Twelve specimens of bison, which come from reserves and breeding centers in Sweden, Germany and Slovakia, will arrive in the Fegaras Mountains this spring.

The bison are part of the reintroduction project developed by the Prykarpattia Nature Conservation Foundation under the European Commission’s “Life” program, and were transported to the new quarantine and acclimatization enclosure starting last November in several stages.

The reintroduction of bison in the Fegarash Mountains, in Dobroneag, will take place near the commune of Nukšoara, Argesh county, from where 12 bison will be released this spring.

Launched in 2019, the bison repopulation program of the Fagarash Mountains also includes two other bison reintroduction points: Bunea, within the radius of Rucar commune, and Leresti. The places of reintroduction and release of bison are located far from cities, they are carefully studied so that the species has optimal living and feeding conditions.

This spring there will be 58 bison in Fegarash mountains

Since 2019, 36 bison have been reintroduced under the bison reintroduction program run by the Carpathian Nature Reserve Foundation, but this spring another 22 individuals will join them. They are in three acclimatization units, namely: 12 in Nuxoari, 5 in Bunea and 5 in Lerest.

The ultimate goal of the project is to produce 75 copies by mid-2024.

The Bison Road in the Fegarash Mountains begins in one of the three quarantine and acclimatization enclosures located on lands belonging to the Carpathian Nature Reserve Foundation. After a 30-day quarantine, the bison are transferred to an enclosure for acclimatization, where they remain until release. Depending on the season, bison can stay in the acclimatization zone for up to 6 months, during which time they adapt to new environmental conditions.

The Nucsoara unit has an area of ​​76 hectares and, like the others, it is located in the middle of the wild, and the conditions here are similar to those in the wild. It has facilities for feeding, food storage and watering and consists of two parts: a quarantine area with an area of ​​approximately 3-4 hectares and an acclimatization area with an area of ​​72 hectares.

The acclimatization enclosure is demarcated by an electric fence, specially created so that the local fauna can circulate inside and the bison can get used to the presence of other species. Construction takes approximately 60 days and is performed by the foundation’s ranger team.

During the period of quarantine and acclimatization of the bison, the rangers of the Foundation check their health every day, provide them with food and record various parameters in a specially created application that allows tracking and evolution of each individual.

“The degree of adaptation of the bison released into the Fegarash Mountains is good, they are gradually expanding their range in areas with a favorable habitat. From this spring we will be able to monitor the bison from the new reintroduction point in Dobroneag-Nuxoara, an area that offers equally good conditions for maintaining a viable population of the species. By implementing this project, the goal of the Carpathian Nature Reserve Foundation is to create a self-sufficient, healthy and ecologically efficient bison population. In the long term, success can be attributed to range expansion and natural exchange between neighboring free-ranging bison populations,” explains Adrian Aldea, species introduction manager at the Conservation Carpathia Foundation.

Bison, a key element in the revival of the ecosystem in Fegarash Mountains

Bison (Bison bonasus), considered the largest land mammal in Europe, is a herbivore with a very varied diet, spending up to 80% of the day on food. Thus, bison play an important role in biodiversity conservation by maintaining the balance between forest and grassland ecosystems, grasslands and forests are maintained through their grazing.

The bison population program in the Fegarash Mountains is carried out within the framework of the project “Creating a wild natural area in the south of the Carpathians, Romania”, LIFE18 NAT/RO/00108. The main goal of the project is the reconstruction of degraded habitats and the application of environmental protection measures, which will restore natural processes and create benefits for local communities in the area of ​​the Fegarash Mountains.

The project is being implemented by the “Conservation of the Carpathians” Foundation with partners during 2019-2024 with the financial support of the “Arkadia” Foundation through the Endangered Landscapes Program and the European Commission through the LIFE program.