title: Regional management of farmland feeding geese using an ecological prioritization tool.
abstract: Wild geese foraging on farmland cause increasing conflicts with agricultural interests, calling for a strategic approach to mitigation. In central Norway, conflicts between farmers and spring-staging pink-footed geese feeding on pastures have escalated. To alleviate the conflict, a scheme by which farmers are subsidized to allow geese to forage undisturbed was introduced. To guide allocation of subsidies, an ecological-based ranking of fields at a regional level was recommended and applied. Here we evaluate the scheme. On average, 40 % of subsidized fields were in the top 5 % of the ranking, and 80 % were within the top 20 %. Goose grazing pressure on subsidized pastures was 13 times higher compared to a stratified random selection of non-subsidized pastures, capturing 67 % of the pasture feeding geese despite that subsidized fields only comprised 13 % of the grassland area. Close dialogue between scientists and managers is regarded as a key to the success of the scheme.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience - Kalø, Aarhus University, Grenåvej 14, 8410, Rønde, Denmark, jm@dmu.dk.
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bjerrum
authors.forename: Ingunn M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tombre
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005777:Geese / Q000502:physiology*; D009664:Norway; D012621:Seasons