Lutra, Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage participated as a partner in the project Bukovnica Lake – awaking Beauty (slo. Bukovniško jezero – prebujajoča se lepotica), co-financed by the Phare program (cross-border cooperation Slovenia / Austria 2003 – Cross-border conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development).

The Bukovnica Lake, supplied by Bukovnica creek, is in protected area of ​​the Goričko Nature Park and a part of the important ecological area and the Natura 2000 area, both under regulations Birds and Habitat Directive. The aim of the project was to raise awareness and change the attitude of the local population (pre-school and school youth, owners and users of agricultural / forest land, rural population) and tourists who gravitate towards Bukovnica Lake, towards values ​​and conservation of nature. We wanted to explore at least the essential elements of biodiversity and evaluate it, demonstrate the possibilities for sustainable tourism, agriculture and forestry in the light of improving the quality of life in the countryside. With the plan of interpreting the area of Bukovnica ​​Lake as a natural value within the Goričko Nature Park and the Natura 2000 area, arranging an information center, preparing presentations for individual target groups on various media, preparing and implementing promotional campaigns for Natura 2000 (eg. an astronomical youth camp, helping amphibians in spring migration), we wanted to reach every individual and influence his attitude towards nature and natural values.

The purpose of the project was also to show acceptable forms of tourism and recreation that do not endanger the habitats of the Bukovnica Lake and imporatant European species, and to establish mutual communication between the managers of the area and the interested public. Due to the lack of data on the biodiversity of the Bukovnica Lake and Bukovnica creek field inventory of selected animal species and groups in the project area with the proposal for monitoring and the starting point for the management plan (including the proposal of the individual species from the list of European important species) was required firstly. We considered the following animal groups: mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, fish, aquatic invertebrates (the criterion for the range of species was primarily the importance of them for assessing the quality of the aquatic ecosystem and water). Within these frameworks, special attention has been paid to important European species  in the Annexes of the Habitat Directive and the Birds Directive, in particular the qualifying species for the Natura 2000 area of ​​Goričko (Goričko is also the IBA – International Important Area for Birds). Despite expectations, we have not discovered a particularly rich species biodiversity linked to aquatic habitats. Among Europe’s most important species, amphibians were the most important, among them the qualitative species for the Goričko area, the big pupae (Triturus carnifex); The found urchins were crosses (Bombina bombina x variegate). Apart from the collared flycather (Ficedula albicollis) among the 32 mapped species of birds, there were no special species. Among mammals the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), which is also a qualification species for the definition of the Natura 2000 site, took a special place. Although it was not on the lake in the observed season, it regularly appeared in the Bukovnica creek along the regional road.

After the inventory of the aquatic invertebrate fauna and the measurement of physical and chemical parameters in 2005 (LIFE-NATURA project), we estimated that the quality of water in the Bukovnica Lake due to the long-standing eutrophication process was of very poor quality, which is why the plans for management and exploitation (mainly for the purpose of tourism) are limited. Recommendations for the management plan were directed in two directions: in the rehabilitation of the ecological state of the lake with sustainable methods and in education and awareness of various target groups of the public about the importance of natural values ​​in the area around the Bukovnica Lake and in the wider Goričko region.

 

Title: The Lake of Bukovnik – awaking Beauty

Applicant: Municipality of Dobrovnik

Partners:

• Naturpark Südtsteirisches Weinland (Austria)
• Naturpark Raab (Austria)
• Institute for Food Safety and Consumer Protection ZAZA Dobrovnik
• Institute for Tourism Dobrovnik
• LUTRA, Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage – OE Lutra Pannonica
• Bilingual Primary School Dobrovnik
• Cultural Association Petõfi Sandor
• Goričko Nature Park
• Agriculture and Forestry Chamber of Slovenia
• Agricultural and Forestry Institute Murska Sobota
• Slovenia Forest Service OE Murska Sobota

Funding program: Phare – cross-border cooperation Slovenia / Austria 2003 – Cross-border conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development

Duration: from June 2005 to September 2006

In 2003, the Lutra Institute got a nature conservation project entitled  Strean, my good neighbor (a set of nature conservation activities in the promotion of Natura 2000 Natura 2000 for the otter in Goričko). Originally, the activities consisted of 3 sets:

• public opinion polls by target audiences with a questionnaire on the knowledge of otter, the relationship towards it (“human dimensions”) and the awareness of the connection of otter with preserved watercourses and other water ecosystems;
• 3 pilot workshops on the theme Natura 2000 and otter in Goričko;
• a smaller poster and a leaflet for the promotion of preserved waters as natural habitats and a rational use of water.

Due to the significantly reduced co-financing (only 25 % of the funds were allocated for the implementation), only one of the sets was carried out – pilot workshops for which we prepared a presentational CD. Preparation of nature protection projects in Goričko with the goal of education and awareness of local public administration and various target groups of the population regarding the natural values ​​and their protection in the institutional framework of the Goričko Nature Nark and within the possibilities provided by the Natura 2000 network, required a thoughtful and appropriate method of approach, that we have gained the favor of the local government for nature protection purposes. Workshops were extended to all 11 municipalities in the area (in the meantime) of the Goričko Nature Park. In September 2003 we prepared a presentation in each municipality or the nearest elementary school, which included basic information on the natural characteristics of Goričko and local specialties, emphasized the otter as a typical representative of protected species from the Natura 2000 list in Goričko, its characteristics and characteristics, threatened globally and locally (on concrete cases). We presented the course of two designed nature protection projects (the Danube and LIFE-NATURA) and defined the active role of the municipality / school in the projects. The entire presentation was aimed at the goal, to promote the emerging Natura 2000 protection area and to bring it closer to the target groups and to show the role of an emerging park in protecting valuable natural features.

 

Title: Stream, my good Neighbour

Applicant: Lutra, Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage

Partners:

Limnos d. o. o, a company for applied ecology
Kompas Peskovci husbandry hunting ground
Municipalities in the area of ​​Goričko Landscape Park (11)
Municipality Önkormányzat Felsöszölnök (Hungary)
Municipality Dödeház Község Önkormányzata (Hungary)

Funding program: Danube Regional Project – Financial support program for NGO projects

Duration: from 2003 to 2004

In the framework of cross-border cooperation with Hungary, supported by the Phare funds, a one-year project took place at Lake Hodoš. The project was entitled to present by the Municipality of Hodoš and was prepared by partner organization Lutra, Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage (with its organizational unit Lutra pannonica). In addition to the neighboring municipality of Šalovci, the National Park Őrszeg and the WWF Hungary were the cross-border partners of the project.

Lake Hodoš covers 5.2 ha of area and is artificial. Initially, the lake was intended to hold a high wave, to retain water for irrigation of agricultural land, to increase the possibilities for fishing on water poultry and extensive fishing tourism. The lake was built on a natural disreputable depression as a replacement for aquatic areas lost through reclamation and land consolidation in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Due to pollution from the hinterland, the lake is in eutrophic state and its management is not defined. The entire municipality of Hodoš lies in Goričko Nature Park, therefore the lake plays an especially important role: as an otter’s habitat, where the majority of the population lives, is suitable for a special protection area (which indirectly relates to the Landscape Park Velika Krka in Hungary). With the protection and sustainable regulation of the lake, adequate habitat conditions for the European beaver, which returned  upstream along the river Krka on its former habitats, were provided. The findings show that in these places in the territory of Slovenia, beaver survived the longest before extinction (“hod” in the Hungarian language means “beaver”).

The main purpose of the project was to provide a habitat for otter (Lutra lutra), an endangered species in Europe and protected by international conventions, which at the same time symbolizes the preserved aquatic environment. We wanted to preserve and protect one of its central habitats in the Goričko – ecosystem of the Lake Hodoš with the “Dolenjski creek” – and to create a professional foundations for sustainable multifunctional use of the lake. We prepared lists of key plant and animal species with special regard to the rare and endangered species from the Natura 2000 list. The project included a list of pollutants in the catchment area of ​​the lake and a proposal for appropriate sustainable methods of rehabilitation (built swamps, ecoremediations). Enhanced cooperation between border nature conservation organizations was foreseen, linked by the common interest in protecting the water catchment area of the river Velika Krka and its natural values ​​within the trilateral landscape park Goričko-Örseg-Raab, which aims to contribute to education and awareness of the population on both sides of the boundary on water management as key and in the Goričko area critical natural resource, and connect them with nature conservation actions in preserving the common natural heritage.

Project planners set also a wider, but no less important, goals that the project has achieved indirectly. The first area involved raising the educational level, raising awareness and awareness of the local population and especially the local administrative structures in the field of natural water resources management, their protection and protection of valuable natural features within the Goričko Landscape Park. Also, the arrangement of Lake Hodoš as the secondary habitat of otter, at least partially compensated for the negative impacts caused by the construction of the 5th European Transport Corridor (Puconci-Hodoš-state border with Hungary) railway line to freshwater ecosystems in water catchment area of the river Velika Krka.

 

Title: Towards cleaner water with otter

Applicant: Municipality of Hodoš

Partners:

• LUTRA, Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage, Ljubljana, OE LUTRA PANNONICA, Peskovci
• Municipality of Šalovci
• Örszeg National Park
• WWF Hungary

Funding program: Phare – Small Projects Fund – cross-border projects with Hungary (CBC)

Duration: from July 2003 to June 2004