VetExT – Veteran Tree  Experience Transfer, transfer of experience from the veteranization of trees and saving habitats of endangered saproxylic species

Project goals

1) Improving the conditions of species of organisms bound to senescent trees in 2 EVL and 1 bird area

2) Establishment of permanent research areas in the framework of veteranization and care of senescent trees and acquisition of input data

3) Standardization and improvement of the care of senescent trees in the Czech Republic based on the developed methodology

4) Creation of a unified database of senescent trees of the Czech Republic

5) Transfer of experience from abroad within the care of senescent trees

6) Popularization of trees as a habitat for endangered species

Planned activities and their schedule

Management interventions on senescent trees and trees with the potential to create a habitat for saproxylic species, implementation date: May 2022 – April 2024

The effect of the aging of woody plants on the offer of rare microhabitats and saproxylic organisms, monitoring of individual types of cutting of senescent trees, implementation date: May 2022 – April 2024

Methodology for the care of trees and senescent trees with an emphasis on the tree as a biotope, implementation date: May 2022 – December 2023

Transfer of experience Czech Republic – Norway – Sweden, workshops, implementation date: April 2023-September 2023

Establishment of the „Shared database of senescent biotope trees“ system, implementation date: May 2022 – December 2023

Popularization (medialization) of outputs, implementation date May 2022 – April 2023

Studied localities

SCI Žehuňsko is located in Central Bohemia near Chlumec nad Cidlinou. It is one of the best-preserved islands of heat-loving, meadow and wetland vegetation in the intensively farmed cultural landscape of central Polabí. From a national point of view, the area is unique mainly due to the occurrence of relatively well-preserved communities of fen meadows with Sesleria uliginosa, white slopes and partially also woods with Quercus pubescens. There are many old, burrowing trees on the site. The natural complex is also an important ornithological site, which was the reason for designing the area into a system of bird areas. The entomofauna is very rich in rare species. Old oak stands at the edge of the Žehuň Nature Reserve are linked to the occurrence of the common stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), which is also subject to protection here. A rare fauna of invertebrates is also found on the xerothermic white slopes.

The location includes the actual course of the river Blanice between Vlašima and Mladá Vožice, which is an approx. 30 km long section of the river. Along the river, the locality also includes floodplain meadows and riparian vegetation. The borders of the site in the area of ​​the castle park in Vlašim emerge from the floodplain of the river Blanice. The entire location is finished at the northern end by the Vlašim castle park. It is a park vegetation consisting of a varied mixture of trees, both deciduous and coniferous, oaks, lindens, maples, spruces and foreign trees. Older stands with grove-like oaks and solitary old lindens and oaks are very important for insects and cavity-nesting birds. One of the objects of protection is Osmoderma barnabita.

The rocky canyon of the Vltava River in the south of the Central Bohemian Region near the village of Velká is part of the TSES. It is a biologically extremely rich area, where the thermophilic vegetation of the slopes exposed to the sun alternates with the cooler vegetation of the slopes with an eastern and northern orientation. The slopes exposed to the sun were originally covered by a rocky steppe with scattered trees, which gradually became overgrown with forest after grazing subsided. In recent years, the open nature of the vegetation has been restored, the association Bělozářka z.s. from nearby Sedlčany, with the help of climbers, it removes the raid and resumed grazing with goats. Selected older trees were left on the rocky steppe, some of them – especially oaks and lindens – are newly cut. The non-flooded sections of the Vltava Canyon in the central Povltava are important for the occurrence of a number of thermophilic elements, for example the green lizard, Purpuricenus kaehleri, Pulsatilla pratensis, or Anthericum liliago.

The bird park is located in the south-east of the South Moravian region in the floodplain of the river Kyjovka (Stupavy) north of the Jarohněvicky pond near the villages of Dubňany and Hovořany adjacent to the SCI Hodonínská doubrava. It is a very rich natural area, made up of a mosaic of water bodies, wetlands, sand dunes, meadows and forests in a flat, agricultural landscape. It is significant for the presence of a number of protected and endangered species of birds, amphibians and insects. The territory is managed by the Czech Ornithological Society, it is managed with the aim of maximum protection of biodiversity. Pasture has been restored in the territory, there are old willows and bryum mosses. Pruning was recently resumed, and dozens of younger trees were also newly pruned. Grazing and mowing were also restored.

The area includes the valley floodplain of the Odra River between the municipalities of Odra and Ostrava, including its river terraces. The location is characterized by the alternation of the meandering flow of the Odra, floodplain forests, meadows and ponds with small streams of tributaries and a number of permanent and periodic pools. Solitary greenery and draws in the meadows, as well as the vegetation of the dams of ponds and alleys along the roads mostly correspond to the species composition of the surrounding natural communities. The territory lies on the border of the biogeographical West Carpathian and Hercynian subprovinces, which affects the occurrence of species. There are areas with solitary old willows growing on the site, especially in meadows and pastures, around small watercourses, dead branches and ponds. These areas are the main occurrence of Osmoderma eremita, which is the subject of protection in this area.

SCI Niva Dyje is formed by an extensive complex of alluvial forests and meadows, which is located in the southern part of the Lower Moravian Valley, in the Dyje floodplain between the villages of Břeclav, Podivín, Nové Mlýny, Bulhary and Lednice. Part of the territory is a protected area of ​​natural water accumulation – the Morava River Quarter. The Dyje floodplain is dominated by hard floodplains of lowland rivers, which in deforested areas are replaced by continental flooded meadows of the Cnidion venosi association. In drier places there are Pannonian oak heathers, in non-forest habitats mesophilic oat meadows and in places fragments of acidophilic dry grasslands. Wetland vegetation is abundantly represented by wetland alder, reed vegetation of eutrophic backwaters, tall sedge vegetation and vegetation of naturally eutrophic and mesotrophic backwaters. Important species of entomofauna include, for example, the Reticulated Groundhog (Carabus clathratus), the Giant Hornbill (Cerambyx cerdo), the Brown Stink Bug (Osmoderma eremita), and the Common Hornbill (Lucanus cervus).

Project implementation progress

Management interventions on senescent trees and trees with biotop creation potential for saproxylic species

The influence of veteranization of woody plants on the offer of rare microhabitats and saproxylic organisms, monitoring of individual types of cutting of senescent trees

Methodology for the care of trees and senescent trees with an emphasis on the tree as a biotope 

Transfer of experience the Czech republic – Norway – Sweden, workshops

Establishment of the „Shared database of senescent biotope trees“ system

Popularization (medialization) of outputs

Photos from the implementation of the project can be found here.

 

Organisation

The main researcher of the project

Czech Union for Nature Conservation Vlašim

Project coordinator: Ing. Karel Kříž,

Financial management of the project: RNDr. Hana Pánková, Ph.D.

Project partners

Czech Union for Nature Conservation Arborist Academy

Contact persons:

  • Jaroslav Kolařík, Ph.D. – project coordination as a partner, guarantor of software development, leader of the methodology processing team, cooperation on the definition of the care plan and monitoring of senescent trees, technology transfer coordinator
  • Josef Grábner, DiS. – technical cooperation on intervention documentation, software testing, workshop organization
  • Jan Forejt – technical cooperation on documentation of interventions, software testing

Website: https://www.arboristickaakademie.cz/

Biological center AV ČR, v.v.i.

Contact persons:

  • Lukáš Čížek, Ph.D. – coordination of the project for the partner, coordination of the team for BC, coordination and implementation of monitoring, proposal of interventions, preparation of methodology
  • Pavel Šebek, Ph.D. – implementation of monitoring, coordination of external collaborators and suppliers, collection and evaluation of data, preparation of methodology, participation in the database

Website: https://www.entu.cas.cz/en/

Tree Solutions AS (Norway)

Contact persons: Glen Read – coordination of the project for the NO partner, consultation of interventions and methodology, preparation of the Norwegian part of the workshop, communication of the project

Pro Natura (Sweden)

Contact persons: Vikki Bengtsson – coordination of the project for the SWE partner, consultation of interventions and methodology, preparation of the Norwegian part of the workshop

Realisation date: 1.5.2022 – 30.4.2024

Project number: 3211100001

Project budget: 14 864 692,50

Amount of contribution from a grant from FM Norway: 11 371 489,76

Subsidy amount SFŽP: 2 006 733,49

The State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic Website: https://www.sfzp.cz/en/norway-grants/

Norwegian funds Website: https://www.norskefondy.cz/en/

Official Website of EHP funds and Norway: https://eeagrants.org/

The project is supported by a grant from the Norwegian Funds in the Environment, Ecosystems and Climate Change program in the area of ​​support for Improving the state of the environment in ecosystems.