Protect Biodiversity in Romania

Foundation Conservation Carpthia (FCC) December 2019 to January 2020 Field Report:

Activities:

• 30.6 ha of additional forest secured for full protection.
• We have continued to assign fire wood to the local communities from our neighboring forests.
• The strong winds have taken down mainly spruce, but also some beech trees – except of where trees are blocking roads, we will leave it as it is.
• We continue to patrol to prevent illegal activities in the forests that we protect and in the local neighborhoods.

• Due to the lack of snow in January, we have collected and prepared humus from the forest to use it in our green house.
• We deposited juniper seeds over the winter.
• Spruce monoculture conversion work has started by opening the plantations to get light on the ground and to prepare for planting beech and sycamore in spring.
• We mapped the new properties where restoration measures will be taken in spring: zone, surfaces, saplings.
• You can join our ecological restoration campaign, donate or adopt clear-cut parcels at: https://www.carpathia.org/donate/

Wildlife conservation Update

• After 200 years, the Fagaras Mountains are again HOME for the European bison! The first bison are doing well in the quarantine enclosure. See photos!
• Wildlife conflicts are beginning to decrease, though there were a few incidents with bears and wild boar during December. This is mainly due to the mild winter and the lack of food in the forest as there was no beech fructification in autumn. Our rapid intervention team regularly checks the five electric fences in use.
• Rangers patrolling to prevent poaching of wildlife and fish.
• We have collected biological samples, mainly from wolves, such as scats, urine and hair, continues. Our team of rangers got support from volunteers and managed to collect 61 samples so far. See photos!
• Our breeding programme for the Romanian Carpathian shepherd dog continues with positive results. Soon we will donate new puppies to farmers in the Fagaras mountains. And, we have reached 111 healthy, beautiful Hungarian Grey cattle and calves. See photos!

Events / Presentations / Community Outreach

• The “Long term monitoring of large carnivores in the Carpathians” event at Ovidius Natural Sciences University Constanta gave us the possibility to share our recently completed study on the subject.
• We participated in a workshop together with other environmental NGOs regarding the wildlife monitoring and management. A common vision will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment.
• In a meeting with the farmers in Rucar we discussed wildlife-livestock conflicts and how to better resolve them.
• Barbara and Christoph Promberger, executive directors of FCC, were awarded the CARIERE Excellence Award for their life-long personal and professional involvement in the preservation of the natural heritage in Romania. Gala brings together the elite of communities of entrepreneurs, managers, national and world-renowned specialists who contribute to a better Romania. Huge congrats to Barbara and Christoph!

Join us in:

• Creating the largest forested National Park in Europe.
• Annual restoration of the original ecosystem on over 100 ha of illegal clear-cuts.
• Protecting wildlife on a total of 65,000 ha.
• Sustainable development of local communities.
• Environmental education projects.

Thank you from all of us at Foundation Conservation Carpathia for your support and contributions!