Government approves 621-hectare expansion of Nevezis reserve

Lithuania’s Cabinet has approved expanding the boundaries of the Nevezis State Landscape Reserve by 621.45 hectares, bringing it to nearly 1,747 hectares, LRT reports. The Environment Ministry says the expansion is intended to protect Natura 2000 areas and other natural features, as well as preserve the Nevezis River valley landscape as a whole.

The reserve, established in 1988, will include the Silainiai eldership in Kaunas and the Uzliedziai, Babtai and Raudondvaris elderships in Kaunas district. Its expanded boundaries will encompass the entire Raudondvaris manor estate, parts of the Kaciuniske manor, Babtynas manor, also known as Zemaitkiemis, the Piepaliai and Babtynas hillforts and their settlements, and a section of Raudondvaris Road.

The expansion will add 353 land parcels, including 317 privately owned parcels, as well as 126.3 hectares of unformed state land. A 127.18-hectare buffer zone is planned to protect natural and cultural heritage while avoiding excessive restrictions in residential areas. It will include visual protection zones for cultural heritage features, forests near forest habitats of European Community importance, homesteads within the reserve and garden associations.

The Environment Ministry says the expansion will help preserve the most valuable complex of the lower Nevezis River valley. Its natural meadows are particularly important for biodiversity. The reserve will include protected Nevezis meadows that provide habitat for corncrakes listed in Lithuania’s Red Data Book, as well as 300 hectares of slope forest where purple flat beetles are found.

Corncrake numbers in the reserve have been monitored every other year since 2017 and are considered stable, at 11 to 13 pairs. The reserve is one of the few places in central Lithuania’s intensively farmed region where the species can breed in such numbers.

Expanding the reserve would restrict construction of new infrastructure. Private forest owners whose land is affected by changes to forest classification may receive compensation. An average of 185.10 euros a year is planned for this purpose over the next 10 years, for a total of 1,851 euros.

The ministry says the reserve’s boundaries had not been reviewed since 1997 and no longer matched the boundaries of some land parcels, infrastructure and landscape features. Natura 2000 is a European Union network of protected areas established in 1992 under the Habitats and Birds directives.