What did the scientists notice?
The positive effect of preserving the floodplain meadows of the daffodil valley is possible only with the simultaneous presence of several environmental protection measures, in particular, a high level of moisture, regular mowing and grazing, as well as cutting down bushes and young trees.
Raising the groundwater level has a critically important effect. “In the area where water was brought from the central canal across the road last year, the narcissus population has become more viable, this can be seen, in particular, by the density of the population, the height and size of the narcissus flowers,” said the head of the ecological monitoring laboratory, candidate of sciences, senior researcher Petro Paparyga.
Small fragments of daffodil populations persisted even in areas that were overgrown with trees and shrubs, if the areas were moist. “One of the problems of the daffodil valley is the overgrowth of tree and shrub species. However, meadow vegetation was partially preserved even in those areas where mowing was not carried out during the last 5 years. Now the restoration of this territory is underway. If mowing is carried out regularly in the future, the areas with narcissus will expand,” said the head of the botanical laboratory of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, PhD. Mykola Voloshchuk.
Despite our warnings, buffalo can be grazed even in areas where narcissus blooms, if the intensity of grazing is not high. “The experimental plot, on which buffalo grazed, showed that the buffalo broke no more than 5% of the number of daffodils in the experimental plot. Instead, the benefit was much greater – they eat grass and young bushes, which is a competitor of narcissus. In addition, narcissus is toxic to livestock, they avoid it, because it causes many symptoms: from nausea and diarrhea to convulsions and paralysis. The actual preservation of the valley is possible only under the conditions of the return of the traditional way of farming and a significant level of wetting of the territory at the same time,” said the head of the NGO “Danube-Carpathian Program” PhD. Bohdan Prots.
For the last two years, the NGO “Danube-Carpathian Program” as part of the project “Save the Narcissus Valley” https://bit.ly/3Oa39gv and with the support of the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) and ORTOVOX has been actively involved in the work of the KBZ to preserve the narcissus population.
