River Embankments Vegetation Cover Management as a New Approach to Control Semi‐Fossorial Mammals Settlement: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT In recent decades, mammals' burrowing activity along water courses has increased due to the establishment of fluvial parks and repopulation areas, with major effects on hydraulic performance and the integrity of embankments. Porcupine and badgers burrows are a primary biological cause of damage to river embankments. Such factors raise the need to plan and implement control programs to preserve and protect these structures from the risk of collapse whilst respecting the strict European and Italian legal protection status of these mammals. This research aimed to investigate semi‐fossorial mammals behavioural response to different management actions (i.e., single vegetation cut, settlements closure, and prolonged absence of vegetation cover) and delineate the best management practice to limit hydraulic risks due to burrow presence. Results obtained indicate that vegetation cover is a key environmental factor in driving burrowing mammals activity in river embankments. A yearly single vegetation cut resulted in a significant reduction of both porcupine and badger activity, with a significantly higher activity rate recorded in porcupines compared to badgers. No variation in porcupine settlement inhabitation was recorded, while badger inhabitation occurred only on four occasions. After the burrow closure intervention, the maintenance of a low vegetation cover, due to frequent cuts, resulted in no further excavation attempts and significantly reduced both porcupine and badger activity. Therefore, to limit hydraulic risk due to burrowing activity, at least two cuts per year should be performed, providing, whenever possible, buffer zones with vegetation cover. Further investigation of the efficiency of this approach in different environments is needed.