Supplemental feeding of migratory moose Alces alces: Forest damage at two spatial scales

Summary

Landowners in south east Norway have for up to 8 winters supplied moose (Alces alces) with ensilaged bales of hay. The incentive has been to limit migratory movements into heavily trafficated winter areas and away from young forest plantations. Here we report on landscape characteristics that increase the use of feeding stations, and on how browsing activity of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) twigs and leader stems of both pine and Norway spruce (Picea abies) was associated with distance to feeding stations at two different spatial scales: 1) At a local scale we sampled data from 50 m2 observational plots up to 200 m from the feeding stations; and 2) at a regional scale we sampled data at all available young forest plantations up to 7 km from a feeding station. The probability that a feeding station was used increased towards the bottom of side valleys. The frequency of use of feeding stations increased annually, with increasing distance to other feeding stations, and with increasing distance to the more populated main valley. The moose induced browse damage was extensive at proximate distances (<200 m) to feeding stations, decreased to a minimum at 1 2 km, and increased slightly again at 3 7 km distance from less intensely used feeding stations. Indices of moose activity distribution (i.e. piles of fecal pellets) resembled browsing activity.