2022 - Drava Life

Field visit©B. Španiček

DRAVA LIFE project partners meet for the 39th time!

22/12/2022/in Nekategorizirano /by Petra Boic Petrac

On 13^th and 14^th of December 2022 DRAVA LIFE partners met for the 39^th time in Hrvatske vode department in Varaždin in a hybrid form. Project partners used the meeting to update each other on the current activities and discuss details of the upcoming restoration activities. Most progress has been made towards the implementation of the concrete restoration activities which should start during winter period of 2023!

On the second day, several project partners visited restoration locations C.3 Donja Dubrava – Legrad and C.4 Botovo Bridge to discuss details of the restoration activities in more detail and assess the impact of building of the new railway bridge across Drava River at Botovo on the dynamic of implementation of the sidearm restoration.

This was the last project partner meeting for 2022. Project partners wish you a cheerful happy holidays and healthy and happy New Year!

C.4 restoration site©B. Španiček

C.3 restoration site©B. Španiček

Constraction work at the Botovo bridge©B. Španiček

Javna ustanova za upravljanje zaštićenim dijelovima prirode Varaždinske županije

Reallocation action©Javna ustanova za upravljanje zaštićenim dijelovima prirode Varaždinske županije

German tamarisk successfully reallocated on the natural habitats on Drava River

22/12/2022/in Nekategorizirano /by Petra Boic Petrac

Fifteen river enthusiasts from, High school Arboretum Opeka, Hrvatske vode, State Institute for Environment and Nature Protection for and State Inspectorate led by Public Institution for Management of Protected Natural Areas in Varaždin County have joined their efforts on Friday the 9^th of December 2022 in an action of reallocation of 30 plants from the gravel pit Turnišće to the gravel bar on Drava River downstream of the Ormož lake.

From the cuttings made of two largest plants, employees of the Zagreb Botanical garden and students of the High school Arboretum Opeka will try to produce young rooted plants that can, at later stages, be reallocated on the natural habitats on Drava.

German tamarisk (Myricaria germanica) is pioneer species which grows on gravel banks of rivers and banks of watercourses of the Alps and their foothills. It is a plant adapted to the unique ecological conditions on its habitat which is restricted to the newly created gravel and sand bars of braided rivers. Therefore, these species are considered as indicator species of healthy and natural rivers. German tamarisk has vanished from the natural habitats of the Drava River due to river channelization, construction of hydropower plants, as well as by gravel and sand extraction. Therefore, gravel and sand bars as pioneer habitat types have become very rare in Europe and are one of the most endangered ecosystems. German tamarisk is strictly protected species in Croatia which makes it highly important to ensure the remaining population is secured and well monitored.

This is very valuable activity led by one of the DRAVA LIFE project partners, contributing to already implemented repopulation and reallocation activities of German tamarisk done in previous years.

We hope that the newly reallocated plants will thrive in the new, natural habitat and will spread on the habitats downstream in future years!

Key river bird species©T. Nikowitz

Bern Convention took note of the Action Plan for river birds in the five-country Biosphere Reserve “Mura-Drava-Danube”

21/12/2022/in Nekategorizirano /by Petra Boic Petrac

On November 29^th November 2022, the 42^nd Standing Committee of the Bern Convention* took note of the Action Plan for river birds in the five-country Biosphere Reserve “Mura-Drava-Danube” and invited the five countries to follow up on its implementation. This will help to strengthen the efforts and necessary actions in order to protect river birds on Mura, Drava and Danube.

The Action plan for river birds in the five-country Biosphere Reserve „Mura-Drava-Danube“ was accomplished in the DRAVA LIFE Project. It was developed by WWF Austria and the planning

office REVITAL, and first published in April 2019. It was first published in April 2019. It has been coordinated with ornithologists and various stakeholders across the five countries in several workshops. Data and expert knowledge was provided by several ornithologists across the five countries. All contributors are listed in the action plan.

Four gravel (Common Tern, Little Tern, Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover) and three sand bank breeders (Sand Martin, Kingfisher and European Bee-eater) have been tackled.

The seven river bird species are endangered throughout Europe. Breeding birds that depend on habitats of highly dynamic riverine ecosystems are endangered mainly due to habitat loss.

The „Mura-Drava-Danube“ river system is one of the ecologically most important in Europe. Still, it suffered from habitat loss within the last 100 years due to hydropower dams, navigation improvements and flood protection. This led to the loss of 70% of gravel and sand bars. For example only 2-3 colonies of Little and Common Terns are left. Also 50% of natural river banks are lost. Hence about 30.000 Sand Martin pairs in the 1980s dropped to 7.000 in the last decade.

Long-term preservation of those river birds depends on future management of the transboundary riverine ecosystem. A comprehensive action plan on a transboundary level is urgently needed.

The aim of the action plan is to foster comprehensive and harmonised conservation actions for the seven defined key river bird species across the Biosphere Reserve.

It is the first species conservation plan developed on a transboundary level within the Biosphere Reserve and aims to support the implementation of conservation actions for river birds as well as the implementation of the Biosphere Reserve and the Natura 2000 management plans in the area. Furthermore, it aims to facilitate the restoration and ecological management of the three rivers and a „river development plan“. Objectives for every threat to the river birds have been defined. Based on this, 43 actions are needed for conservation of these bird species.

*Bern Convention: www.coe.int/en/web/bern-convention

The Bern Convention is a binding international legal instrument in the field of nature conservation, covering most of the natural heritage of the European continent and extending to some States of Africa.

Branka Španiček

20221024_123825

New book about the Drava River

25/10/2022/in Nekategorizirano /by Petra Boic Petrac

From the creative pen of author and photographer Goran Šafarek, the new book about the Drava River – Drava jučer, danas, sutra (The Drava River – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow) – summarizes most relevant information about the river and illustrates them with beautiful pictures. It provides valuable knowledge about the physical characteristics of the river, social and cultural importance, species and habitats, threats and details on the future of the riverine landscape in the light of restoration efforts that are currently being undertaken on the Drava River.

Knjiga obiluje prekrasnim prikazima Drave

There are many beautiful pictures of the Drava River in the book

Being produced within the DRAVA LIFE project, the book will be shared with stakeholders on events that will be held in the following years and will be available in selected libraries along the Drava River.

Drava – jučer, danas, sutra

Knjiga je objavljena unutar projekta DravaLife

The book was published within the DRAVA LIFE project

Birgit Egger

DRAVA LIFE project team

Excursion to Allier and Loire Rivers in France

12/08/2022/in Drava, Project /by Petra Boic Petrac

Finally, after 2 years of the pandemic, in July of 2022, the DRAVA LIFE team could visit one of the wildest and most impressive rivers in Western Europe: river Allier, a tributary to river Loire, in France. Thanks to an early initiative of restoration actions starting in the 1980ies, including dam prevention and removal plus land purchase, river Allier has a model reference character for similar rivers in Europe due to its natural condition. River Allier nowadays is largely protected as Natura 2000 sites and partly as “Réserve Naturelle Val d Állier”. The river is 421 kilometres long. It has its source in the Cevennes mountains 50 kilometres east of Mende and flows 5 km west of Nevers into the Loire river.

View on Allier from the steep bank in Chemilly (c) WWF

14 persons of the DRAVALIFE team plus four other interested colleagues went on this trip from Austria and Croatia to Le Veurdre in France. A majority of the group went by night-train and connecting trains from Vienna and Zagreb via Zurich until Le Veurdre in France. The small, charming village is based just on the shore of river Allier. It was the perfect place to stay for our river expeditions.

The DRAVALIFE team went all this way to France in order to see and learn from river Allier. The excursion consisted of several stages. Dr. Gregory Egger, ecologist and professor for landscape ecology at the Karlsruher Institute for Technology (KIT), introduced the team to the special situation on river Allier. During an excursion to Allier and its floodplains close to Chemilly we learned about the natural development of different floodplain habitats. In several scientific studies over the past years the succession processes of the vegetation and the long-term riverine development have been documented. Especially the development of the black-poplar (Populus nigra) floodplains, the xerothermic grasslands as well as the invasive neophytes Fallopia japonica were highlighted during the excursion.

Excursion in Chemilly_Explanations of Gregory Egger (c) Birgit Egger

Furthermore the history of “Le Grand Plan – Plan Loire Grande Nature” (The Big Nature Plan for the Loire catchment) which enabled the development of the “Espace de Liberté”, a concept that gives space to the river through land purchase and law regulation, was introduced by Gregory Egger. The historical happenings that made this major plan possible was presented by Mr. Roberto Epple, President “European rivers network” ERN and part of the “river freedom fighters” at this time. In the 1980ies the river development (hence flood protection, irrigation, etc.) was planned on the Loire river catchment. Against this “the Comité Loire Vivante” was formed which resulted in the concept of “Espace de Liberté” instead of further ”river development”. Later on the NGO “Allier sauvage” has been founded in order to protect river Allier which was presented to the team by its president Mr. Joel Herbach. Today even the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is again migrating up Loire and Allier.

Roberto Epple and Joel Herbach presenting (c) WWF

The second stage of the excursion was a canoe excursion supported by a canoe rental company (Canoë en Terre d’Allier, Base du Veurdre) on river Allier which started from Moulins to the medieval village of Apremont-sur-Allier. Canoeing and swimming down 55 kilometres of the river gave the best impression of the intact riverine ecosystem: natural steep banks, vast gravel and sand islands, a rich diversity of waterfowls, bordering meadows with cows drinking from the river, and a lot of space for the river. Sometimes, the team could not believe that such a riverine paradise over such a long stretch is still possible in the middle of Europe.

Canoeing (c) WWF

On the last day the confluence of Allier and Loire river close to Bec d´Allier was visited before heading to Paris to catch the night trains back home. Definitely, the concept of river restoration through land purchase and strict regulations for riverine space plus dam prevention and removal is a lesson learned that the DRAVALIFE team took home to river Drava and our restoration efforts.

Sand martin colony in a steep bank (c) WWF

Cattle herd drinking at the river (c) WWF

Relaxing after canoeing (c) WWF

REVITAL

Visiting restauration site in Obergottesfeld

Useful workshop on river restoration in Nußdorf-Debant

22/07/2022/in Drava, Nekategorizirano /by Petra Boic Petrac

This May the DRAVALIFE project team took part in a river restoration workshop in Nußdorf-Debant, Austria. The course was organized by the Integrative planning office REVITAL and WWF Austria.

The participants from water management, nature conservation and NGOs learned about river restoration measures to improve sediment balance of rivers according to the newly published river restoration toolbox.

Besides the two days of indoor course and discussion, an excursion to best practice examples of river restoration measures was undertaken. The team visited fresh and old restoration sites at the rivers Schwarzach, Isel and Drava, and were able to learn about measures as well as about long-time development of river restoration.

The Schwarzach River close to Gîrtschach

The team was guided by an expert team of REVITAL (Klaus Michor and Stephan Senfter), by Herbert Mandler from the Carinthian water management and by Gregory Egger from “naturraumplanung egger”. A special highlight was the visit of the “water house” of the national park Hohe Tauern in St. Jakob in Defereggen (https://www.hausdeswassers.at/), where the team was fascinated by simple water experiments, outdoor education and a vivid presentation done by biologist Brigitte Eckle. This was of special interest for the new water school close Legrad in Croatia, that was established in the DRAVALIFE project by Croatian Waters.

Restauracija rijeke Drave kod Obergottesfelda

Restauration of The Drava River near Obergottesfeld

The “lessons learned” will be transferred to our river restoration measures on Drava within the DRAVALIFE project.

Gravel island on Lake Šoderica

Preparations for the nesting season: All is ready to welcome common terns on Lake Šoderic

28/03/2022/in Nekategorizirano /by Danijel Lončar

On World Water Day 2022, we organized vegetation clearing action on a gravel island on Šoderica Lake near Koprivnica to prepare it for the common tern nesting season. Last year, the island was home to 70 bird pairs. This year we are hoping for a few more.

Fifteen people joined the action, including experts from the Institute for Ornithology in Zagreb, Public Institution for Management of Protected Natural Areas in Koprivnica-Križevci County, Administrative Department for Spatial Planning, Construction, Environment and Nature Protection of Koprivnica-Križevci County, Association of Sport Fishing Clubs Koprivnica, IGMA Ltd., WWF Austria, and WWF Adria. In addition, we were joined by journalists from Nova TV and a cinematographer from Filmofil, who recorded the whole event.

The main goal of the action was the removal of all woody vegetation and tall grass to ensure good nesting conditions for common terns. They usually nest on gravel islands in rivers, for instance on the Drava River, but human activity is causing the disappearance of those habitats, which make islands like the one we visited for World Water Day important for the preservation of the common tern population in Croatia.

In the following years, we will repeat the action if there will be a need. Until then, we are monitoring common terns on the island and will provide updates on our social media channels.