Lake Engure Nature Park Hay Bailer

Summary

This is the first time BaltCF has supported an isolated investment without a project mantle around it.

Our partners from the Lake Engure Nature Park Foundation manage the Natura 2000 and Ramsar site "Lake Engure Nature Park" in Western Latvia, separated from the Gulf or Riga only by a small strip of land. Lake Engure Nature Park is an important breeding and resting site for migrating birds, as well as an important habitat for amphibians and plants. Many of these species are regionally endangered, like the corn crake (Crex crex), the garlic toad (Pelobates fuscus), or the fly orchid (Ophrys insectifera). The nature park harbours habitats that are in decline because they need constant management and yield little economic profict, like dry meadows.

The Lake Engure Nature Park Foundation regularly mows about 32 ha of coastal meadows, including a 7-ha property that BaltCF has acquired in 2023 to prevent the construction of a holiday village in the nature park. The harvested hay is bailed and serves as winter food for cattle and koniks that graze another 62 ha of territory which is too wet to work it with tractors. As the old hay bailer needed more and more maintenance by the year, the decision was made to purchase a new one. BaltCF has funded this purchase because it directly serves the continued management of the nature park territory.