The fourth workshop of the national coordination of the Croatian partners of the LIFE WILDisland project was held on the November 21st 2023 in the premises of the Visitor Centre Kopački rit.
The meeting was also attended by staff of the Coordinating Beneficiary from Austria, as well as representatives of Hrvatske šume d.o.o. and JUPP Kopački rit.
The Croatian team presented the activities carried out so far and discussed the next steps to continue the removal of alien species from the project target area. The aim is to convert the existing artificial monoculture of Auro-American poplar monoculture into a mixed forest of native species (poplar and willow). Converting the existing poplar plantation into stable mixed forests of autochthone species will increase the resilience of the forest ecosystem to biotic and abiotic factors, increase ecological value and general beneficial forest functions and increase biodiversity.merican poplars into a mixed forest of native species to enhance its resilience and biodiversity of the area. The teams are currently facing some challenges due to a recent storm which caused immense damages in another part of Croatia and required an urgent mobilization of the companies offering tree felling, but we hope that the issues will soon be resolved.
After the discussions, a field trip was organized to the site where the LIFE WILDisland information panels will be created. The guests from Donau-Auen National Park also enjoyed a wonderful boat trip and had the chance to observe an impressive number of the White-tailed Eagle resident in the area.
