The impact of cattle and sheep grazing on grassland in Veľká Fatra National Park
S. Jendrišáková, Zuzana Kováčiková, V. Vargová, Milan Michalec · Journal of Water and Land Development · 2011
The Veľká Fatra National Park (declared on 1 April 2002) is extending on an area of 40,371 ha and was established to protect well-preserved ecosystems.The Veľká Fatra (Greater Fatra) with the highest peak Ostredok (1592 m altitude) is a typical mountain territory and ranks among the highest mountain ranges in Slovakia.Grassland areas above the forest line ("hole" in Slovak) and highland relief are typical for Veľká Fatra where forests cover is 85% of the area.Large areas of grassland located on gently modelled ridges resulted from deforestation many centuries ago.The alpine meadows which are rich in rare plant communities cover the area of 2000 ha.In the past, these grasslands were used by cutting and grazing.Nowadays, the meadows are not mowed at all.The reasons are low numbers of ruminants in nearby farms, high cost and poor access roads that are eroded very much.Grazing with young cattle has been banned and consequently tall grasses expanded, swards thinned as well as avalanche risk increased.Currently, it is allowed to graze young cattle again, but farmers do not exploit this option very much.About 200 heifers and 2,500 sheep graze there, but only at the lowest areas of the mountains and for short periods of time.The grassland is dominated by Deschampsia caespitosa (L.) P. Beauv.and also by very rapidly expanding Calamagrostis epigejos (L.) Roth, Brachypodium pinnatum (L.) P. Beauv.and Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.indicating a prolonged period of abandonment.