The final results of the European project LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, were presented today in Ponga (Asturias) at a meeting in which the measures carried out in the last six years to halt the decline of this endemic subspecies of the Cantabrian Mountains in danger of extinction were announced.
At the opening of the informative seminar, the Deputy Director General of the Natural Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Miguel Aymerich, stressed that the Ministry will continue to be committed to the conservation of the Cantabrian capercaillie after the LIFE+ project. He specified that the conservation strategy of the species must be updated in the future, although while this happens, intense work will continue to be done for the conservation of the Cantabrian capercaillie.
In this line, the director of the LIFE+ Capercaillie project and deputy director of the Ministry’s Biodiversity Foundation, Ignacio Torres, has pointed out that this project has made it possible to lay the foundations for the future conservation of the species, based on the experience and technical knowledge acquired in the execution of the actions.
The LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie project has been a pioneer in combining the efforts of the state administration, the autonomous communities of Cantabria, the Principality of Asturias and Castilla y León, civil society and the business sector in the conservation of this endemic subspecies of the Cantabrian Mountains.
Partners and co-financiers, including the Autonomous National Parks Agency and the Iberdrola Spain Foundation, participated in the presentation of results, as well as entities that worked to improve the conservation status of the species and its habitat, environmental education and participation in society.
MAIN MEASURES AND RESULTS
During the day, the partners presented the main measures that have been carried out since the beginning of the project in 2010. In forest management, silvicultural treatments have been carried out on more than 500 hectares to promote the habitat of the capercaillie.
One of the critical factors considered in the planning of habitat improvement work has been the great sensitivity of capercaillie to human disturbance. The project has made it possible to know how it is responding to the proposed actions. After the work carried out in Alto Sil and Omaná, hatched eggs and specimens have been found and no disturbances have been detected for the species. The capercaillie have remained in the places where there were specimens present and have occupied some nearby treated areas.
With the aim of reducing threats to the capercaillie, 60 km of dangerous fencing have been removed or signposted and action has been taken to eliminate the risk of electrocution and reduce the acoustic impact of the electrical substation located in Puerto de Panderruedas (León).
The actions of the captive breeding program as a complementary measure to habitat management have also been announced. The Sobrescobio centre, which houses 22 specimens, has a genetic and captive stock of the species and interesting data on its behaviour and ecology. The breeding program also has a captive specimen in the wildlife recovery center of Cantabria.
Among the milestones of this last year, the birth of two chicks from the partial removal of a clutch from the wild has been highlighted. This is the first time that a clutch has been extracted from the environment within the framework of the LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie, within the program of capture, marking and removal of clutches. In addition, capercaillie have been reintroduced into the wild for the first time under LIFE+.
SOCIAL PARTICIPATION
Within the framework of LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie, 19 land stewardship projects have been developed, a tool that has made it possible to establish 29 voluntary agreements between owners, non-profit organisations and other public and private agents to improve the conservation of the capercaillie and its habitat.
Among the dissemination and environmental education actions, the volunteer program has been carried out in which 72 volunteers have been involved in the improvement of the habitat of the capercaillie and school workshops have been organized in which more than 2,000 students have participated.
LIFE+ CANTABRIAN CAPERCAILLIE
The LIFE+ 09 NAT/ES/000513 project “Urgent action programme for the conservation of the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantabricus) and its habitat in the Cantabrian Mountains” was born in 2010 with the fundamental objective of halting the decline of this subspecies exclusive to the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and promoting its recovery. The area of action includes 16 SPAs of the Natura 2000 Network in the Cantabrian Mountains and is developed between October 2010 and December 2016.
The Cantabrian capercaillie is one of the most endangered species on the Peninsula. It has disappeared from 70% of the places it occupied just three decades ago. It is estimated that there are between 200 and 300 males left in the Cantabrian mountain range.
The project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, 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, Tragsa and Tragsatec and with funding from the Autonomous National Parks Agency and the Iberdrola Spain Foundation.
