MANAGEMENT OF CHAMOIS (RUPICAPRA RUPICAPRA) MOVING BETWEEN A PROTECTED CORE AREA AND A HUNTING AREA

Abstract

We explored the long-term effect of various management strategies for a mountain ungulate, the chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), living in a mosaic of protected reserves and hunting areas. The chamois occurs in the French Alps at high densities within protected reserves but is heavily hunted in the surrounding areas. Extensive demographic studies were used for developing a model of the population in the reserve area, as well as for the hunting area. The chamois in the reserve has value for tourism and conservation, whereas the chamois outside the reserve has mainly hunting value. Optimal management of the overall system consisting of reserve and hunting areas depends on the management objective: either a simple maximization of the value of hunted chamois, or the value of hunted chamois together with the value of the chamois in the reserve. We explored how optimal harvesting strategies are affected by the relative hunting values of the sexes and the relative nonconsumptive values of the chamois inside the reserve. A male-biased, sex-specific harvesting rate was generally found to be optimal, a bias which was larger when the value of the chamois in the reserve was included. Movement rates and sex ratio play critical roles in such systems, and should therefore be studied more than they typically are. We suggest experimental approaches to test the critical parameters of the model.