Expansion of the grazing area in the Janovský mokřad nature reserve 2024

The first project that was successfully implemented in cooperation between the Pilsen Region and the partner IDEAL Automotive Bor, s.r.o. is a new grazing area for Exmoor ponies and aurochs. The grazing area has been expanded by 4.6 ha with a 1,300 m long fence. The new grazing area is connected to areas I and II that have been grazed for several years. The expansion measure also included the installation of a solar-powered pump in a drilled well, connected to a waterer in the pasture. It was necessary to solve the water supply due to increasingly dry and hot summers when animals begin to lack drinking water. The expansion of the enclosure was also very desirable and welcome as the number of animals is increasing. In the newly grazed area, biodiversity is expected to increase especially among plant communities and invertebrates. Visitors can watch life on the pasture from an already installed lookout tower in the immediate vicinity. Targeted management, primarily through the activities of ungulates, will result in the grazing of unwanted stands of the invasive wood small-reed that suppresses the development of a more diverse mosaic of meadow herbaceous vegetation. In addition to grazing, there will also be a positive disturbance of the pasture, where desirable herbaceous vegetation will establish and develop in exposed habitats. This will also increase the diversity of insects attached to the various types of vegetation. In contrast to the other parts of the wetland nature reserve, these are mainly dry meadows where different plant and animal communities will develop. Before grazing begins in the new area, research is already underway into the abundance and diversity of insects. The Pilsen Region has been investing in the construction of visitor infrastructure and management of the nature reserve for a long time, but without the partner support from IDEAL Automotive Bor, s.r.o., it would not have been possible to build a third grazing area in such a short time and ensure a stable source of drinking water for large ungulates counting 3 male Exmoor ponies and 8 aurochs.