For the steppe birds of our country

Urgent need for help - the ministry has turned its back

Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba rejected the co-financing of the project for the protection of steppe bird species and stated that Slovakia has no steppes.

It's not true. Steppes are a natural part of Slovak nature, but they are increasingly rare. Most of them have been transformed into "cultural steppe", i.e. fields. Steppe birds and other animals are therefore seriously threatened by the further plowing of steppe biotopes, the destruction of pastures, the lack of support for pastoralism, which harms not only them, but also the countryside and the preservation of traditions.

The LIFE 4 STEPPE BIRDS project has an ambitious goal – to restore grazing on 700 hectares in 9 special protected areas in 15 locations in 6 years. This project received the support of the European Commission, but the Slovak Ministry of the Environment, without justification, rejected its co-financing in the amount of 1.33 million euros, which is the turning point of the budget needed for implementation. The most endangered bird species, but also farmers and the countryside will pay for it. Even our farms, which have a public purpose of nature protection, are at risk. Help us financially secure the operation of our farms, which were supposed to function even with the support of the project, so that we do not have to cancel them completely.

WE NEED:

• 100 000 € to ensure grazing on two of our farms - Senné and Žitavský luh for 1 year

• 250 000 € to expand the pasture to another 50 ha in Medzibodroží

Steppe species of birds are the most endangered in Slovakia. The country they live in is disappearing at a breakneck pace. This is a desperate call to save them! Help us restore the land using the traditional practices used by our great-grandfathers. At a time when many farmers stop grazing, we come to meadows and pastures that are difficult to access, inconvenient for farmers and difficult to manage, in order to prevent them from becoming overgrown and disappearing.

In the past, herds of wild horses and aurochs grazed our lowlands, thus shaping the landscape. Later, their grazing was replaced by farm animals. This is how nature has worked for centuries. However, grazing herds of cattle are disappearing from the landscape, and together with the intensification of agriculture, which took place so quickly that the animals could not adapt, we drove some species to the brink of extinction. The only solution to save them is the return of grazing to the country.

The project, which the Slovak Ministry of the Environment promised, but ultimately refused to co-finance, has ambitious goals. Over the course of 6 years, we plan to restore grazing on 700 ha of degraded steppes in 9 special protected areas in 15 different locations. The project was successful in strong pan-European competition and was supported by the European Commission. The Ministry's co-financing is a part of the budget, without which the activities will not be possible to implement. At the same time, without the support of our project for the protection and return of steppe bird species to Slovak nature, we will not be able to continue grazing livestock on our two farms - Žitavský luh and Senné, where we already take care of almost 200 ha of rare steppe biotopes. Our farms have a non-profit nature and a public nature conservation purpose. Their maintenance therefore requires financial support.

Steppe birds live in Slovakia
By restoring the pasture, we will help the European roller, the Red-footed falcon, the Tawny Pipit, the Lesser grey shrike, the Scops owl, but also others that inhabit the wetlands on the steppes, such as the Redshank, the black-tailed Godwit, the Pied avocet, or the Garganey. All these species are dependent on grazing. Grazing herds of animals create suitable environments for them and at the same time a richly laid table in the form of insects.

They cannot exist without each other
Grazing creates conditions that steppe birds no longer find elsewhere in Slovakia. The original steppes were replaced in our territory by the so-called a cultural steppe - cultivated agricultural land, which, however, has become completely inhospitable to life due to intensive agrarian practices. The most vulnerable suffered. The birds of the agricultural landscape are the most endangered in Slovakia, many of them are on the red list, some of them we have already lost and we consider them to be regionally extinct.

We are the Slovak Ornithological Society/BirdLife Slovakia, a civil association. Our mission is to protect wild birds and their habitats. We have been operating in Slovakia for 30 years and have many successful projects behind us. We operate throughout Slovakia and have been farming on two of our own farms for several years, thanks to which we are practically restoring the traditional nature of the landscape, which is brimming with life. We plan to expand the experience and successes gained in the form of a living landscape to other locations. But now we face a difficult challenge. We will not be able to do this without the support of the LIFE 4 STEPPE BIRDS project, which was supposed to bring resources to the regions and start grazing in other locations as well.

Your support - their only hope

Help us collect funds to secure grazing and expand it to other territories. Without restoration of grasslands, we will lose other unique species that our country cannot afford to lose.

Thanks to you, we can protect the nature of the Slovak lowlands. Together we can restore the steppe landscape for future generations. Help us keep our birds in the sky.

Thank you!