This year's Young Watchdog camp was attended by nine girls and ten boys who have been attending the programme throughout the school year. On Sunday, they climbed the mountain at Jezero, where they stayed. Shortly after settling in, the GRZS Bohinj representative Andrej Rožič briefed them on the rules of safe walking in the mountains.
On Monday, the camp participants took part in a workshop on amphibians in the Triglav National Park. They learnt about the life of amphibians in the Dedno polje pool, the peculiarities of their living conditions at high altitude, the developmental stages and species of amphibians living in the high mountains. The workshop was organised by the Slovenian Nature Conservation Institute within the framework of the Julijcev VrH project. Together with our Head of Nature Conservation Saša Hrovat, Renata Cerkovnik from the Development Department and Tina Komac from the Cultural Heritage Department, they went to Planina v Lazu to observe how cheese is made. On their return to the hut on Planina pri jezero, our colleague Mojca Pintar, the camp leader and in charge of environmental education, gave them a lecture on the Triglav National Park and they also watched a film.
About water, animals and plants
On Tuesday, the children made water filters and enthusiastically participated in collecting water samples from the depths of the lake on the mountain with our colleague Mag. Tanja Menegalija from the Nature Conservation Department. Our colleague Maja Fajdiga Komar from the Information and Education Department explored with the children what grows around the lake. As befits a day full of lake adventures, the evening was filled with a lecture on lakes. Among other things, the campers learned why they should not swim in them. This was followed by the film part of the evening.
On Wednesday, the camp participants went on a hike with Boštjan Podgornik to the Double Lake, where fish are being caught within the framework of the Slovenian Fisheries Institute and the Julijcev VrH project. Podgornik knows every corner of this part of the Triglav National Park, so he took the children to a point from which they could observe chamois, and they were also fascinated by the ammonites.
The children spent the night in the Cottage by the Triglav Lakes. On Thursday morning, they headed back to Planina pri Jezeru via Štapce. There they accompanied our colleague Katja Gregorič to take water samples for analysis. Another hike followed - across the Vogar to the valley for pizza and a swim in Lake Bohinj.
Who was the camp for?
The TNP Summer Camp 2022 - Young Supervisors on Planina pri Jezeru in the heart of the Fužine Mountains was organised by the Triglav National Park Public Institute (JZ TNP) within the framework of the project VrH Julijcev - Improving the status of species and habitat types in the Triglav National Park. The investment is co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Slovenia.
The main theme of this year's camp was high mountain lakes, for which the VrH Julijcev project is carrying out various nature conservation activities. Nina Alič, the project's expert associate at the TNP, presented the activities of the project, which brings together partners from the fields of nature conservation, agriculture, forestry, mountaineering and tourism to preserve the nature of the Triglav National Park. Nine partners are involved in various activities to improve and sustainably maintain the favourable status of rare animal and plant species and their habitats. In the Julian Mountains project, the partners are carrying out nature conservation activities for seven animal species, one plant species and four Nature 2000 habitat types identified as key at European Union level.
