Populations of small game mammals have declined, according to the results of the game triangle count. In Kainuu, however, the decline in stocks is not as strong as on average in the country.
Looking at the whole country, several species of small game mammals typical of the northern coniferous forest zone have declined in the last 35 years, says Luonnonvarakeskus (Luke).
The hare’s population has declined to less than half, the squirrel’s and weasel’s population to a third, and the sparrowhawk to as much as a sixth. The density of fox tracks has also declined by about half in the forests, but the species also thrives in agricultural landscapes and closer to people, where the population density is higher than in forests. Rusakko’s snow footprint index has increased approximately 25-fold during the review period.
In Kainuu, the forest hare population is at least at the same level as in the 1990s, based on triangular calculations. Instead, the decrease in the squirrel population seems to be related to the nutritional situation after the large cone harvest in 2022. The marten has decreased since the previous year in the southern and central parts of the country, but has increased in abundance in the north. In Kainuu, and in various parts of the central and eastern parts of Finland, last year there were also significantly more snow tracks of fly and weasel. On the other hand, you can’t see the tracks of the rusakko in the forests in Kainuu, although animals can be seen in the yard circles.
According to Luke, there are several underlying factors behind the continuous decline of stocks, and it is difficult to show cause-and-effect relationships. The common challenge for northern mammals is climate change, weakening of mole cycles, changes in the structure of the forest landscape, and the spread of southern species further north.
The triangle count coordinated by Luke is a monitoring system for game mammals, which is used to monitor species population development and changes in distribution. Under consideration is the snow track index, which relates the number of calculated snow tracks to the calculation effort and the accumulation time of fresh snow tracks.
There were a total of 63 game triangles in Kainuu. A total of 739 triangle counts were made in the whole country, which is more than last year. Of these, 640 were game triangles with an emphasis on forest terrain and 99 were field triangles with an emphasis on cultivated landscapes in southern and western Finland. Triangular calculations are made with the voluntary contribution of hunters and other nature enthusiasts.
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