Site of Community Importance Kečovské Škrapy

The SCI Kečovské škrapy was designated to ensure and improve the favorable conservation status of habitats of Community importance, primarily steppes consisting of dry and thermophilic pastures. Additionally, the area features lowland and submontane hay meadows, calcareous rocky slopes, inaccessible caves, common juniper formations, thermophilic subcontinental peri-Pannonic scrubs, and thermophilic Pannonian woods with downy oak (Quercus pubescens).

Among the species subject to protection, the area hosts the rare plant the greater pasque flower. In terms of invertebrates, notable species include the Eurasian toothed grasshopper, the Jersey Tiger (Callimorpha quadripunctaria), and the Pannonian spring snail. Protected vertebrates include the European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus), several species of protected bats, the grey wolf (Canis lupus), and the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx).

The greatest threats to dry and thermophilic habitats and species, including those found in the Kečovské škrapy area, are the abandonment of traditional land management, overgrowth by woody volunteer vegetation, and the spread of expansive grass species, leading to a decline in biodiversity and local species extinction. The accompanying photographs illustrate changes in the landscape structure over decades, where the mosaic landscape with significant pastures has been gradually replaced by shrub encroachment and forest communities. Therefore, it is crucial to restore such sites through clearing of pastures and subsequently reintroducing grazing by livestock.