Forest Restructuring in Szentmártonkáta
Publication date: 2019.04.01
Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate (DINPI) has conducted significant habitat restoration works in the Szentmártonkáta shooting range.
In
the project, DINPI has cleaned about 23 hectares of special significance
habitats of Pannon sand grass from aggressive invasive plant species, primarily
from pseudoacacia and celtis occidentalis, along with herbaceous milkweed. The
protected plant- and animal species could finally breathe with relief: the
direct danger of forest- and weed growth is eliminated for now. However, the
area is surrounded from more than one directions by forest patches consisting
the above mentioned alien tree species, representing a continuous risk of
re-invasion of the grasses cleaned up earlier.
In order to prevent this, DINPI is conducting a so called tree species
replacement forest restructuring on approx. 12 hectares. We started our work by
the complete removal of the tree population consisting almost exclusively
non-native species (primarily acacia, celtis occidentalis and prunus serotina),
including the roots. This was essential, because the invasive and prevailing
species are very capable to grow from trunks and roots. A complete turf
preparation represents a dramatic intervention in the biodiversity of an area,
therefore, in protected areas, it’s only applied when its really necessary. The
dismay sight during the works may be sad to outsiders, but it is part of the
process. Unfortunately, this is the price we have to pay to create a healthier
forest adapting to local vegetation conditions and providing better ecological
circumstances to the flora and fauna.
In the
following, I will list the most important advantages worth of such “destruction”.
One of these is a change of the nutrient balance of the forest turf for the
better. It is a widely known fact that acacia roots accommodate bacteria
collecting nitrogen, increasing the nitrogen content of the upper layer of the
soil used by herbaceous plants. For the most indigenous species, this makes the
area unusable. Only a few nitrophilous weed species will survive, radically
reducing the biodiversity of native species. We hope that the replacement of
this closed acacia population and the emergence of forest patches with several
glades will allow for the gradual return of protected plants such as the
achillea ochroleuca, onosma arenaria, dianthus serotinus or alkanna tinctoria.
Another increasingly significant factor is that indigenous tree species (acer
campestre, wild pear, wild apples, English oak, domestic aspen) combined with a
bordering area of also indigenous bush species (e.g. blackthorns, eglantines
and hawthorns) offer more versatile and balanced quality of nectar and farina
for visiting insects, as opposed to a largely homogenous acacia. This latter is
clearly a paradise for pollenizing bees, but only for about three to four weeks
of the year. Before and after this period, it doesn’t offer anything. The
primary beneficiaries of this phenomenon are apiarists, as they are able to
collect large quantities of nectar in a short time and in a small area.
However, a diverse forest with the surrounding grass areas rich in flowers is
continuously able to provide food for these important insects from Spring to
Fall, even if with less intensity.
Gyula Kiss,
Project Manager
Conservation of dry grasslands in Central-Hungary
Interval: 2017.07.02 - 2020.08.31
Completed
In the framework of this 5-year-long project – started in September 2013 – Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate (DINPD) is directly aiming at the protection of the following priority habitat types: Sub-Pannonic steppic grasslands (6240), pannonic loess steppic grasslands (6250) and Pannonic sand steppes (6260).
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