This year, we continue grazing management and conservation efforts in non-forest habitats around Prokopské Valley. During the summer, the herd successively grazed the Asuán and Makču Pikču sites and is currently located at Mektovy stráně. We also have planned one final autumn transfer back to Asuán before the end of the grazing season. Grazing helps prevent the encroachment of tall grasses and shrubs into open habitats and creates a diverse vegetation mosaic. As a result, it supports high levels of biodiversity and benefits numerous rare and threatened plant and animal species, including butterflies such as Hipparchia semele, Iphiclides podalirius, Plebejus argus, and Pyrgus armoricanus. Our experience from these sites also demonstrates that enhancing biodiversity is not always a matter of planting new trees. In some open habitats, preventing encroachment and maintaining a treeless landscape through grazing or adaptive mowing is essential for conserving biodiversity.
We would like to thank the students of Nature Conservation and our colleague Tereza from JinoFarm for their long-term cooperation and help in managing these sites.
Supported by projects: Municipal biological diversity: application of modern practices to support biodiversity in cities and their surroundings and Podpora biodiverzity motýlů v okolí Prokopského údolí prostřednictvím péče o nelesní stanoviště II.
