Spring pasqueflower and gentian - will we only admire...

Spring pasqueflower and gentian - will we only admire plastic flowers anymore?



The spring pasqueflower in Boletina and on Boč is already blooming, Clusius' gentian will bloom on Lovrenc in April. The mountaineering organization wants to act primarily preventively in nature conservation, including alpine flowers - through education, training, and awareness-raising. On the last habitats of the extremely rare and therefore highly endangered spring pasqueflower on Boč and near Ponikva, as well as on the special gentian habitat on Lovrenc, protection with fencing and volunteers has been carried out for decades; the volunteers also educate visitors about the life and importance of these special flowers and, by warning careless or reckless visitors, ensure the safety of the plants and habitats. However, cases of deliberate digging up and poaching of plants are also appearing, which is a criminal offense.







Efforts for nature protection date back to the end of the 19th century, to the time of the establishment of the Slovenian Mountaineering Association (SPD), the predecessor of the Alpine Association of Slovenia. In 1898, Emperor Franz Joseph signed a law for the protection of Blagaj's wolf's bane and edelweiss at the initiative of the SPD, which is a symbol of mountaineers and mountaineering organizations worldwide; a year later, Janez Rekar from Mojstrana spent six hours in prison "for picking edelweiss." 120 years later, two almost symbolic Slovenian flowers - the spring pasqueflower on Boč and in Boletina (near Ponikva) and Clusius' gentian (gentian) on the Lovrenc habitat (near Lisca) are threatened, the spring pasqueflower perhaps even with extinction. Despite regulations, information boards at the locations, protective fencing, and physical guarding, the destruction of protected plants, which are listed on the Red List of Endangered Plant Species, continues due to inappropriate behavior of visitors. Will we only admire plastic flowers anymore?







The Slovenian Mountaineering Association was the initiator of the establishment of the Alpine Protection Park, the predecessor of Triglav National Park; in 1954, at the initiative of Dr. Angela Piskernik, the mountain guard was established, and in the period 1998-2001, the Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS) upgraded the mountain nature protection program with the mountain nature guardian program and thereby acquired the status of a society acting in the public interest in the field of nature conservation. More than 300 mountain nature guardians, more than 700 mountain guards, and other nature conservation-engaged mountaineers are connected in the PZS Commission for Mountain Nature Protection, whose mission - as emphasized by its chief Marijan Denša - is to care for mountain nature protection through education, training, and awareness-raising - both within the mountaineering organization and more broadly, especially among other visitors to the mountain world. "The issues of nature protection have changed over the years, but care for alpine flowers has been a constant in our efforts. Alpine flowers are an integral part of mountain nature, an important part of its biodiversity and diversity, so we must preserve them. They grow in extremely demanding conditions of our mountains, so they are rare and endangered. In the mountaineering association, we want to act primarily preventively, i.e., through education, training, and awareness-raising, which is the only thing that produces results in the long term. Unfortunately, sometimes this is not enough, then the help of the inspectorate and police is needed," emphasizes Jože Rovan, president of PZS.







On the territory of Slovenia, 3200 plant species are known, and on the Red List of Endangered Plant Species, as many as 727 are listed, many of which are protected mountain plants. According to the Regulation on Protected Wild Plant Species, it is "prohibited to intentionally destroy, especially pick, cut, uproot, and remove from nature, remove from nature or collect plant species and endanger the existence of these species in their natural area of distribution." That Slovenian mountains are a paradise for poachers of alpine flowers echoed in the case of Englishman Tom Mitchell, an enterprising plant hunter, described by Dušan Klenovšek in the article Poaching Mountain Treasures in the Mountaineering Bulletin. A case of larger-scale gentian poaching was observed in October 2017 on Lovrenc, specifically 60 excavation sites indicating organized poaching of this protected plant, which is a criminal offense. In Boletina and on Boč, the spring pasqueflower is beginning to bloom, where they also organize duty shifts during its flowering time to preserve this endangered plant species, which can now only be found at four sites in Slovenia.







The spring pasqueflower with its densely hairy, bell-shaped violet flower belongs to the genus pasqueflowers and blooms early in spring, usually in full bloom around Easter, this year a little earlier. "The habitat in Boletina near Ponikva in the municipality of Šentjur is 1.7 hectares large and the largest of the four currently known spring pasqueflower habitats in Slovenia. Locals admired the spring pasqueflower even before protection in the mid-1990s, but the then landowners had little interest in protecting the plant; comprehensive regulation began in 2006 when the municipality bought the entire habitat land and awarded a concession for arrangement, maintenance, and information to TOD Ponikva through a call. The number of spring pasqueflowers ranges between 800 and 1,700 specimens. Volunteers set up a protective rope fence and remove it after flowering, set up and later remove an information kiosk for duty, and guide, inform, and watch over the events at the habitat on Saturdays and Sundays, and upon announcement also guide visitor groups during the week. Viewing is possible up to the rope fence, which separates or protects the meadow part with the flowers. On one part, however, the path is routed so that it allows close encounters of visitors with the spring pasqueflower and thus also photography," explains Zlatko Zevnik, president of the Tourist Improvement Association Ponikva, whose members also mow the habitat in summer and remove straw grass, and in autumn also part of the shrubs so that there is no overgrowth of the meadow surface at the edges. The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, OE Celje, supervises the information boards both in Ponikva and on Boč.







On Boč, the spring pasqueflower appears on three habitats protected since 1991, namely Bočka ravan (mountain hut, 660 m), Galke (550 m), and Ljubično (330 m); formerly around a thousand flowers could be seen, but in the last decade, there are around 300 flowers on all three habitats, describes Ivan Borovnik, head of the mountain nature protection section of the Mountaineering Association Poljčane, where they have been striving for the preservation of this protected plant for decades. "30 years ago, we set up wooden fences and maintain them regularly. Protection lasts up to 20 days every year, with a group of 40 volunteers participating - mountain guards, mountain nature guardians, and mountaineers from our and neighboring mountaineering associations. We have advertising and warning boards at the habitat, we publish warnings and our activities for preserving the spring pasqueflower in the local weekly. Guardians also inform about the endangerment and what damage careless approaches to the spring pasqueflower habitat cause," says Borovnik and continues that 20 years ago there were many excavations of whole plants, together with roots and soil, they also poached seeds from the habitat, which is rare today, but other problems appear: "Several factors affect the reduced number of flowering plants, including climate change, unsuitable soil pH, overgrowth with brush and moss. Mild winters with less snow harm the plant, the number of pollinators has also decreased. With artificial planting, they found that it is successful only in 10 percent. Today's problem at the habitat is people - visitors, not mountaineers. In recent years, up to 3000 visitors visit Boč and the habitat during flowering time. Due to smartphones with powerful cameras, they enter the habitat and trample, break off small flower buds. The other problem is animals - dogs that freely enter without supervision and even eat spring pasqueflower flowers." The spring pasqueflower flower, which has no scent and bitter taste, contains the poison anemonin, which paralyzes the central nervous system.







Clusius' gentian, commonly also called gentian, together with edelweiss, primrose, and snowbell is one of the symbolic plants of the high mountains, but on Lovrenc (711 m) (near Lisca) and neighboring Veliki Kozji (993 m) it thrives at lower altitudes and with its royal blue invites to the Posavje hills. "Digging, but especially abandoning mowing, fertilizing, and grazing on meadows are the reasons it has been preserved only at a few locations. For its preservation at the most famous location around the church of St. Lovrenc, mountaineers are primarily responsible," says Dušan Klenovšek, mountain nature guardian of the Mountaineering Association Lisca Sevnica. The Clusius' gentian habitat on Lovrenc is a botanical natural monument, mountaineers have set up information boards and a wooden fence, since gentian specimens were still disappearing, they introduced physical guarding during flowering time and in 2017 also an exhibition about the nature of this area. All activities, besides voluntary mountain guards and mountain nature guardians, are carried out by employees of the Kozjanski Park Public Institute. "But legislation, information boards, fence, media publications, visitor awareness-raising, and guards unfortunately do not prevent poaching completely. Gentian is still disappearing! In addition to using roots for preparing alcoholic beverages, transplanting for home rock gardens and graves is now more extensive. But for beverage preparation, roots of the yellow-flowering gentian - košutnik are usually used. Transplanting also does not work - Clusius' gentian sadly dies within a year. The gentian seen on graves and in rock gardens is very similar to our gentian - Koch's gentian. Every year after flowering, excavation holes can be observed. The consequences of one of the worst such eco-terrorist acts were noticed by locals Goriškovi in October 2017, namely 60 excavation sites. The excavation was done in a way that made the consequences hard to notice. The quick response of the police is to be praised, who unfortunately (still) has not found the perpetrators," adds Klenovšek, also an expert advisor to the PZS Commission for Mountain Nature Protection.







The police, in connection with protected plant species, handles the criminal offense of Illegal Handling of Protected Animals and Plants; if it involves damage or destruction of an area declared as a protected area or habitat of a certain protected plant species, the criminal offense of Damage or Destruction of Items of Special Cultural Importance or Natural Value. For perpetrators of these acts, a prison sentence of up to three, five, or even eight years is threatened, explains mag. Uršula Belaj, senior criminal inspector specialist from the Criminal Police Administration GPU. The police most often starts cases based on reports from individuals and associations and handles them in accordance with the legislation (ZKP and KZ-1). "At this point, we would call on all individuals and associations to provide concrete data to police units in case of reports, which can then be substantiated. The police will verify the data and act further on the basis of legal provisions and expertise," urges Belaj.