Elsevier

Biological Conservation

Volume 101, Issue 3, October 2001, Pages 351-360
Biological Conservation

Winter distribution of wild reindeer in relation to power lines, roads and resorts

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00082-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Southern Norway holds the last remaining population of wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Europe. Roads, railroads, and power lines have fragmented the original population into 26 separate herds. The reindeer populations are regulated directly according to availability of winter forage. These winter ranges, generally at lower elevations, are however, often subjected to development. Effects of infrastructure and associated human activity on the distribution of wild reindeer during winter were investigated in the Nordfjella mountain region of western Norway. Systematic aerial surveys of the distribution of ca. 2500 reindeer were conducted during late winter 1986–1998. Areas within 2.5 km from power lines were used less than available in 6 of the 8 sampling years, and areas beyond this zone more than expected. Density of reindeer was 79% lower within 2.5 km from power lines compared with background areas, and increased with increasing distance from infrastructure for comparable habitat. Available forage in terms of lichen cover declined 15–30-fold with distance, and was lowest in the undisturbed areas with the highest density of grazing animals. Areas within 5 km from resorts or from roads and power lines in combination were avoided in all years. Continued construction of roads, power lines and cabin resorts endanger these available winter ranges, and hence the long term survival of the population.

Introduction

Southern Norway holds the last remaining population of wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Europe (Skogland, 1986). The population, numbering ca. 35,000 animals, was reduced from ca. 60,000 animals in the 1960s as a result of overgrazing of winter ranges (Skogland, 1985, Skogland, 1986). Availability of winter ranges are well known to be among the primary limiting factors for carrying capacity in reindeer (Miller et al., 1975, Skogland, 1978, Skogland, 1983a, Skogland 1983b, Helle and Säntti, 1982, Roby and Thing, 1985).

In the last century, the original range of reindeer in southern Norway covering the continuous mountain range across south-central Norway has been fragmented substantially by roads and power lines. This has resulted in a nearly 90% reduction in areas located >5 km from infrastructures (UNEP, 2001). Furthermore, the original population has been split into 26 separate sub-populations with little or no exchange, most often only separated by roads or roads and power lines together that restrict historic migration routes (Jordhøy et al., 1996; Fig. 1 (a–b)). Loss of opportunities for seasonal migration therefore render the reindeer solely dependent upon the availability and access to undisturbed winter ranges locally. As the reindeer can no longer migrate, overgrazing must be avoided in each of the 26 fragments of the original range (Skogland, 1985, Skogland, 1986). The carrying capacity locally is therefore set directly by the condition and availability of the winter ranges as best determined, and population size regulated through hunting (Gaare, 1994). The availability of winter habitat is therefore crucial for herd size locally, but also for the survival of the total wild mountain reindeer population in Europe over time.

During winter, reindeer are forced onto lower rugged ground in search of windblown ridges with lichens, primarily located in the periphery of the mountain ranges (Skogland, 1978, Skogland, 1983a, Skogland 1983b). These areas, however, are also those subjected to development in terms of roads, power lines and cabins. In the last part of the 20th century, more than 1000 power line routes were constructed in Norway alone, forming some of the most extensive industrial developments in mountain regions. As the winter ranges are primarily located in the periphery of the mountain ranges subjected to development, the tolerance of reindeer to development becomes crucial for the availability of these winter ranges (Scotter, 1966, Gaare and Skogland, 1975, Thompson and McCourt, 1980, Helle, 1984, Thomas et al., 1986, Nieminen and Heiskari, 1989).

Reduced availability of winter ranges will therefore directly affect the conservation and stocking capacity of Europe's last remaining wild mountain reindeer. In the following, we test if the density of reindeer differs between comparable winter habitats near to and far from power lines and other infrastructure.

Section snippets

Study site

The study was conducted in the Nordfjella wild reindeer area (60°50′N, 7°40′E), covering ca. 2900 km2 (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). The herd was formerly known as the Hallingsskarvet herd, and has also been seen as part of the Hardangervidda herd before they were separated from Hardangervidda after the construction of the power lines adjacent to the railroad. Most of the area lies between 1000 and 2000 m. Nearly 50% of the area is generally unvegetated and dominated by snow, rocks and gravel (Gaare, 1994,

Reindeer distribution

Systematic aerial fix-winged surveys were conducted during one day in mid-late winter 1986–1998 (April 1986, April 1988, February 1990, March 1992, February 1993, March 1995, February 1996, April 1998) along contiguous north–south 4 km wide transects (Nellemann et al., 2000). All groups of reindeer were photographed, classified according to general sex and age distribution, and locations were marked using topographic maps or global positioning systems (GPS).

To avoid bias resulting from

Distribution of reindeer in relation to habitat

A cumulative total of 104 groups and 19,959 animals were counted between 1986 and 1998, constituting >95% of the estimated population size of ca. 2500 animals. Approximately 97% of all reindeer were located between 1000 and 1500 m a.s.l.

Nearly 80% of all reindeer groups were located in rugged terrain, constituting ca. 44% of the total area (P<0.01). However, the proportion of rugged terrain (TRI >2.5) could not account for the distribution of reindeer in relation to infrastructure (Table 1).

Avoidance of power lines

In our study, reindeer used a zone of 2.5 km extending from each side of power lines less than would be expected from availability. Hence, while some reindeer may be observed under or adjacent to power lines, our results show that the majority of the reindeer tended to avoid such areas. A similar pattern has been observed in domestic reindeer during calving even for smaller 66 kV power lines without traffic. Vistnes (1999) found that a 4 km zone surrounding a 66 kV power line was, on average,

Conclusions

Our results suggest that power lines, particularly in combination with roads and human hunting or traffic, may substantially affect distribution of reindeer, availability of winter pastures, and, hence, the carrying capacity of the mountain ranges affected. The effects are likely to vary with season, quality of ranges, and location of the power lines both in the landscape and in relation to seasonal importance of those ranges for reindeer. The primary effects appears to be a spacing-out

Acknowledgements

This study was funded in part by the REIN-project under the EFFECT-programme (Norwegian Research Council contract no. 125127/212).

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