Actions in year 2019
On March 28th, in the village of Piękna Góra, the first meeting of the Steering Committee of the project was held, attended by 11 people. During the meeting, the most important assumptions of the project were discussed.
We hope that with such a dynamic team of advisers, our project will be implemented without any major problems.
Around the place where mud turtles lay eggs for years, in May an electric shepherd was opened, effectively protecting the place against turtle eggs' amateurs.
One of the females laid eggs much earlier than others (which is probably the result of climate warming), even before we secured the breeding place. Unfortunately, a fox or other predator destroyed the whole breeding.
On May 9-10, 2019, during the Local Government Ecological Forum, which took place in Ryn, an information point was organized, where Forum participants (almost 200 people from Poland and Germany) could learn about the assumptions of the LIFE17 NAT/PL/000011 project and progress in its implementation.
The coordinating beneficiary maintains constant contact with the External Monitor (LIFE), which is Ms Marta Kaczyńska.
On June 10-11, Ms Monitor's visit took place during which, among others, we visited the most interesting places related to the implementation of the project.
Works on restoring 50 ponds and construction of 12 hibernation sites for amphibians in the Romincka Forest were completed. The commissioning of works was made on 4.09.2019.
At the beginning of September, works were completed to improve the conservation status of the European pond turtle breeding habitat, consisting in mowing, removing excess trees and shrubs and securing the breeding sites with a fence (partly also with an electric shepherd).
In order to be able to safely monitor the turtle population on the breeding site, an observation platform was built in the immediate vicinity.
On October 2-3, 2019, during the conference "International cooperation - opportunity and necessity", which took place in Gołdap, in the presence of numerous Polish and Russian local government officials, journalists, NGO activists and foresters, a presentation was presented. "Polish-Danish project: Active protection of rare species of amphibians and reptiles in Natura 2000 areas in Europe (LIFE17 NAT/PL/000011)".
During the nationwide conference "10 years of landscape parks in the self-government of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship", which took place on October 17-18, 2019 in Iława, the assumptions of the LIFE17 NAT/PL/00/000011 project and the current status of its implementation were presented.
The conference was attended by representatives of the authorities of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, the Provincial Assembly, the Department of Environmental Protection, as well as directors and employees of the Environmental Protection Departments from all over Poland, directors and employees of Polish landscape parks, representatives of the government administration of environmental protection and representatives of non-governmental organizations from the Kaliningrad region.
On October 21, 2019, the first of the two lower passages planned for small vertebrate animals planned in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship was received.
A system consisting of 7 tunnels with a total length of 84 m, 14 portals, guiding barriers with a total length of 870 m and stop-grids with a length of 8 m was built on the 576-meter section of national road No. 16 near the town of Prawdowo.
During the meeting of the 9th Session of the Dubeninki Commune Council, which took place on November 28, the project representative presented projects implemented by the Romincka Forest Landscape Park, including the project LIFE17 NAT/PL/000011.
For promotional purposes, a package of project information materials (folder, cloth bag, notebook with pencil, magnet) was prepared, while as an aid in the educational activities planned in the project, an educational package was prepared, consisting of a brochure on two key species for the project (European pond turtle and fire-bellied toad), work cards, puzzles and memory games.
