A plan to kill moose to save trees in Terra Nova National Park is still being developed.
The controlled cull likely won’t happen until 2011, said a Parks Canada official.
Peter Deering, resource conservation manager of Gros Morne National Park, expects a management plan to be approved by Parks Canada management later this fall and the cull to happen sometime next year.
“It would be a very focused activity and probably during the hunting season. We need to take into account the safety and interest of visitors,” he said.
Terra Nova Park’s balsam fir forest is threatened by mooses’ appetite and is reason for the planned kill, according to Deering, who also serves as Parks Canada’s spokesperson for the issue.
The moose, which are attracted to and eat young forest, are compromising the forest’s future.
“There’s a new generation of forest waiting for the canopy to fall apart so sunlight can come in for them to grow up. What happens in the case of Terra Nova, in those balsam fir stands… as the new forest starts to grow, it gets grazed on by moose,” Deering explains. “Some of these forest stands are so compromised that they do not have the ability to regenerate.”
In 1988, there were estimated to be between 650 moose within Terra Nova Park boundaries. Now, the number is 100 to 130.
Although this population is low, it’s the Park’s animal density that’s problematic, as the moose are concentrating on the few vulnerable forest stands.
According to Deering, the moose density in other boreal forest systems across Canada ranges from 0.1 to 1 animal per square km. In Newfoundland, it’s about two animals per square km.
Parks Canada spent the past two years meeting and discussing the issue with provincial forestry and wildlife representatives, residents of nearby towns and people from parks, recreation and tourism industries.
“We’re sensitive to what the public thinks is the right thing to do. We’ve been consulting with the public and interest groups in terms of how they think we should approach the overall issue,” Deering said.
The consultations explored various methods of moose control — from animal trappings to chemical contraceptives. Earlier this year, they concluded that a controlled cull was the “only practical and real approach” to save the forests.
“What those people have told us is, yes, you obviously have a clear problem that’s severely impacting the ecological health of the forest and you do need to take active measures to deal with that,” Deering said.
Since the decision was made to cull moose, Terra Nova Park is continuing to draft a “hyperabundant species management plan.” The document focuses specifically on the moose impact on forest health issue.
While it was originally predicted that the cull would be conducted internally, Deering says alternative approaches, like getting the public involved in the cull, are now being reconsidered.
Other details, such as what to do with carcasses and how animals will be accounted for, have not yet been finalized. Silviculture is also included in the plan, for the stands of fir that have been grazed beyond natural regeneration.
rborja@thepacket.ca
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