Eurosite Magazine: Issue 1
Krkonoše National Park visits Kampinos National Park By Viera Horáková and Jan Danyłow The possibility of visiting the Kampinos National Park occurred to us during the 2013 Eurosite AGM in Poland. At the AGM, our Polish colleagues from Kampinos gave a presentation about their experience with projects aimed at the restoration of the water system and the eradication of alien plant species. These topics are very similar to the problems that we are trying to solve at Krkonoše National Park. This
first impulse led to our short, but very inspiring visit to Kampinos National Park. We arrived on 12 March, late in the afternoon, and started our visit with a short walk on an education trail, guided by Marta – the scientific assistant. Marta presented us with basic information about Kampinos National Park and showed us the results of a project aimed at managing wet meadows and the protection of butterfly species. This project targeted several wetland butterfly species – including the scarce large blue, large copper, and marsh fritillary – and was implemented in four Polish Natura 2000 sites, among them “Puszcza Kampinoska”. The objective was to preserve the butterflies’ habitats, including the plants on which the larvae feed and, in the case of some species, the ants that play a vital role in the butterflies’ complex life cycle. In the years 2008-2009 the mowing of wet meadows, removing of shrubs, and other restoration actions were conducted. 11
On 13 March, we started the day by listening to three presentations about Kampinos National Park. In the first presentation, scientific assistant Jan Danyłow, described the general characteristics of Kampinos Forest. He emphasised that the park is located in the direct neighbourhood of the capital city of Warsaw and listed the natural (best preserved complex of inland dunes in Europe, approximately
70 species of plants and animals listed in the EU Habitats and Birds Directives), cultural (birthplace of famous composer Fryderic Chopin) and historical (cemetery in Palmiry) resources of this area. He then described the main threats to Kampinos National Park, such as the rapid urbanisation of the park’s buffer zone, private land within the park, the decline of water levels and invasive alien species. The second presentation was by LIFE+ technical co-ordinator Karol Kram. He spoke about the purchasing of private plots, especially focusing on the LIFE+ “Active KPN” project with a total budget of approximately €5.5m. The main objectives of this project are the buying of approximately 200 hectares of land and the implementation of restoration activities, such