In June, the first activities on maintenance of saplings of the forest shelter belts has began on the territory of the Northeast State Company – Shumen within the project “Life for Eagles’ habitats”. “The mechanical cleaning of the row-spacings in the belts was done quickly, but the digging around the saplings will take much longer than planned”, said the deputy director of the State Forest Enterprise – Balchik, eng. Radoslav Radev. This year the maintenance of the young trees will be extremely labor-intensive because of the lush grass vegetation. Heavy rains and high temperatures will keep the grass fresh for a long time and will make it a hardship for the workers.

“Steppe vegetation is typical for this part of our country. Even if nothing else can grow, there will always be grass”, Radev said. Despite the difficulties, he thinks, the workers will manage it. The high soil moisture will help the saplings, so that their survival rate is expected to be high.

The project “Conservation measures for the Lesser Spotted Eagle and its Habitats in Bulgaria”, which is part of the EU’s LIFE programme, aims to protect this rare species and preserve the biodiversity of Bulgaria’s forests. The partners in the project are EFA, BSPB, NESC and SESC. The activities will be implemented in 20 Natura 2000 protected sites located in South-eastern and North-eastern Bulgaria for a period of 5 years.