Conservation programs
Field initiatives, parcel by parcel and season by season
Every program below is carried out by member households and volunteers on communal land, under management plans agreed with the local authority.
Native Pine & Oak Reforestation Campaigns
Each autumn we collect seed from mature stands on our own slopes, sow it in the village nursery, and plant out two-year-old black pine, Hungarian oak and beech on parcels degraded by illegal cutting and grazing pressure. Planting only local provenance keeps the restored woodland genetically matched to the site.
Planting lines are pegged along the contour, with a small basin at each pit to hold rainwater through the dry summer. Households adopt named parcels and check survival twice in the first season; failed pits are replanted the following spring rather than written off.
Typical season: 8,000–12,000 seedlings, 60–90 volunteers, survival rate 78–86%.
Communal Pasture Rotational Grazing & Protection Plans
Pasture is divided into blocks with an agreed order and duration of use, so each block rests for a full growing period before the flocks return. The rota is drawn up with the livestock-keeping households at the spring assembly and posted in the village.
We repair stone boundary walls and watering points, mark the limits of the reforestation exclosures, and record stocking numbers per block. Where a block shows bare ground or invasive spread, it is rested for a season and reseeded with local grass mixtures.
Under plan: 640 hectares of communal pasture across seven grazing blocks.
Fire Prevention & Forest Protection Watch Groups
From June to September, member households staff a daily watch rota on three ridge viewpoints, in contact with the municipal fire service. Firebreaks along the access tracks are cleared each May, and dead fuel is removed from the edges of young plantations.
The group maintains beaters, backpack pumps and hand tools in two village caches, and runs a short annual drill so that new volunteers know the assembly points and the reporting chain.
Watch season 2025: 112 patrol days, four early reports, no plantation losses.
Rural Eco-Tourism & Sustainable Biodiversity Pathways
Waymarked walking paths link the restored parcels, the nursery and the high pastures, with simple interpretation boards on native species, traditional grazing and erosion works. The routes are designed to keep visitors away from nesting areas and young plantations.
Guiding, lodging and food are provided by village households on their own account; the association takes no commission and sells nothing. The aim is a modest, seasonal income that makes standing forest worth more to the community than cut timber.
Three waymarked routes, 21 km total, with a bird and wildflower survey each June.
Field photo gallery
Photographs are taken during ordinary work days by our own coordinators and volunteers. Higher-resolution documentation of any parcel, together with planting and survival records, is available on request to partners, auditors and grant bodies.