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUR
Page 14 and 15: RUUD MAASKANT / ARK NATURE2.2 Ecolo
Page 16 and 17: winner secludes himself from the he
Page 18 and 19: een well established (Benecke 1999)
Page 20 and 21: 2.3Current conservation statusRecen
Page 22 and 23: 2.4European bison conservation2.4.1
Page 24: forest ecosystems started in Bialow
Page 28 and 29: 26STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUR
Page 30 and 31: 3.2The reference:historic distribut
Page 32 and 33: 3.3European bison as a keystoneand
Page 35 and 36: STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUROP
Page 37: Human-bison conflict3.6Current-day
Page 41 and 42: in opposition to important resource
Page 46 and 47: Objective Action Result7. Bison pro
Page 48 and 49: ReferencesBalčiauskas L. 1999. Eur
Page 50 and 51: 1. Planning the reintroduction andr
Page 52 and 53: Electric wires forareas with highsn
Page 54 and 55: use of young animals two to four ye
Page 56 and 57: JOEP VAN DE VLASAKKERBison are best
Page 58 and 59: Use of pulka totransport and loadbi
Page 60 and 61: de-worming is appropriate. As worme
Page 62 and 63: 4. Bison released into populationsl
Page 64 and 65: Attachment: European bison bodycond
Page 66: European bison body condition index

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