Initiatives supporting wilderness protection in Majella NP, Italy

Among the various approaches Majella NP applies in wilderness management, the three initiatives described below were adopted in order to protect existing and contribute to the creation of future wilderness areas.

Restoration initiatives
The reintroduction of Apennine chamois in the Majella range is a good example of how successful this method can be. With just a few hundred individuals remaining by the early 1990s, this invaluable species was one of the world’s most endangered Ungulates.
Due to the lack of an ecological corridor between their refuge area in Abruzzo National
Park and the Majella mountains (where chamoishad long disappeared from), human intervention was unavoidable. Over a several-year period about 22 animals were transferred to Majella; today, their population has reached 500.

Land rental
The non intervention management in Majella NP has been implemented in “A” zone (integral reserve) since the park’s declaration in 1995. Part of this zone was designated in 2003 as a PAN Parks Wilderness area in an area of 25,500 ha. A PAN Parks international audit in 2003 focused on activities incompatible with the PAN Parks wilderness concept, for example to eliminate a few small patches of grazing (partly achieved in 2008) and reduce all park roads in Wilderness Zone (achieved in 2007).

Inside the wilderness area, many activities that before the establishment of the protected area were common practice, have been forbidden or restricted; lumbering, hunting, fishing, use of motorised vehicles, modifying watercourses, quarrying and any extractive activities. To increase the control over the territory and implementation of non-intervention measures for the preservation of ecological processes, the park has rented over 17,000 ha of land from the municipalities, most of it inside the wilderness zone.

Thanks to this strategy, the management implemented non-intervention management which in practice means that they allow natural perturbations such as pest, forest damage or avalanches. Example of undisturbed avalanches can be experienced along the public tourist trails at the edge of PAN Parks Wilderness area. A wilderness restoration project focused on removal of non-native species of pine was completed in 2006 and entire area was suggested for adding to the PAN Parks Wilderness area.

The park has experience in giving good compensation due to damage by wild animals (wolf, brown bear, even small population of wild cat, etc.) to fields and domestic livestock. Therefore it is not a surprise that acceptance of consequences of non-intervention management, such as an occurrence of pack of wolves is much better than anywhere else.