Final Conference of the LIFE Danube Floodplains Project
On 6th of February 2024 BROZ organized a final conference of the LIFE Danube Floodplains project in the Congress Centre Divoká Voda, under the title We Restore the Heart of the Danube Floodplains. The morning program was aimed at presenting the project’s greatest achievements. 56 participants represented by project partners, local farmers, fishermen, foresters, boaters, land users and owners, scientists and media representatives were welcomed by the chairman of the association, Tomáš Kušík.
In the beginning, basic information about the project and its goals was presented. Subsequently, Katarína Mravcová from Water Management Research Institute introduced the guests to the issue of the Danube river branch system and simulated floods. Miroslava Rakovská followed up on these topics with a presentation of the most significant restoration measures of selected branches of the inland delta. Peter Mikulíček reported on the influence of the water regime on the reproduction of amphibians. Within the project he carries out monitoring of frogs and amphibians at strategic project locations every year. Andrej Devečka, the project manager, talked about mowing, extensive grazing as well as pollarding of willows, as these are relevant topics of the project within the activities aimed at the restoration of lowland meadows and non-forest habitats. Entomologist Marek Semelbauer subsequently demonstrated the positive impact of these measures on meadow habitats by presenting the results of monitoring of pollinators and other groups of insects in the Danube floodplains. Tomáš Olšovský, director of the Záhorie Protected Area Administration, informed the audience about what the pollard willows hide in themselves and what significance they have in terms of biodiversity. And finally, Andrej Devečka told the guests about the project’s activities aimed at restoring the original tree composition and increasing the biodiversity of forest stands, that is, about cultivation of seed material, planting new stands, after-planting care and removal of invasive trees in floodplain forests.
After a joint lunch, the participants of the conference took the tractor to the field excursion sites, to the lower Vojčianske rameno river branch, where they could see the result of several months of terrain work – restored sections of the river branch, which, thanks to extensive excavation works and the installation of capacity frame culverts, managed to renew 3.7 km of the stream. The arm was ceremonially excavated and water finally flowed into its restored sections after decades of drought. The action in the field was accompanied by a press conference in the presence of a number of journalists.
