The team of the LIFE Panalp project spent the third Saturday of March on the cliffs of Vršatské bradlá protected area. Here we were joined by approximately 30 volunteers who wanted to help us to save one of our most endangered butterflies – the mountain apollo. Together, we managed to clear the sawed-off branches on more than a hectare of rare grassland communities. After the disappearance of traditional grazing, they began to be overgrown with invasive and non-native trees. Thanks to this weekend, we came significantly closer to the goal of connecting two non-forest areas with an opened biocorridor. Both of these areas are inhabited by apollos, but due to overgrowth between them, they migrate only very sporadically. This results, among other things, in a reduced gene flow, which reduces the chance of species surviving in the White Carpathians. However, we firmly believe that the iconic butterfly will fly over Vršatské bradlá for a very long time, thanks to great events like the one on Saturday!
We prepared the work for volunteers last fall, and for the weekend event, which we organized together with friend from NGO Pre Prírodu, we were joined by NGO Permoníci. Thanks to everyone!
