In addition to the successful activities in the Strážovské vrchy, as part of the LIFE Panalp project, we also started to restore rare grass habitats in the Samll Carpathians. In the westernmost Slovak mountain range, this spring, in cooperation with the Museum of the City of Bratislava, we started grazing on the Devín Castle Rock.
On 16 May, together with experts from the Water Research Institute, we participated in the meeting of the Slovak-Hungarian Boundary Waters Commission to present the plans, visions and activities of our Danube LIFE projects
On Monday, sheep of our original breed – valaška – traveled to Spiš to get to know the new barn and meet the shepherd. As early as next week, we are going to release them at a beautiful location, on a meadow near Spišské Podhradie with a view of UNESCO location Spišský hrad.
The project team (BROZ and PRIF UK) headed to explore the Netherlands in September 2022. The reason is that a relative of the pannonian root vole lives here. Another endemic subspecies – Microtus oeconomus arenicola has found a refuge there after the ice age.
In September 2022, the first Microtus II study tour, previously postponed due to the pandemic was finally organized. Together with our stakeholders, we explored the wetlands of Balaton-felvidéki National Park in Hungary. Around Lake Balaton
The winter season is ideal for crossing the original river arms. Exposed majestic poplars and willows let us know where their paths led. Nowadays, most of the river side arms are only supplied with water for a very limited period of increased flows in the Danube. All efforts to tame our rivers have led to a deterioration in the condition of the floodplain forest habitats. The WILDisland project plans to restore and connect the two original relics of the arms, which once formed the very dynamic and varied Medvedovska river branch system, with the main flow of the Danube. We expect that increased groundwater infiltration will also improve conditions for the adjacent floodplain forests.
The first step towards the restoration of the river branch in the Kráľovská lúka area was the preparation of an expert study by specialists from the Water Research Institute.
At the beginning of this year, we planted a total of 4 850 seedlings in the project areas in Vojka nad Dunajom and on Veľkolelské Island (PLA Dunajské luhy).
In the frame of the project LIFE Danube floodplains monitoring of amphibians continued also during the 2022 season. Several areas within six locations were monitored. Amphibian reproduction was greatly affected by the simulated flooding regime.
In 2019, the ground squirrel was listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, and population curves throughout Europe show a continuing downward trend.
Despite these trends, the number of Slovak ground squirrels continues to increase after decades. Thanks to nothing else than the LIFE Sysel project.