Aiming towards a better recognition of research and development priorities in forestry, an improved knowledge dissemination and better management practices, the project team members (BFG) organized the 34th Forestry Study Days entitled »Forest ecosystem research and management in Slovenia: past, present and future« in November 2017. We defined the most economically important and scientifically overlooked research disciplines in forestry. One of them was game management. We prepared two articles on the topic, focusing on the research and development challenges in management of game species in Slovenia and discussing the opportunities of camera trapping for wildlife studies. We have emphasized the main project activities, related to the topic, with an intention to promote the project to the focal groups in the audience. The issue of game management was also underlined by the Slovenian Forestry Service director within his article on the developmental challenges in forest management and planning. All these topics have triggers strong discussions, which mainly outlined the importance of implementing new indicators of ungulate density or abundance in the current game management, which is at the same time the main objective of our project.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 292698880Game management has undergone profound change in Slovenia in recent decades. The popularity of sports hunting has declined to the point where it is a target of deliberate negative campaign by part of the public. The number of hunters has been decreasing and their age increasing. Significant changes in space use coupled with decades of regulated hunting and game breeding have allowed population growth and expansion of most species of large wild ungulates, whereas species dependent on open space have declined. The valuation of large carnivores and birds of prey has changed as well: poisoning and trapping is prohibited; many formerly hunted species and even species perceived as pests are now strictly protected. In Slovenia, hunting rights are owned by the state. This has caused waves of opposition from owners and strong initiatives to change the foundation of hunting legislation, which has created new challenges for game management. This paper seeks to pinpoint key developmentally significant issues and segments in hunting and game management in Slovenia: (i) Evaluation of prospects for current and alternative forms of organisation of hunting; (ii) Analysis of motives of landowners in initiatives to change game ownership; (iii) Legislative protection of endangered species: transition from species to population level of protection; (iv) Balanced financing of studies of protected species and game; (v) Development of hunting management planning, coordination of forest management and wildlife management planning, introduction of methods for monitoring the size of a managed game population; (vi) Optimization of artificial feeding of game and large carnivores; (vii) Optimization of sex and age structure of game harvesting, better marketing of game meat.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 5001382