On the 2nd December we organized a conference in order to sum up our 4-year xerothermic grassland project. The conference took place in the "Klasztor" hotel in Cedynia situated on the top of picturesque Odra river slope. The event was attended by beneficiaries of other LIFE projects taking place in Poland, the representatives of local administration, foresters, NGO workers, shepherds and farmers engaged in our activities. Around 50 participants from all over Poland were greeted by Katarzyna Barańska - the project manager, who presented the preliminary results of the project. Afterwards, Paweł Pluciński and Piotr Chmielewski showed detailed presentations on the effects of our activities in the lubuskie and lubelskie provinces. After that, dr Michał Żmihorski presented the results of monitoring of the most important of our activities. This part of the conference ended with the talk on the activities we plan in order to maintain the effects of our project (LIFE after LIFE) by Katarzyna Barańska. During the discussion the Naturalists' Club employees answered various questions mostly about the difficulties encountered during the 4 years of the project. During the second plenary session the participants could see some other examples of LIFE projects carried out in Poland. The project called "Ochrona cennych przyrodniczo siedlisk nieleśnych, charakterystycznych dla Parku Krajobrazowego Orlich Gniazd" was presented by Agnieszka Homan. An employee of the Naturalists' Club - Magdalena Makles presented the project "Conservation and restoration of alkaline fens in the young-glacial landscape in the northern Poland" and showed examples of many other activities performed by the Club. After the dinner the participants could see the finished film on dry grasslands that was made during the "Conservation and restoration of xerothermic grasslands in Poland - theory and practice" project. The photos from this event can be found in our image gallery.

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