Project VrH Julijcev

Project VrH Julijcev:

For preserved nature, the collaboration of different sectors and changing people's habits are key

Bled, November 30, 2023 - The five-year project VrH Julijcev, led by the Public Institute Triglav National Park (JZ TNP), has, with the help of European and national funds, enabled nine partners to improve sectoral cooperation and numerous innovations with the common goal of improving the status of selected protected species and their habitats in Natura 2000 areas in Triglav National Park. Among the key results of the project are 15 restored ponds on mostly hard-to-access alpine meadows and pastures, the marking and establishment of 19 quiet zones, as well as the renovation and new establishment of a wide network of directional infrastructure for visitors.
VrH Julijcev is a partnership of nature conservation, agriculture, forestry, mountaineering, and tourism for the preservation of the nature of Triglav National Park. The partners obtained funds through the project for reviving pasturage and restoring ponds on alpine meadows and pastures, restoration and sustainable management of forests, activities to improve water quality at Double Lake, visitor management, and the establishment of new and restoration of directional infrastructure for visitors. Andrej Arih, the leader of the VrH Julijcev project from the Public Institute Triglav National Park, said at the concluding press conference: "We have successfully achieved the main goals of the project, especially in water and traffic arrangement, we have found that systemic changes and more coordination between different sectors will be needed also at the national level. In any case, the main gain of the project, besides all the things we can see in the space, is also the exceptionally good cooperation between partners and stakeholders and new professional insights, especially in telemetry of grouse and the capture of alien fish species in Double Lake. Experiences and knowledge, as well as connections with various stakeholders in the space, help us also with the regular tasks of the institute."
The first 19 quiet zones in TNP: most visitors respect the new rules
JZ TNP, together with professional organizations in the fields of forestry, agriculture, mountaineering, and nature conservation, and land owners, defined quiet zones where human activities are temporally and spatially adapted so that disturbances in the natural environment are as minimal as possible. For the western capercaillie, rock ptarmigan, and active raised bogs, 19 quiet zones were established in the VrH Julijcev project on Pokljuka, Vogel, in the vicinity of Triglav, Mangart Saddle, and on Vitranc. Quiet zones are marked with special signs along forest roads and mountain paths. On marked forest roads, traffic is allowed only for land owners and for forest management and is temporally adapted. Such quiet zones are recognized by road barriers. For visitors, this means parking motor vehicles in arranged parking lots and using marked mountain paths.
Martin Šolar, vice-president of the Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS), emphasized: "PZS is one of the oldest voluntary organizations in Slovenia and the most numerous in the field of mountaineering. Mountaineers are great lovers of nature, but we are aware that not only our members go to the mountains, so we have devoted a lot of attention to awareness and responsible mountain visiting." In the VrH Julijcev project, PZS renovated an erosion-prone part of the path on the edge of the quiet zone on Pokljuka (Jezerca-Studor Pass), which is managed by the Mountain Association Srednja vas from Bohinj.

Davor Krepfl, professional associate of the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, Kranj Regional Unit, presented the example of establishing a quiet zone on the Vitranc ridge, which has one of the oldest habitats of the western capercaillie. This area borders the park and is a Natura 2000 area. In establishing the quiet zone, they agreed with stakeholders on a temporal restriction of access to the ridge from March 15 to June 15, when the western capercaillie breeding season takes place.
In Bohinj, in five years, twice as many users of free transports to Pokljuka
JZ TNP also renovated the information point at Mrzli studenec on Pokljuka for visitors, the Goreljek educational path, and newly established or renovated more than 150 information boards. PZS, with mountain associations and hut managers, established new information points in six huts, where visitors can also get various publications and materials about the diversity of the park's nature, rules of behavior, and the importance of nature preservation.
Klemen Langus, Tourism Bohinj, said that due to the VrH Julijcev project, in Bohinj, they carried out free daily transports from Bohinj to Pokljuka and back for 5 years in the summer time. During this time, interest in transports greatly increased, and they also increased capacities for bicycle transport. "If in 2018 we transported an average of 67 passengers per day, in 2022 we transported almost twice as many - 123. We devoted a lot of attention to traffic arrangement on Pokljuka, where the project helped us set the foundations, but the implementation of traffic arrangement still awaits us."
Where and how do rock ptarmigans live in winter and western capercaillies when they are not singing?
The Slovenia Forest Service (ZGS) cleaned 61 km of clearings to improve the habitat of protected forest birds, such as the western capercaillie and hazel grouse, performed clearing of woody overgrowth in the vicinity of Fužine alpine meadows, and planted more than 15,000 seedlings of autochthonous tree species on Pokljuka.
Brigita Oblak from the Bled unit of ZGS emphasized that they also participated in coordination activities for traffic arrangement on Pokljuka and in the creation of the VrH Julijcev project film.
In the VrH Julijcev project, the BirdWatch Slovenia (DOPPS) for the first time conducted telemetric monitoring of the western capercaillie and rock ptarmigan with the aim of better understanding the life of these two species than from classic censuses. Tomaž Mihelič, conservation ornithologist, DOPPS, said that in the project they monitored 10 western capercaillies in the area of Pokljuka and Fužine alpine meadows, thereby obtaining very important information: in winter, with high snow cover, the capercaillie can survive even a week in a spruce, and throughout the year, its movement is very dependent on the network of mountain paths, which it avoids. "For the rock ptarmigan, with the help of telemetric monitoring, we found out where it stays in winter: it looks for bare areas, avalanche areas, and blown areas where it finds food.
Due to low temperatures, it can stay in a few square meters all day. Especially in winter, it needs peace, because food supplies at high altitudes are really poor and it must save energy," explained Mihelič.
Restoration of pastures and 15 ponds for greater permanence of surface waters
For the black grouse, a characteristic inhabitant of grassy slopes of the Alps, especially in the Tolmin mountains and on Breginjski Stol, JZ TNP removed overgrowth on Planina Čadrg Peak, and for the rosalia alpina, Tourism Bohinj removed overgrowth in habitats in the area of Črna Prst.
Ponds, mostly on hard-to-access alpine meadows and pastures, are often the only source of water for livestock during the grazing season, but they are also the habitat of protected amphibian species, such as the great crested newt and alpine newt. On the Primorska side of the park, the renovation of four ponds was led by the Municipality of Tolmin and JZ TNP, on the Gorenjska side, the renovation of 11 ponds was carried out under the direction of the Agricultural Forestry Institute Kranj
(KGZ Kranj) and JZ TNP. Planning and implementation required cooperation of numerous stakeholders and prior acquisition of prescribed consents, and during construction interventions also the implementation of protective measures for amphibians. The Slovenian Army also helped with helicopter transport of material and equipment to hard-to-access alpine meadows.
Tatjana Grilc, agricultural advisor KGZ Kranj, said: "Renovation of ponds in high mountains is in itself a demanding task due to difficult accessibility. The process from planning to implementation includes a very wide spectrum of tasks, coordination between different professional organizations and contractors. We were very pleased with the response of agrarian and pasture communities, that they approached the renovation as contractors and even those that were not included are already interested in placing new ponds on other alpine meadows. In this way, we contribute to nature preservation, protection of cultural heritage, as well as preservation of traditional grazing on alpine meadows."
Tomaž Štenkler, deputy mayor of the Municipality of Tolmin, presented the experiences of renovating four ponds on the Primorska side of TNP. The municipality renovated ponds on Planina Podkuk and Stador and two ponds in Čadrg.
"The responses of agrarian and pasture communities are very positive and interest in new ponds is very great. Also in the future, such cooperation between agriculture and nature conservation in pond renovation will be very welcome, as it brings synergies for both sectors."
Improvement of the status of Double Lake and adaptation of the hut's operation
In the VrH Julijcev project, three main activities took place to improve the status of Double Lake:
capture of alien fish species, removal of algae, and hut activities to reduce impact on the lake.
Miha Ivanc from the Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia presented the course of capturing alien fish species, which took place for four years (2020-2023): "Before the start of project activities, there were not many cases of capture in high-mountain lakes, but with professional knowledge and experiences, we improved capture methods in four years and the number of fish in the lake has greatly decreased, but we did not completely capture them." Ivanc adds that weather was a big problem for them, especially large fluctuations in lake level,
snow cover height and rainfall often affected their work. In total, they captured over 10,000 minnows and 18,000 Arctic charr.
Dušan Prašnikar, professional associate PZS, said that in the hut at Double Lake, with project funds, they arranged two outdoor dry toilets, which will be available to hut visitors in the next season. "Project activities to reduce the hut's impact on the quality of Double Lake really took a lot of time and energy. We planned a larger and different scope of work, but we encountered legislative obstacles and conceptual differences. We hope that the pilot project of dry toilets will achieve the expected results." In parallel with the project implementation, the Mountain Association Ljubljana Matica, owner of the Hut at Triglav Lakes, implemented measures to adapt the hut's operation and upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant. The results of wastewater quality measurements show significant improvement.
High viewership of the TV premiere of the VrH Julijcev documentary
This autumn, in the VrH Julijcev partnership, they premiered the educational natural science documentary film. The television premiere at the end of October on the 1st program of TV Slovenia was watched by more than 83 thousand viewers. The film is available for free viewing on the YouTube channel of Triglav National Park .

The VrH Julijcev project - Improvement of the status of species and habitat types in Triglav National Park is co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Slovenia.