Meeting of the Steering Committee
Yesterday, on the 15th of May 2018, the last meeting of the Steering Committee took place. It was also attended by sheep breeders, members of the ZŚiNPK council and Tadeusz Kowalczyk – the Vice-Chairman of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Assembly and Mieczysław Sas – the Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Water Management and Environmental Protection of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Assembly.
The plenary part was hosted by the Local Government Cultural Institution „Kasztelania” in Kije. The meeting began with a welcome by Krystyna Wójcik-Daniluk, deputy director of the Park Complex, and Tadeusz Kowalczyk. The status of implementation of the LIFE project was presented in the presentation by Wojciech Sołtysiak – project manager.
The participants saw the areas covered by the active protection measures in Stawiany in the Kije Commune, where sheep have been grazed since 2015. The site covers several nearby elevations of the land, on slopes of which patches of xerothermic turfs and thermophilic sand based turfs have developed, as described by Tomasz Hałatkiewicz, the Director of the Park Complex.
Another area was the so-called Serpentyny (Zigzags) – a fragment of the Garb Pińczowski, where, in a picturesque scenery, Prof. Czesław Nowak, PhD, Eng., gave a very interesting lecture, widely discussing natural values in the economic development of rural areas on the example of Ponidzie, and Edyta Molik PhD presented the issues related to sheep grazing as a form of management in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
The participants of the session also visited the unique area of sheep grazing conducted on the grounds of the National Forests of the Pińczów Forest Inspectorate (Co-beneficiary of the project) in the village of Młodzawy. The meeting of the Steering Committee was concluded with a discussion on the quality of thermophilous oak forest habitats and refreshments at the National Forest Tree Nursery – Michałów Forest Inspectorate.