HELVETIA SCI
Article by Dr. Miguel Estade, President of SCI European Committee
published on september 2024
SCI's Helvetia Chapter in Switzerland showcased its celebrated Black Grouse Conservation Project during its Chapter General Assembly in Gstaad on August 16-17.
The chapter hosted an amazing weekend in the Alps, beginning with a Saturday morning clay pigeon shooting competition that commenced with traditional Swiss punctuality. Chapter General Assembly and Chapter elections followed.
Congratulations to Antoine Spillman for his reelection as president and to his board. SCI and the Helvetia Chapter will continue benefiting from Spillman's tireless commitment. Thanks to the people on the board, Helvetia has a great capacity for growth and impact.
After an enjoyable day of shooting, the SCI Helvetia Chapter organized a gala dinner at the Yacht Club of Gstaad. The event's main aim was to inform participants about the Black Grouse Conservation Project, which the chapter first launched in 2021 and for which SCI is a leading contributor. The projecl has garnered much public attention and interest from Swiss local authorities and the media.
This project is becoming a flagship conservation program in the country because of the natural way it is restoring black grouse populations.
As previously reported in Safari Times and SAFARI Magazine, the idea is straightforward. The chapter buys live goats from the slaughterhouse, giving the animals a second life and then releases them in a fenced area to eat the invasive plants that have displaced the grouse.
The goats eat the green alder, an invasive non-native plant that has grown unchecked, choking habitat that black grouse need to nest and reproduce. In the coming years, the goal is to clear 100 hectares (about 250 acres), which is a lot for a little country like Switzerland.
The SCI Helvetia members often go up in the steep mountains to set and repair the fences and convince farmers to join the common effort. Although wolves are causing damage since they can jump over the three-wire fences, project managers deter this by increasing them to six strands of electric wire.
SCI members can learn more or contribute to the black grouse recovery effort through the Helvetia Chapter website at www.sci-helvetia.ch. Remember that only through conservation, education and hunting can we defeat poachers, antihunters and green populists!
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Photo at top of page: Maxime Mitterrand (from left), third-place winner of a clay pigeon shooting competition during the SCI Chapters General Assembly in Gstaad on August 16-17; Dr. Miguel Estade, President of the Europe Committee and second winner; Antoine Spillmann, President of the Helvetia Chapter; Giorgio Paraporti, winner of the competition.