Page 178 - Koderman, Miha, and Vuk Tvrtko Opačić. Eds. 2020. Challenges of tourism development in protected areas of Croatia and Slovenia. Koper, Zagreb: University of Primorska Press, Croatian Geographical Society
P. 178
challenges of tourism development in protected areas of croatia and slovenia
system. Its unique ecosystem is a product of its proximity to the sea and
Mediterranean climate and sub-Mediterranean vegetation, which allows
great diversity of plant and animal species, many of them rare and endan-
gered. It is an important European nesting, wintering, and migration site
for many bird species.
The protected area is divided into two main parts (Mozetič et al., 2010):
1. a brackish lagoon with nesting islets, mudflats, and saltmarshes
which are influenced by tides and overgrown with different types
of halophytes; and
2. a freshwater marsh with wet and marshy meadows, open water
areas of various depth surrounded by reed beds and thermophil-
ic shrubs.
There are no natural lagoons in Slovenia, therefore the man-made la-
goon (i.e. of anthropogenic origin) ŠZNR represents a semi-closed eury-
haline and eurytherm habitat.
The creation of Škocjanski zatok
When the town of Koper started to expand in 1950s, Škocjan Bay was stead-
ily modified into a man-made lagoon, named Škocjanski zatok. Due to an-
thropogenic activities in the 1970s and 1980s (draining and filling the la-
goon, and disposing of various types of waste, from construction material
and organic waste to other types of municipal waste), the watery areas of
Škocjanski zatok shrank from 230 to 80 hectares (DOPPS, 2007) (Fig. 2).
The mobilisation of a civil initiative in the 1990s (Kaligarič et al., 1993),
inspired by ornithologists and supported by 7,000 local inhabitants who
signed a petition, resulted in the establishment of the protected area. In
November 1993, Škocjanski zatok was temporarily declared a natural sight
and later, on the basis of an emergency decree issued by the Ministry of
Culture in March 1998, the Slovenian Parliament adopted the Škocjanski
zatok Nature Reserve Act (1998), which represented the end of many years of
conservation efforts to protect Škocjanski zatok (Šalaja et al., 2007).
The former wetland was later consequently restored, renatured, and
slightly expanded into today’s Škocjanski zatok Nature Reserve. In 2006
and 2007, the restoration of the lagoon and creation of a freshwater marsh
at Bertoška bonifika took place in accordance with the LIFE-Nature project
“Restoring and conserving habitats and birds in Škocjanski zatok Nature
Reserve” (LIFE00NAT/SLO/7226). Moreover, after many years, life re-
176
system. Its unique ecosystem is a product of its proximity to the sea and
Mediterranean climate and sub-Mediterranean vegetation, which allows
great diversity of plant and animal species, many of them rare and endan-
gered. It is an important European nesting, wintering, and migration site
for many bird species.
The protected area is divided into two main parts (Mozetič et al., 2010):
1. a brackish lagoon with nesting islets, mudflats, and saltmarshes
which are influenced by tides and overgrown with different types
of halophytes; and
2. a freshwater marsh with wet and marshy meadows, open water
areas of various depth surrounded by reed beds and thermophil-
ic shrubs.
There are no natural lagoons in Slovenia, therefore the man-made la-
goon (i.e. of anthropogenic origin) ŠZNR represents a semi-closed eury-
haline and eurytherm habitat.
The creation of Škocjanski zatok
When the town of Koper started to expand in 1950s, Škocjan Bay was stead-
ily modified into a man-made lagoon, named Škocjanski zatok. Due to an-
thropogenic activities in the 1970s and 1980s (draining and filling the la-
goon, and disposing of various types of waste, from construction material
and organic waste to other types of municipal waste), the watery areas of
Škocjanski zatok shrank from 230 to 80 hectares (DOPPS, 2007) (Fig. 2).
The mobilisation of a civil initiative in the 1990s (Kaligarič et al., 1993),
inspired by ornithologists and supported by 7,000 local inhabitants who
signed a petition, resulted in the establishment of the protected area. In
November 1993, Škocjanski zatok was temporarily declared a natural sight
and later, on the basis of an emergency decree issued by the Ministry of
Culture in March 1998, the Slovenian Parliament adopted the Škocjanski
zatok Nature Reserve Act (1998), which represented the end of many years of
conservation efforts to protect Škocjanski zatok (Šalaja et al., 2007).
The former wetland was later consequently restored, renatured, and
slightly expanded into today’s Škocjanski zatok Nature Reserve. In 2006
and 2007, the restoration of the lagoon and creation of a freshwater marsh
at Bertoška bonifika took place in accordance with the LIFE-Nature project
“Restoring and conserving habitats and birds in Škocjanski zatok Nature
Reserve” (LIFE00NAT/SLO/7226). Moreover, after many years, life re-
176
