A GATHERING OF LAND CUSTODIANS HELD IN LJUBLJANSKO BARJE

Over the past few years, we have excavated a total of 115 new ponds for frogs and other amphibians living in the Ljubljansko bajre , Radensko polje, Jovsi and Bohor. In addition to suitable aquatic habitats, amphibians need suitable terrestrial habitats to survive, as most species spend most of the year in these habitats. Wet meadows are particularly important, as they are used by amphibians as foraging habitats.

In the Ljubljansko barje, we have purchased nearly 16 ha of land for amphibian conservation. We have dug 50 new ponds, with most of the land being used to improve the condition of wet meadows. These are considered to be one of the most threatened ecosystems in Europe. Large areas have been lost to drainage and urbanization in the past, and are also disappearing due to increasingly intensive farming on the one hand and land use abandonment and associated overgrowth on the other. Climate change is also adding its contribution more noticeably each year.

In order to improve them, time-adapted mowing is the main measure. The Park administration mostly outsources this work, but we have entered into custodial agreements with local farmers for a share of the plots. The land custodians are mostly local farmers with a sensitivity for nature conservation. They have committed themselves to respecting the conditions of adapted use, e.g. abandoning fertilization and grazing, limiting the time of mowing and the number of mowing repetitions, leaving unmown strips, drying the hay in the meadow, removing invasive non-native plant species, and not removing hedgerows and other woody vegetation on the land placed under their care.

We recently held a gathering to thank the custodians for their efforts so far, to review our collective achievements and to discuss the challenges we are facing. We used the opportunity to strengthen our partnership and look for ways to work well together in the future. We are pleased to see that they are willing to be involved in the process of achieving the nature conservation objectives of the protected area and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them once more for their commitment.

Photo: J. Tarman