Freiburg (dpa/lsw) – According to Agriculture Minister Peter Hauk (CDU), the capercaillie, which is threatened with extinction, must be better protected – this must also be taken into account more in wind power plans. On the occasion of an information meeting with the “Capercaillie in the Black Forest” association, the minister painted a bleak picture on Thursday: the stocks of the capercaillie, which is strictly protected under nature conservation law, have halved in the past ten years, and the species is in a poor state of preservation nationwide. “In the last three years, we have reached a critical threshold at which the species is likely to become extinct in Baden-Württemberg by the end of the decade, unless we act decisively now and take countermeasures.”
Since the start of annual monitoring in the Black Forest in 1971, the population has shrunk from 570 to 114 courting grouse in 2021. Reasons are changed habitats due to climate change, forestry and disturbances caused by tourism and leisure. “We are now challenged as a society as a whole to achieve a trend reversal and prevent the extinction of this wonderful forest bird in the Black Forest,” said Hauk, according to the press release.
In Baden-Württemberg, according to environmentalists, capercaillies now only live in the Black Forest – about 20 percent of them in the national park. According to Hauk, the previous protective measures are far from sufficient. Against the background of the expansion of wind power, an integrative climate and nature conservation concept is needed that takes the capercaillie into special account.
The ministry has worked with capercaillie experts and the Forestry Research and Testing Institute (FVA) in Freiburg to develop measures that are to be adopted by the state government in the near future. The concept provides for the preservation and restoration of habitat, less disturbance by humans and management of predators. “We want to achieve a significant trend reversal in the shrinking capercaillie population by 2027 and have more than 300 courting cocks in the Black Forest again by 2033,” said Hauk.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220224-99-269516/2
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