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Guidelines for the national monitoring of the wolf

In these days we are starting the first synchronic data collection ever carried out to estimate the distribution and population size of the wolf in Italy, which will end in March 2021. The monitoring, coordinated by ISPRA on a mandate from the Ministry of the Environment, will apply for the first time a coordinated program based on standardized sampling designs, developed by ISPRA.

In the field, the activities will be carried out by over 20 technicians selected as part of an agreement between ISPRA and Federparchi, who will be joined by experts from the regions and autonomous provinces, national and regional parks, by a network of specially trained staff from the Forestry Unit Command of the Carabinieri, also involving various associations and a network of volunteers. In the Alpine regions, monitoring will be carried out within the LIFE WolfAlps EU Project, in strictly coordination with the rest of Italy.

The document Guidelines and protocols for the national monitoring of the wolf in Italy contains the detailed description of the strategy, the sampling design, the collection protocols and the data classification and interpretation criteria.