For wildlife in the mountains,
the start of winter comes with an increased threat:
Us.
With activities like skiing both on and off piste,
we encroach on animal habitats and disturb their routines.
Our recreation can have dramatic consequences for wildlife,
but all too often, we aren't aware that we've already come too close.
Thanks to the pandemic,
more people than ever are spending time in the great outdoors.
Independent recreation, which doesn't rely on sport
and leisure facilities, has become especially popular.
This winter,
the ski industry is anticipating yet another increase in the number of people
going backcountry skiing, also known as off piste.
After slowly gaining popularity over the past decade, backcountry
skiing saw a sudden explosion of interest in the winter of 2020 to 2021.
An estimated
1.3 million people in the USA took part in backcountry
skiing over the 2019 to 2020 season.
But by October 2020, sales of equipment alone
were up by 76% on the previous year.
In Austria, one of the skiing capitals of Europe,
between 500.000 and 600.000 people went ski touring in 2020.
A number that's expected to increase by 20% in 2021.
Because backcountry skiing doesn't require prepared pistes and ski lifts,
it's often seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to resort skiing,
but the fact that it does take place in remote areas far from the ski lifts
could mean it's causing more damage to wildlife than many people realize.
Skiing is well known for its impact on the environment.
The WWF has called winter ski tourism
one of the most ecologically devastating forms of leisure activities in the Alps.
Ski resorts don't just require a lot of water and energy,
often from fossil fuels, but they're also associated
with deforestation and major impacts on wildlife.
In an area
like the Alps, Europe's main destination for skiing,
the size of this impact can be immense.
The Alps contain more than 26,000 kilometers
of ski slopes across around 1000 resorts.
The biggest of these is France's Les Tres Vallées,
offering 600 kilometers of pistes and 136 lifts.
At peak times, ski resorts contain a lot of people.
Slopes that might be green and quiet at other times of year
suddenly become crowded and noisy.
A transformation like this doesn't go unnoticed by local wildlife.
Wild animals are highly sensitive to changes in their environment.
They have to be in order to survive.
Changes to weather or the amount of food available
are two reasons why wildlife might leave a habitat.
And human activity is another major factor.
Research has shown that wild animals learn to avoid busy
recreational trails in areas of wilderness.
A study of Canada lynx, which are classed as threatened in the USA,
observed them avoiding high-intensity recreational areas,
including ski resorts.
And researchers studying elk in Oregon found that they actively maintain
a distance from busy trails used for summer hiking
and motorized recreation.
Both of these are examples of what's called habituation:
When an animal learns to adapt its behavior based on external stimuli.
If an area contains lots of human activity because of a popular hiking
trail or ski resorts, animals may start simply staying away.
Instead, they move further into the wilds, where they encounter fewer people.
But what happens when humans follow them?
The opposite of habituation is sensitization.
When an animal becomes more likely to respond to an external stimulus.
In the case
of wild animals in the mountains, it can involve a high stress reaction -
the "flight" part of "fight or flight".
If a human unexpectedly enters an animal's territory,
its natural instinct will be to flee.
And in winter,
this can have particularly drastic consequences.
Due to cold weather conditions and a lack of food,
many alpine species,
such as deer,
elk
and ibex go into "energy saving mode".
They move around less in order to conserve fat stores.
This means that their pulse slows and the blood in their legs
is often cold, as it spends a longer time away from the heart.
Fleeing from a human in this situation
can cause death by cold shock:
The sudden movement and increased heart rate bring blood from the legs
before it's had a chance to warm up freezing, vital organs.
An animal can also die of exhaustion if it has to flee regularly.
With less energy available in winter,
being constantly in "flight mode" uses up precious resources.
Ruminants like deer and elk need to chew
and regurgitate their food. If disturbed in the middle of rumination,
they absorb fewer nutrients, which means even less energy.
In short, the impact of humans disturbing
wildlife in the winter months can be devastating.
The impact of this can be particularly dramatic
when it comes to vulnerable or threatened species.
To help limit the problem,
some areas like the USA's Grand Teton National Park, are implementing
seasonal trail closures to protect local wildlife.
Grand Teton is home to a small but significant herd of bighorn sheep,
which has shrunk to no more than 80 individuals over the last few years.
Human development at lower elevations has pushed them continually
further up the slopes, making it vital to protect their remaining habitat.
But are closures like these really the answer?
After all, many people who take part in sports like backcountry
skiing appreciate wildlife and try to have a minimal impact
on the environment.
Unfortunately, good intentions aren't always enough.
And a new study shows that even keeping what seems like
a safe distance from wild animals can take its toll.
While smaller species like squirrels and birds
can tolerate people at a distance of just 50 or 100 meters,
large mammals like moose and elk showed physical or behavioral changes
when they encountered people as far as one kilometer away.
So by the time you've seen an animal on a trail,
it may already be too late.
Yet the fact does remain that
that country skiing has a lower overall impact than resort skiing.
And there are responsible ways to spend time in the mountains.
The Austrian initiative “Respektiere deine Grenzen”
has created an information campaign to protect alpine wildlife.
An interactive map helps ski tourers see the areas
in which animals like red deer and chamois may be living.
As the organization says, anyone planning to go backcountry skiing
will check the day's weather conditions and avalanche forecast before setting out.
Taking wildlife into consideration
should be just another part of this standard planning.
Similar initiatives can be found in many other ski regions.
The key to all of them is remembering
that we are just guests in the animal's territory.
Being aware of the impact we have on animals, even outside the bustle of a ski resort
can go a long way towards managing this human wildlife conflict.
Spending time in the mountains is a privilege that we need to enjoy
accordingly, because only by doing this can we help to keep the wilderness wild.