It is nothing new that overpopulated game can cause huge damage to forest vegetation. Whether the presence of wolves in the forest can mitigate this damage is an interesting question.
Wolves returned to the Šluknov region about 12 years ago and since then their number in the area has been slowly increasing. As the number of wolves increases, the number of prey caught also increases in direct proportion. Is it possible for wolves to help us reduce the number of overpopulated ungulates? Can this beast eventually take over the role of humans and regulate the number of red deer itself? Will this regulation be reflected in young forest vegetation? As part of the REDEMA project, we decided to find answers to some of these questions. In both national parks, we marked out study areas measuring 5 x 5 meters and fenced control areas where the game cannot reach. By comparing these areas, we can determine the impact of browsers on young trees in a given area. This way, we can determine which areas or tree species the animals prefer, and how much damage they cause to the forest vegetation as the number of wolves increases.
