White Carpathians - Protected Areas
JALOVCOVA STRAN
This small-scale protected area hosts the richest population of the Common Juniper (Juniperus communis) in the whole Bile Karpaty (White Carpathians) Protected Landscape Area.
Why were the juniper shrubs a common sight in old pastures? The answer is quite simple – the cattle, sheep, and goats avoided the juniper shrubs for the sharp, firm needles. While they could chew on the leaves and twigs of other shrubs (and thus limited their growth), the juniper shrubs kept them away, which made it possible for the species to spread.
In the 20th century, a lot of pastures in the White Carpathians suffered the same fate: they were forested, ploughed in, and/or intensively fertilized. Cattle farming became restricted to cooperative farms where most of the animals were kept indoors all year round. Sheep farming, in general, was abandoned – with a few exceptions. One of the very few places where sheep had grazed until the 1980s was the Nedasov area. When the grazing stopped, the pastures soon grew over with shrubs and trees. Light grazing was later reintroduced, as a means of nature conservation management, and since then it has become a significant help in supporting favourable living conditions for many rare plant species – e.g. the Horseshoe Vetch (Hippocrepis comosa) and the Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis ciliata).
Type of protected area under CZ national legislation: Nature Reserve
Managed by: the state, through Bile Karpaty (White Carpathians) Protected Landscape Area Administration
Practical site management: state financed, conducted by local farmers (sub-contracted)
Contact
Vzdělávací a informační středisko Bílé Karpaty, o.p.s.
Marie Petrů
Bartolomějské náměstí 47, 698 01 Veselí nad Moravou
Tel.:518 322 545
e-mail:visbk@bilekarpaty.cz
http://bilekarpaty.cz/vis
