Eurosite and Latvian Fund for Nature present a webinar series on Wet Grasslands

Eurosite and Latvian Fund for Nature are pleased to present the first webinar of a three-part series on Wet Grasslands. 

Titled ‘Best practices in management of Wet Grasslands – Stories from Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Germany, and Poland‘, the first webinar will explore various presentations about wet grasslands, their management and inspiring restoration projects and activities across Europe.

The webinar will occur on 16 January between 10:00-15:00 CET via Zoom.

➡️REGISTER HERE⬅️

Why join the webinar?

The speakers will share diverse perspectives and innovative techniques on wet grassland management – from which everyone can bring home something.

Speakers:

Janis Kuze (Latvian Fund for Nature)

An ornithologist by training, Jānis Ķuze has been involved in LIFE projects since 2006, focusing mainly on the restoration of wetland habitats. Notable outcomes of these projects have been the first river remeanderings in Latvia, several restorations of degraded raised bogs and restoration of one of the largest floodplain meadows in Latvia.  In 2012 Jānis launched the Latvian Fund for Nature’s Webcam project, which now provides 10 live webcam feeds from birds’ nests across Latvia.  The most viewed has been a white-tailed eagle nest near Durbe, gathering more than 15 million views over nine years.  Jānis has worked with this eagle species for over 20 years, coordinating the monitoring of white-tailed eagles in Latvia since 2007.  Jānis is also actively involved in establishing protected areas around the breeding sites of protected species.

Laura Zvingule (Latvian Fund for Nature)

I am project manager working at Latvian Fund for Nature, including LIFE MarshMeadows(Piloting integrated wetland restoration approaches in Latvia and Lithuania). I hold an MSc degree in environmental science. During my 30-year career I have worked in various fields – environmental education and communication, nature conservation, entrepreneurship and have been involved in activities related to trainings, grassland management and restoration, creation of and running a small grants program to support local entrepreneurs in creating biodiversity-friendly businesses.

Baiba Strazdiņa (Latvian Fund for Nature)

I am a habitat expert and coordinator of habitat restoration work in several Latvian Fund for Nature habitat restoration projects, including the European Commission financed projects “GrassLIFE: Restoring EU priority grasslands and promoting their multiple use” and “GrassLIFE2: Restoring EU priority grassland habitats and building a new narrative for their management“. My daily responsibilities include conducting habitat quality assessments, drafting recovery plans, supporting and advising landowners on habitat management and restoration, planning and evaluating the work of our mobile grazing herd, collecting seeds for habitat restoration purposes, and organising practical restoration and management measures on lands managed by the Latvian Fund for Nature.

Edgars Bojārs (Latvian Fund for Nature)

Edgars the project manager in the European Commission financed project „Restoring EU priority grassland habitats and building a new narrative for their management“ (GrassLIFE2) at the Latvian Fund for Nature. He holds an MSc degree in geography. During his 30-year career, he has worked in various fields, e.g. development of environmental indicators and reports, protection and monitoring of marine biodiversity in the Baltic Sea, monitoring of the brown bear in Latvia, grassland management and restoration.

Domas Uogintas (Baltic Environmental Forum)

Domas is a senior researcher at Nature Research Centre and an environmental expert at Baltic Environmental Forum Lithuania. His field is vegetation science, i.e., the study of diversity and ecology of plant communities. Specifically:

• • • Lithuanian and European grassland vegetation and habitats;
    • methods of vegetation data analysis and application;
    • habitat response to management types and intensity;
    • impact of alien and invasive species to communities;
    • palaeoecosystems;
    • conservation of plants and plant communities.

Žymantas Morkvenas (Baltic Environmental Forum)

Žymantas Morkvenas is active in the field of nature conservation more than 25 years. Currently acting director and biodiversity expert at the NGO Baltic environmental forum. His work focus is on agricultural practice impact to biodiversity, development of socio-economic mechanisms for maintaining biodiversity in rural landscapes. Z. Morkvenas has long hands-on experience on various conservation projects, in particular addressing aspects of wetland habitat restoration, nature communication, promoting small scale nature friendly farming, promoting short food supply chains, fostering natural and cultural heritage in the context of rural development.

Wojtek Mróz (Eurosite)

Wojtek Mróz is a project officer at Eurosite, the European Land Conservation Network. His work focuses on biodiversity, peatland management and restoration, and the use of modern technology in nature monitoring. He has 24 years of professional experience in a variety of roles in multi-stakeholder projects. These positions include: field research technician, GIS technician and data analyst, independent researcher and vegetation conservation team leader (Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences), large-scale project manager, national coordinator of a natural habitat monitoring project, national coordinator of a natural habitat monitoring programme, international expert, independent ecological consultant, nature conservation expert (WWF Poland), and most recently – project officer at Eurosite (since 2019).

Henk Zingstra (Eurosite)

Henk Zingstra has a background as manager of protected areas in the Netherlands and as project manager of projects in the field of nature protection and integrated water resources management in different central and eastern  European countries.  He worked for the Dutch State Forest Service, Wetlands International and the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) of Wageningen University and Research (WUR) He currently works as independent advisor on water and ecosystems for Wetlands International Europe managing the development of a landscape and river restoration project on the border between Ukraine and Slovakia. He is also the chairman of Eurosite’s Management Expert Group (EMPEG).

Jef Hendrix (Natuurpunt)

Jef Hendrix is a project coordinator at Natuurpunt, a nature management organisation in Flanders. In LIFE Nardus & Limosa he works on abiotic restoration of Nardus grasslands trough P-mining and the interaction with breeding meadow birds. Other projects include rewetting, predator control for meadow birds, restoration of heatlands and oligothrophic fens. Most of the projects are part of an integrated approach for meadow birds in the wetlands and grasslands around Turnhout.

Heinrich Belting (NLWKN)

Heinrich Belting has been working in wet grassland restoration and conservation of grassland breeding birds as well as in various LIFE Projects in the Atlantic Region for more than 30 years.

Krzysztof Stasiak (Polish Society for the Protection of Birds BirdLife Poland)

Krzysztof Stasiak, Aquatic Warbler Team Leader in OTOP is involved in Aquatic Warbler protection and monitoring since 2012, since 2017 as the Coordinator of the Aquatic Warbler Monitoring in Poland. He participates in the species conservation projects (including 2 LIFE projects) aiming on restoration of wetland habitats, conservation transolcation, spatial analysis and planning. He is consulting the bird-focused Agri-Environmental-Climate schemes in Poland. Involved in many OTOP projects focused on biodiversity, habitat management and monitoring.