LOCAL COMMUNITY BASED MOOSE MANAGEMENT PLANTS IN NORWAY

Abstract

Since the 1940s, moose populations in parts of Norway have increased rapidly. This had led, by the 1990s, to increases in traffic accidents, damage negatively impacting the agricultural and forest industries, and reductions in growth and fecundity of moose. Local level management of moose (Alces alces), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) has occurred for 45 years represented by The Wildlife Board in every municipality. This board, however, was a governmental institution. The national regulations seem unnecessarily detailed by today's standards. In 1996, the Directorate for Nature Management started a project aimed at making management of cervids increasingly community based. The project was completed in the year 2000. The vision is that local management plans developed by the landowners and hunters are going to direct future management and be the basis for solving many of the current challenges.