Heathlands and associated communities in Kujawy and Pomerania: management, treatment and conservation

Abstract

Heathlands are strictly dependent on human activity. Cessation of land use, consisting in livestock grazing, burning and mowing, triggers off the succession processes, which quickly bring transformations of grasslands and heaths into fringe, thicket and forest communities. In the conditions of modern Poland, heaths generally develop over small areas in the landscape of pine forests, less frequently mixed forests. Those are forest glades, unsuccessful forest plantations, division lines, roadsides, railway embankments etc. Nowadays, larger areas of the aforementioned heaths occur only on military training grounds or in the nature reserves, frequently formed on former military areas where active protection must be applied. This book presents heterogeneity of heaths occurring in Poland and the problems related to their protection, reconstruction and management necessary to maintain their effective ecosystem services. The first chapter deals with two main types of heathlands occurring in Poland, i.e. wet and dry heathlands. The second chapter describes some of the important heathlands, mostly nature reserves and Natura 2000 conservation sites in the northern part of the Kujawy region, in the vicinity of Toruń located on the left bank of the Vistula River, as well as the central and eastern parts of Pomerania. Also other types of ecosystems and plant communities occurring in the vicinity of heathlands are presented, for which active conservation is also required. The types and the range of treatments applied by institutions governing these areas are described for each site. Most of the presented heaths grow on the former military training grounds which are under the State Forests administration. The project “Environmental restoration of degraded lands and former military training grounds used by State Forest” (implemented by local forest divisions under Priority Axis II of the Infrastructure and Environment Operational EU Programme) restores the heathlands and associated plant communities, making them available to the public for recreational, tourist, educational and research purposes, and as resources for processing and industry. Active conservation implemented on the other heaths described in this book, which often involves reduction of water runoff, is implemented by people working in environmental protection services in close cooperation with people of science studying the history and the present time of heaths, based on which they build scenarios of their development from the past to the future. We hope that this book will serve as a guide for field sessions and the basis for discussions during the 14th European Heathland Network Workshop, Poland 2015. The information and the observations included in the book may also serve as references and arguments in further discussions at future biennial conferences organised by and for people fascinated by heaths, working for their proper use, preservation and reconstruction.