One of the more than a hundred locations where we have restored grazing so far is the Dolné lazy protected area. It is located at the southeastern foothills of Považský Inovec above the small village of Závada. It consists of famous orchid meadows with a lot of junipers, which gradually disappeared in the shade of bushes without management. Today, however, everything is completely different!
Thanks to the LIFE Endemic PANALP project, we connected with a local farmer who has been farming in Závada for over 20 years. We cleared the protected area of shrubs and garbage, made an agreement with the landowners, and then started grazing sheep and goats on approximately six hectares. The famous Slovak reporter Andrej Barát recently visited the location with our colleague Mário Duchoň, and a very nice reportage was created. In this, Mrs. Bajzíková reveals among other things, why she actually started breeding farm animals. It was because of the sadness from biodiversity loss in the desolated landscape: “I see the beauty disappearing, the variety of flowers. I felt sorry for how it all overgrows. But once you get over it, it can come back. It creates a beautiful landscape element. Bonsai somewhere. In the past, sheep created footpaths for tourists to walk on… For me, goats are a tool for landscaping. I have a passion from pasture. And I have time to think while grazing.”
At BROZ, we are very happy to be able to work with people like Mrs. Bajzíková. Not only within the framework of Panalp, but also other LIFE projects, from which together with farmers we restore pastures from the Small Carpathians to Kráľovský Chlmec. These projects are really not only about turtles and ground squirrels, but also about supporting and connecting with people who really care about how the landscape looks like around us.
You can read Andrej Barát’s entire report here: https://zurnal.pravda.sk/reportaz/clanok/683908-ako-sme-vytesnili-spolocenstvo-starsie-ako-civilizacia/
