News

The Steppe Oak Woods and Pannonic Sand Steppes international conference was held between 6-8 October in Kecskemét, Hungary. During the versatile scientific programme and the many presentations the participants could discuss the present situation of the steppe oak woods. On the last day of the conference we visited the oak woods of the LIFE project area near Nagykőrös, and also the magnificent Pálfája, an ancient oak tree.

Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate, Kiskunság National Park Directorate and WWF Hungary are holding a conference on the present conservation issues of steppe woods habitats in Central and Eastern Europe on 6-8 October 2011 in Kecskemét, Hungary. Participants from all over Europe are welcome.

If you want to help saving nature, hands on! We need volunteers to help to fight invasive plants in the Pálfája woods on the 2^nd of July. Meeting point: Train station, Nagykőrös at 10 am.

Please register by sending an e-mail to onkentes@dinpig.hu

Following the traditions this year we expect the children to oak woods of Nagykőrös for a week full of experiences.
Dates: 11-15 July 2011
Costs: 8500 HUF/week
Registration and information: Mária Sápi, phone 30-663-4657

On the 15^th March we opened the season with a nature trail tour in the bright sunshine. Visitors arrived from all over the country to see the traces of spring on the winter face of the oak woods.

We have closed a successful year in 2010 in the oak woods of Nagykőrös. In 2011 we keep working for the conservation of the steppe woods and sandy grassland.

On the 8^th of October environmental experts invited by DINPI and WWF were gathering from all over the country at the railway station of Nagykőrös to get acquainted to the LIFE project aiming the conservation of the steppeoak woods and sandy grasslands in Nagykőrös.

Winners of our Internet game were drawn

After a capricious spring the summer was kind and gracious to our outdoor programs. Our nature camps were held in good order. (namely Makk Marci tent camp, Erdei Kuckó nature camp)

Large number of photos were submitted to the Photo Contest invited in the topic of the steppe oak woods near to Nagykőrös by WWF, Nagykőrös Municipality and the Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate. Finally the winners were selected and the best photos can be seen on the website.

Photo contest

Shoot the woods, trees, flowers, birds, mammals, bugs! Submit the photos and win valuable prizes in the nature photo contest of Duna-Ipoly National Park, WWF Hungary and Nagykőrös Municipality!

Last weeks’ stormy weather caused damages in the oakwoods of Nagykőrös too. Whereas rain means life, a chance for surviving for an oak living on a dry grassland.

This spring more than 30 hectares (60 football grounds) were planted with native saplings ont he plots that were cleaned from invasive tree species last year. More than a hundred thousand saplings were planted into the ground after a applying special soil preparation technology. Not only oak trees were planted but also ten other native tree species and several bushes.

March is the month of „wet” days. This was a good excuse to initiate discussions about the importance and protection of our waters during the environmental occupations held in the nursery in Nagykőrös.

Thanks to the more than 200 volunteers, who helped to shepherd the game out from the fenced woods, a dozen deer and fallow deer found their new home outside the fences. However approximately another dozen are still within the fences, so we repeat the shepherding on the 20^th of March. New wolunteers are welcome!

We rely on the help of volunteers on 12^th February, when we will shepherd out the animals from the fenced woods compartment. Apply, if you’d like to help!

The LIFE program of Nagykőrös has come to the mid-term, and we sent the Mid-term Report to the Commission at the beginning of this year. Lately we have received their reply and approval, so that the second instalment of the LIFE support can be claimed.

’Successful week in the wild with exciting activities’ should be the headline of this year’s unforgettable camp. Sleeping under stars, water-bomb fighting, night walks and handicraft programmes made the summer camp in the Pálfája woods exceptionally enjoyable this year.

In the middle of May, the game-exclusion fences, also with the placement of the electric fences, have been completed in the oak woods of Nagykőrös

Summer is approaching quickly, therefore it is time to think about summer camps. Write a poem, an essay or draw a painting of an oak tree or the oak woods. Send it to our address till 10 June and you can join us in our summer camps.

The LIFE program of Nagykőrös has come to the mid-term, so with the first arrivals of spring, the monitoring committee of the EU LIFE program has also come to pay us a visit.

The Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate has become the new registered forest manager of Strázsa-hill. Therefore we can finally start the work for the preservation of the protected area’s natural values.

The first part of the works of forestry, which is a high priority part of our project, draws to an end. The removal of the invading species of trees began on 325 hectares in September last year, and then the bigger blank areas were planted with native tree species. Once we finish the works in the spring, the woods of Nagykőrös are going to become rich with 60 hectares native afforestation. Also, we are building fences, in order to guard the young plantations against the destruction of numerous fallow deer, deer and wild boars.

The Pálfája Educational Centre, opened this summer, from September, 2008 is fully operational. The outdoor classes in biology and environmental studies, and also the guided tours for groups on the study trail are open for all classes and school groups. If you are interested, please register for the free-of-charge programmes.

Until mid-September more than 4,000 visitors played and were successful in the on-line game that models our conservation work in the steppe oak woods. We have drawn the luckiest players, who win valuable presents. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all, who played with us.

We offered handicraft, nature knowledge quiz, folk games, films and lectures to those who came to our family afternoon on 27th of September. Among the field programs the study trail tour and the steppe oak tour by horse coach were both popular.

The m2 channel broadcast the next episode of Natura magazine, which was filmed in the steppe oak woods in Nagykőrös, on 4 of October.

Sun was very gracious this year again for the Nagykőrös Days, a long-time heat record broke this weekend. The Cifrakert shady trees and the different drinks affably cooled down the visitors. The Pálfája Education Center debuted in this event organized by Arany János Cultural Center and Nagykőrös Localpatriot Association on 6-7 of September.

The next autumn episode of the Hungarian Television’s Natura series were shooted on June 24-25 in the steppe oak woods in Nagykőrös.

More that 500 pieces of art arrived to our call for children drawings about forests, to decorate the recently opened Pálfája Educational Centre. We thank for all applicants and their teachers. Have a look at the drawings in the Photo Albums section, or keep reading for the prize-list.

On the 5th of June, the Day of the Environment, was celebrated the opening of the Pálfája Educational Centre and Nature Trail. Imre Szabó, the Minister of Environment and Water also participated on the ceremony.

Jan Sliva, member of the external monitoring team visited the Steppe oak woods of Nagykőrös LIFE project at the beginning of May.

An enthusiastic little team – project members, teachers and environmental education professionals - got off on April 21-22 to visit two nearby environmental education center, which can stand as a role model to the Pálfája Educational Center.

We invite 6-14 year old children to enter „Forest on the steppe” drawing competition to decorate jointly the Pálfája Education Center opening this summer. The competition is nationwide, the pieces of art can be posted until the Earth Day, April 22 to the mailig address of WWF Hungary. The best drawings will be exhibited in the Education Center and awarded with books and other prizes.

On the 14th of March was celebrated the technical hand-over of the refurbished Pálfája Educational Centre. In the name of the town the Mayor of Nagykőrös received the keys of the building. The reconstruction works – including the installation of some environmental-friendly solutions – were all finished by the set deadline. Therefore, only the rearrangement of the garden and the construction of the study trail in Pálfája wood are left to be done before the official opening ceremony on the 5th of June.

After the public procurement procedure the winner of the tender – on pursuance of the contract – has begun to reconstruct the old day-boarding camp in Pálfája wood this January. With the refurbishment of the old building, the new education center will be the first institution of Nagykőrös specialized in enviromental education.

On 17th January the first public tender call for the implementation of the project specific conservation treatments was published in Tenders Electronic Daily (www.ted.europa.eu). The title of the call is HU-Esztergom: Forestry management services.

At the end of 2007 the National Park Directorate established a right of use on 175 hectares of steppe oak woods in good conservational status. With this action one of the most important objectives of our project has been fulfilled.

New snowy pictures of the oak woods have been uploaded to the Photo Albums >>

We have collected the opinion of 67 children, 57 young people and 57 adults, who filled our questionnaire, in which we asked for suggestions for the programme offer of Pálfája Educational Center, opening next summer.

This weekend terminates the game monitoring – a systematic survey of game presence – in the oak woods of Nagykőrös. It will provide the needed data about the number of deers, fallow-deers and boars for the implementation of the conservation actions.

On 13 October 2007 we invited the representatives of nature conservation and environmental conservation NGOs to an excursion with professional guidance in the Natura 2000 area of Nagykőrös Steppe Oak Woods, where we presented the sand oak woods of the Great Plain and the conservation actions of the LIFE-Nature project.

The nice sunny weather of 1 September as well as the cultural and gastronomic supply attracted many people to Cifra garden, location of Nagykőrös Days, where the Steppe Oak Woods of Nagykőrös LIFE project was also represented.

It seems that the passionate followers of geocaching, the geocachers have recently discovered the beauty of the Nagykőrös oak woods. Thanks to the multi geocache hidden near Pálfája more and more hikers with GPS visit one of the most interesting woods of the Great Plain.

The Green-Spot (Zöld-Pont) Office in Nagykőrös, which was opened for the occasion of the Day of Birds and Trees, started its operation with the session of the Advisory Board of the LIFE Project.

Jan Sliva, the appointed member for the Steppe Oak Woods of Nagykőrös LIFE project of the Commission’s external monitoring team, visited the project area in the end of April.

On 8 May we organise an excursion and press conference for the national and local representatives of the media in the Nagykőrös Steppe Oak Woods. Join us, and we will show you how the Great Hungarian Plain looked like in the time of the Settlement of the Magyars in Hungary!

At Kálvin square (market-place) and in the well-known Pálfája wood we erected the information boards of LIFE-Nature project. Visit these places and read about the nature conservation activities of the next five years in the Nagykőrös forest!