Wetlands are areas that are permanently or temporarily waterlogged, but also standing or flowing water. With the diversity of microorganisms, plant and animal species, they are among the richest ecosystems in the world. Wetlands are important not only for the diversity of plants and animals living in them and their surroundings, as they mitigate temperature extremes during summer and winter and capture the amount of water during its excess and gradually release it in times of drought. Thanks to the organisms that grow and live in it, they have the so-called self-cleaning ability. The soil in the meadows around the rivers, which are flooded when the water level rises, have enough nutrients thanks to mud and fine sediments.
A product of a special type of wetlands – peat bogs, is also peat, which has been formed for thousands of years from dead parts of plants and animals and preserved pollen grains, thanks to which it is possible to determine the ancient character of the landscape by analysis. Today, peatlands are among the most endangered ecosystems in the world, despite the fact that they began to form at the end of the last ice age, about 12,000-8300 BC.
In the competence area of the Veľká Fatra National Park, we can find several wetlands, with the rarest clearly being the Rakšianske and Rojkovské peat bogs and the Turiec River with its abundance of standing and flowing waters. The Turiec wetlands are a protected Ramsar site with an area of more than 750 ha and consist of several smaller units – Turiec, Kláštorské lúky, Rakšianske peat bog, Lake in Jazernica, Ivančinské močiare, Diviacke kruhy and Žarnovica. On February 17, 1998, the Turiec wetlands were included among the Ramsar sites – i.e. in the List of Internationally Important Wetlands. The Turiec River is also one of the few European streams that have preserved sections with the character of a natural river to this day.
On this occasion, we invite you to tomorrow’s event LIFE IN WETLANDS, which will take place in the building of the Andrej Kmeť Museum, approximately from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
