In 2021, wild reindeer ended up on the red list for the first time. There it is in good company with eiders, wild salmon, snowy owls, arctic foxes and over 2,000 other species. Does this mean that it is the hook in the door for the wild reindeer? Not necessarily. Asking for help to save the reindeer State Secretary Kjersti Bjørnstad (Sp) says the Norwegian population of wild reindeer is the only one in Europe, and that Norway therefore has a special responsibility to take care of the species. The reindeer has seen a negative development over time, and several measures have already been implemented in an attempt to improve the condition of the species. But Bjørnstad says the measures have been too fragmented, and that the government is now asking for help. – We ask for input from individuals, organizations and municipalities. Anyone who has an interest in taking care of the wild reindeer. Provide input and proposals for measures. Photo: ANDERS BAKKERUD LARSEN / news There have already been several proposals for measures. Among other things, it has been proposed to remove the musk from Dovrefjell. Bjørnstad says there is a common understanding that it is important to save the reindeer, and believes that the negative development can be stopped. – I am very optimistic. The species that are coming back Together with the wild reindeer, the Species Data Bank placed 332 new species on the red list in 2021, but it wasn’t just bad news. 309 species were removed from the red list, and even among those still on the list there are several that have made progress. – There is hope for the species on the red list, says Snorre Henriksen, senior adviser at the Artsdata Bank. He says that a lot has been done in an attempt to turn the trend around for the better. – Today we see an increased interest in species diversity, and many people want to contribute. If enough people contribute, it will have a positive effect and we can reverse the trend for even more species. Here is a small sample of the species that do better: Photo: KJARTAN TRANA / news The otter can be found mostly throughout the country, but the population has not always been as large as it is now. At the start of the last century, there were state shooting prize schemes and a high hunting pressure on otters. At the beginning of the 80s, it was completely protected, and since then the population has recovered strongly. – As a whole, the otter population should remain viable if the authority does not change the conservation status, says Jiska van Djik, senior researcher at NINA Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. The otter was removed from the red list in 2021. Photo: PATRICK DA SILVA SAETHER The mountain fox is widespread along the Arctic tundra, but lack of food and intrusive red foxes have made it a rare sight in Norway, among other things. In the 2000s, there were less than 60 individuals in Norway and Sweden combined. – The population was so small that we assumed that it would become extinct without measures, says Nina Elisabeth Eide, senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA). The Norwegian Environment Agency, NINA and the Norwegian Nature Conservancy started a collaboration to save the mountain fox. With supplementary feeding, the release of puppies from the breeding program and the removal of red foxes, the number of arctic foxes has risen sharply. – The latest calculation estimates that there are 288 adult individuals in Norway, says Eide. In 2021, the arctic fox was downgraded from critically endangered to highly endangered, and Eide has faith in a viable population in the near future. – We estimate that we have a robust and viable stock within 10 to 15 years. Photo: Vladimir Kononenko Prickly pear butterfly is a type of butterfly that lives along the coast from Southern Norway to the middle parts of the Oslo Fjord. Drainage and refilling of wetlands threatens the species, which has been assessed as highly threatened on the red list. Over several years, more and more finds of the butterfly have been found, and it may seem that there will simply be more of it. – It is very difficult to know for sure why it has become more common, says Leif Aarvik, butterfly expert at the Natural History Museum. He says that there is a pattern that repeats itself in many of the species that live in the south of the country. – It is natural to link this to the fact that it has become warmer. In 2021, spike tube aircraft were downgraded to near threatened. Photo: JOHN ATLE KÅLÅS Lirypa follows natural cycles with several years between each population peak. Although it is common for the grouse population to vary, it ended up on the red list in 2015. – In the context of the red list, we try to look behind the natural fluctuations, and focus on whether the population is increasing or decreasing despite this, says Bård Gunnar Stokke, senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for natural research. Stokke says that there are many factors that can affect the grouse population: Hunting Climate change Small rodents and predators Little snow cover in the spring, which makes the white grouse more visible to predators In 2021, the grouse was again assessed as viable, and was removed from the red list. Photo: ERLING SVENSEN In Norwegian waters, the proboscis is widespread in the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea and around Svalbard. In 2010, the stock had been halved over the last three generations, which led to the fish being placed on the red list. Among other things, due to a lower fishing quota, the stock began to increase, and at the red list assessment in 2015, the species was removed from the list. – Several offspring were also documented, says researcher Rupert Wienerroither at the Institute of Marine Research. But will the proboscis stay viable? – The proboscis migrates into international waters in the Norwegian Sea in large fishable concentrations and this entails a certain risk of overfishing if there is no international agreement on a total quota, says Wienerroither. – But all decision-makers are aware of the problem and therefore I am optimistic. Photo: Tom Hellik Hofton Flammekjuke is a mushroom species that lives in older and moist spruce forests around the Oslofjord and in Eastern Norway. It lives by breaking down dead spruce logs. Until recently, flammagogue has been very rare to find in Norway and the fungus has been on the red list as highly threatened. But in recent years, the fungus has spread, and in 2021 the firefly was downgraded to near threatened. – It is a species that has slowly established itself to a greater and greater extent. This is the result of a completely natural process where species slowly change their distribution, says Tom H. Hofton, wood fungus expert at Biofokus. Researchers believe that this is mainly the result of slow, natural immigration, but that climate change and more dead wood may also have contributed to the increase. – Flammekjuka is a south-eastern species that has been spreading towards the north-west through Sweden for a long time, an “immigration front” that has now also fully reached south-east Norway, says Hofton. Photo: Stefan Olberg / Biofokus Plegaderus saucius is a stump beetle that lives in the corridors of bark beetles under the bark of dead pine trees. – They are completely dependent on the bark beetles to survive, says Stefan Olberg, beetle expert at Biofokus. Due to, among other things, forestry and development, the beetle has been assessed as highly threatened on the red list. Generally speaking, the trend is bad for the beetles that end up on the list, but the little stump beetle is actually doing a little better. Olberg says the dry summer of 2018 may have contributed to giving the species a small boost, which has ultimately resulted in a downward adjustment on the red list in 2021. – The beetle has almost certainly become more common in the last 10 years. Olberg says that the effect of the dry summer is not permanent, and that the stocks may already be on the way down again. – The beetle can only use the bark beetle passages in the same year and the year after a bark beetle attack, then they have to find a new pine tree with a fresh attack of bark beetles. – Is it actually possible to reverse In 2018, the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA) created a method to be able to propose measures that preserve the red-listed species. This was named the Red to Green method. – The aim was to move the species down one notch on the red list, says researcher Magni Olsen Kyrkjeeide. – There is a lot of gloomy news that things are going down, but it is actually possible to reverse too many if you initiate the right measures, says Kyrkjeeide. The measures can vary from species to species. – It could be to set up a fence so that the species is not eaten by grazing animals, or it could be to put the species out in places where it has disappeared. Or to prevent the destruction of nature so that habitats are available for the species. Think we have a responsibility The Red to Green method was created at the request of the Norwegian Environment Agency. – In general, we work to ensure that we have viable populations of all species, whether they are endangered species such as mountain foxes in the mountains, insects or mushrooms in the forest, says senior adviser Tomas Holmern at the section for endangered species and habitats in the Norwegian Environment Agency. Holmern says that it is man’s use of land that is the biggest reason why nature is threatened, in addition to the fact that climate change is an increasing threat. – We have a clear responsibility to prevent species from dying out and rebuild the populations of threatened species that need help.
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Here are the species that do better – news Nordland
