Technicians, mayors, ranchers and tourist agents (total 10 people), under the Piroslife Project, have visited this region for three days.

A Catalan delegation formed by 10 people, 2 technicians from the Piroslife project, the director of the Alt Pirineu Natural Park and 7 people linked to the territory with presence of bear (mayors, ranchers and tourist agents) has already travelled to Italy to know firsthand the successful experience of the National Park of Abruzos, Lacio and Molise (http://www.parcoabruzzo.it) in the management and cohabitation with the brown bear, to share knowledge and find synergies in the conservation of this species and the ecological, economic and tourist development their surroundings.

The initiative is one of the actions included in the technology transfer program of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and has been organized by the PirosLife project and the Alt Pirineu Natural Park.

During the visit, they have been able to discover the instruments and methodology used by this Park in the management of conflicts with the objective of improving the coexistence of the territory with this species.

The delegation has been able to deepen during three days in the monitoring system of the bear used by the Park for the control of the population, as well as in the protection systems used by local farmers to reduce the damages and the tourist initiatives and economic promotion around the bear available in the Park. Thus, they have toured several points of interest, such as Giaio Vecchio, Vallone Lampazzo, and the Pescasseroli visitor center.

The two technicians of the LIFE Piroslife project (from Forestal Catalana and the Brown Bear Foundation) who works on prevention issues have also checked the injury prevention actions that are being carried out in the province of Grosseto (Toscana), within the MedWolf European Life Project. During the stay, they have visited four farms of milk sheep, where investments have been made in the stables so that they were safe before the predations of the wolf, and there have been herd protection dogs of the breed Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese to the same farms.

All the farms visited are part of the association DifesAttiva (http://www.difesattiva.info), promoted by the MedWolf project.