Adaptive Management of Reindeer Grazing Resources

Background

The reindeer population in Sweden has fluctuated over time. The fluctuations is probably not intentional but at least partly caused by variations in pasture quality.

Reindeer husbandry is a pastoral system, where supplementay feeding only occurs  in emergency situations. Therefore, the pasture limits the production and growth of the reinderr herd. High stocking rates on the pasture gives less food or less chance of finding food of high quality for the individual reindeer and vice versa. In addition, external factors affect reindeer access to pasture; insect disturbance, predators, human activity and snow conditions. Reindeer are thus not only dependent on the existence of pasture of good quality, but also of that the lanscape allows reindeer to migrate to undisturbed areas and still find food.

To estimate the status of the reindeer pasture, is aggrevated by the extensive land areas used by the reindeer. Today, governmental management of grazing resources is mainly limited to control that the winter stock size in each herding district is below a set maximum number. Within the herding districts the herders manage the grazing resources commonly, using their experience and knowledge about the resources.

Schematic figure of the different phases in the iterative Adaptive Management process.

Adaptive management

Adaptive management is a structured and iterative management process, focusing on detéctation of changes in the system, systmatical updating the current knowledge about the resource system and optimizing the decision-making in the face of uncertainty. Monitoring of system state variables is important for obtaining feedback regarding management actions, as well as detecting changes in system behaviour. The choice of indicators should be based on management policy goals and resource users’ requirements. The set of indicators used for monitoring the system should also be repeatedly evaluated.

Theoretical models of the resource system are useful for pinpointing uncertainties in the system and predictions from the alternative models and monitoring results can be used to formulate and evaluate possible management policy options. A guide to adaptive management is available at the webiste of the Resilience Allience.

The project's purpose and goals

The project aims to provide a scientific foundation for the use of adaptive management in the management of reindeer grazing resources.

The project has two goals, the first is to identify suitable indicators of changes in grazing resources, and to propose methods for measuring them. The second objective is to develop models of resource system that can be used at herding district level.  

Publications

The thesis:

Olofsson, Anna (2011) Towards adaptive management of reindeer grazing resources. Doctoral diss. Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management, SLU. Acta Universitatis agriculturae Sueciae vol. 2011:16. 

Scientifically reviewed publications:

Olofsson A., Danell Ö., Forslund P., Åhman B (In Press). Monitoring changes in lichen resources for range management purposes in reindeer husbandry. Ecological Indicators (2011) doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2010.12.015

Olofsson A., Danell Ö., Forslund P., Åhman B. 2008. Approaches to estimate body condition from slaughter records in reindeer. Rangifer, vol 28, nr 1, 103-121.