Capercaillie management committee meeting

The Management Committee of the LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie has addressed, at its eleventh meeting held in Madrid, the progress and actions that will be carried out in the last year of the project coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment and which aims to stop the decline of this endangered subspecies.
 
At the meeting The coordinators and partners of the project have participated, who have analysed the milestones achieved, including the promotion of actions to promote the habitat of the Cantabrian capercaillie, thus improving the availability of food, shelter and security for the species.
 
Specifically, since the beginning of the project , action has been taken on 450 hectares, in which selective and manual clearing has been carried out in areas of scrub and the creation of a mosaic structure that contributes to the growth of blueberry trees and other key species for the capercaillie has been promoted.
 
This area also integrates the work carried out within the framework of the LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie land stewardship programme, a tool that has made it possible to involve Neighbourhood Councils, guards, beekeepers, livestock farmers, hunters, young entrepreneurs and inhabitants of rural areas in the conservation of the capercaillie. The local population and non-profit organisations have launched a total of 19 initiatives that favour the habitat of this emblematic species of the Cantabrian Mountains.
 
The Management Committee has highlighted the actions that have been carried out to reduce the threats of the capercaillie. To date, 57 km of dangerous livestock fences have been signposted. Likewise, actions have been promoted to minimise the risk of electrocution, noise and the nuisance caused by electrical infrastructures to the Cantabrian capercaillie. Along these lines, in 2015 the acoustic impact of the electrical substation of the Port of Panderruedas has been reduced.
 
Among the advances of this last semester of 2015, important results have also been achieved in the campaign of capture, marking and release of specimens. Between September and November, emitters were placed on five specimens. In the Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias SPA (Asturias), one female and one male were tagged, while in the Alto Sil SPA one female and two males were placed.
 
The remote radiofrequency monitoring of these five specimens has revealed information of interest for the study of the species. During the first weeks, the two specimens tagged in Asturias were moved to the Alto Sil SPA in León. The three individuals marked in October have also settled in this area of León, who have not moved from the Alto Sil quarry where they were captured. However at the end of December, the emitter of the tagged female was found in Asturias along with some feathers. From these indications it is clear that the female has died and that the most likely cause of her death was predation.  

In this last year of the LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie,actions for habitat conservation, threat reduction, capture, breeding and population reinforcement will be reinforced. Likewise, awareness and communication actions will be boosted with the organization of various conferences aimed at society and the media. Finally, the conservation plan will be drawn up and will be carried out once the LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie is concluded, with the aim of continuing to join efforts to stop the decline of the species in the coming years.

The project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, is 50% co-financed by the European Union through the LIFE+ funds, and has as partners the Autonomous Communities of Cantabria, the Principality of Asturias and Castilla y León, the latter through the Natural Heritage Foundation of Castilla y León; the Inter-regional Consortium for the coordinated management of the Picos de Europa National Park; SEO/BirdLife and Tragsa and Tragtasec and with funding from the Autonomous National Parks Agency and the Iberdrola Spain Foundation.