On 19.09.2016 a field meeting of the Board of the Steering Committee created in the framework of the Project No. LIFE12NAT/PL/000081 titled “Protection of Non-forest Communities in the Beskids’ Landscape Parks” [“Ochrona zbiorowisk nieleśnych na terenie Beskidzkich Parków Krajobrazowych”] took place. The goal of the meeting was for the employees of the LIFE+ Beskidy Project to present the current progress of the works within the Natural Refuges of the Żywiec Beskids NATURA 2000, especially a presentation of the surfaces subject to exclusion and exchange in the Project.

The participants of the meeting headed first to the shepherds’ hut built as part of the Project on Bukowina in the Węgierska Górka commune, where the tasks connected with building shepherding and touristic infrastructure were discussed. Tasks concerning the promotion and popularisation of the Project, i.a. workshops for the local stakeholders, actions promoting traditional shepherding in the Beskids, were also presented. At that time sheep were grazing in the vicinity of the shepherds’ hut, so the questions of managing a herd in wintertime were discussed.  

The Wilczy Groń area was inspected as a potential area to be included in the Project. After generally presenting the types of plant communities in that area, it was discussed in detail what tasks shall be implemented on that surface in order to pursue the goals of the Project. During the next stage of the meeting, the participants went to the terrain where recently the process of mowing areas of Alpine dock and sowing plant species native to the region was completed (the Rysianka and Lipowska Range). The employees of the Project discussed the purpose of the conducted process emphasising the necessity to repeat those actions in order to achieve the proper ecological effect.

The meeting ended with a discussion on the performed actions. The main intended goals of the Project and the results achieved so far were discussed. Attention was brought to the correctness and effectiveness of the performed actions. The members of the Board did not have any negative remarks and they expressed their desire to organise another field trip. This concluded the meeting.