In January of this year in the Nature Park “Piejura” in Mangalsala, the wooded dunes habitat management works were started. These are one of the practical activities of the LIFE CoHaBit project in nature, which are carried out in compliance with expert opinions and according to the assessments of environmental experts, which were given in June last year at an expert meeting while conducting field surveys in the areas of Mangalsala designated for work.

In the wooded dunes of Mangalsala, the thinning of trees and creation of glades was carried out. The aim of the works is to create a heterogeneous structure of the thickness of the stand with glades, thicker and thinner groups of trees that would be close to the ones is formed in the course of natural processes. Glades are made of different sizes, but without exceeding the area of 0.2 ha. There were preserved all windfallen and dried trees thicker than 25 cm and the trees maintained from previous forest stand.

In the grey dune, only a few trees per hectare are left. Slow-growing ordinary pines with a wide, flat crown and well-developed ground branches were left. To preserve open dunes and their habitats, fast-growing pines of different ages, their groups and groves with stump diameter less than 20 cm at the root neck were cut down. These activities are equivalent to a low-intensity care cutting, which means the improvement of the forest stand composition, conditions of the tree growth in the remaining forest stand, and the forest stand health.

Read more about the wooded dunes restoration works here.

There are three EU-specific protected habitats in the work areas: 2130 – Fixed dunes with caulescent plants (grey dunes), which is also one of the most endangered habitats in Europe, 2180 - Wooded dunes, and 2120 - Shifting dunes.

At present, the restoration of the habitats of wooded dunes, grey dunes and shifting dunes on area of 13.10 ha in Mangalsala has been carried out. The practical work in Mangalsala will continue with the reinforcement of the dunes, where pine branches, which will remain from the restoration work of the wooded dunes, will be used as working material in forming branching and branch fences. Over time, these fences are expected to be completely or partially absorbed into the sand.