The outbreak of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) among wild reindeer in Norway poses a significant challenge for management. It is demanding to balance the necessity of rapid actions to effectively limit the disease while facing great uncertainty and measures that are highly intrusive for the reindeer populations. Adaptive management provides a scientific framework for handling a situation with competing objectives and a high degree of uncertainty.
The primary goal is to acquire new knowledge and develop analytical tools that enable adaptive management of CWD in wild reindeer.
The project acknowledge that there is a high degree of uncertainty regarding the prevalence of CWD in wild reindeer, and that simulations can provide increased understanding of the dynamics in an early phase. In WP1, the subgoal is to develop analytical tools as a basis for harvesting wild reindeer to control and, if possible, eradicate CWD. A significant risk is the possible CWD spillover to other cervid species. Therefore, in WP2, the subgoal is to analyze GPS data from wild reindeer, moose, and red deer, as well as data from camera traps at salt licks, as a basis for identifying risk periods and locations for spillover. WP3 focuses on how to better balance different management objectives for CWD and wild reindeer through hunting. The project will quantify how increased hunting pressure, as part of CWD management, affects the populations and movements of wild reindeer during the hunting season.
The project is closely integrated with other ongoing CWD research, and significant synergies are expected. A central part of the project is the interaction with national (Norwegian Environment Agency and Norwegian Food Safety Authority) and local managers ("Villreinutvalgene" in Hardangervidda and Nordfjella) to achieve greater knowledge exchange and better balancing of conflicting goals. The Norwegian Reindeer Centre will contribute to disseminating new insights to a broader audience.
