Implementation of Mountain Pastures Trail and Launch Meeting
20/10/2023–22/10/2023
In preparation for the Pastoral Trail, we made a networking visit to Ganovce and its region on 12-13 October 2023. We identified the planned PT heart sites who are involved in pastoral care and rangeland management. During the study tour we visited 4 project sites, including a pastoral organisation, an innovative local entrepreneur in animal husbandry and 2 national parks, as the largest proportion of meadows and grazing lands are managed by national parks in Slovakia.
The 1st stop of the study tour was the Slovak Paradise National Park, where we had the opportunity to see the whole park in an experiential VR tour and were shown how meadows and woodlands are managed. The second stop was in Dobsina, Podlesok Ranc, where Ing. Pavol Hosak welcomed us. The farm has free-range Scottish cattle and accommodation and catering facilities. Our 3rd venue was in Ganovce, where grazing farmers from several municipalities have formed a cooperative to pool grazing land and organise their work more efficiently. Our 4th venue was the High Tatras National Park, where we were shown the tourism projects in the pipeline (lifts, hotels, etc.) and their impact on the mountain ecosystem.
For the Pastoral Trail, we looked for a location near the Slovak-Polish border that would allow us to involve partners in the organisation. Ing. Jozef Bednar and Malgorzata Pociask from Pro-Carpathia helped with their local contacts and Jozef was not only an interpreter but also an expert guide for the project team.
The Launch Meeting took place at the headquarters of our Polish partner Pro Carpathia Association in Rzeszów on 21.10.2024. During the one-day workshop, the 3 project partners agreed on the activities related to the implementation and the division of labour between the partners.
The Anima Association prepared a presentation for the Launch Meeting and presented the steps for the implementation of the project and the planned division of tasks between the partners. The project website that is being prepared was also presented. https://nagymadar.hu/ The partners have undertaken to place the information material on their own web pages. The Pastoral Trail was disseminated through informal channels, Working closely with the Slovak partners, it was possible to identify the sites that were visited during the Pastoral Trail. More pictures of the events can be found in the Gallery. Access to the short film about the Pastoral Trail.
