The Regional Park of Labanoras (LRP) is located 80 km northeast of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The park was established in 1992 and covers an area of 553 sq. km. About 70 small lakes, moors and other wetlands can be found in the park. 3 rivers flow through the park. The park is home to 54 mammal, 172 bird, 5 reptile and 11 amphibian species.

The biggest problem is that 300,000 vacationers regularly spend their weekends and holidays in the area. A solution would be to direct visitors from the protected areas to the many lakes in the vicinity, which are not as sensitive and not under protection. As many farmers abandon the cultivation of their fields and meadows, the fallow land area increases and finally is transformed to wood with the consequence that the population of White Stork and other species is diminishing. The problem could be solved by extensive pasture e.g. with robust year-round grazing cattle.

Partner

Partners in the Regional Park of Labanoras are the NGO ENOS (European Nature Conservation and Ornithology Station) and the Administration of Regional Park of Labanoras.

ENOS supports the ten permanent staff members of the park administration in supervising and maintaining the park with voluntarily work. The young volunteers are engaged in the installation of nature trails and environmental cycle tracks and the enlargement of the existing observatory.

Activities and model projects

Although the park is a designated NATURA 2000 site it has no visitor management system so far. Therefore one central objective of ENOS is to develop effective visitor-management and improve environmental education. One of the most important activities of ENOS is to install a visitor information centre. This will be the first of its kind in Lithuania. The centre will also serve as an environmental education institution and a focal point for the coordination of scientific studies and the meetings of decision-makers.

Detailed objectives of the information and visitor centre are

• to demonstrate the outstanding natural beauty of the LRP 
• to highlight threats the area is exposed to and introduce sustainable approaches to overcome these problems
• to explain the plans for overall land use planning including a long-term development of sustainable tourism
• to develop a management plan for the LRP including sustainable tourism and land use and adapted preservation measures in order to protect the biodiversity
• to transfer know-how from other areas with a longer track-record (such as Lake Constance, Germany) to Lithuania
• to develop general guidelines for similar projects in Lithuania
• to pursue and realize an appropriate media strategy. 

Timetable

• Construction of the Information Centre (not included in the project): October 2005 – May 2006

• Equipment of Information Centre: April 2006

• Three-year Action Plan for Information Centre: May 2006

• Strategy on long-term financing of Information Centre: May 2006

• Inauguration, media event: June 2006

• Management Plan for the regional park including action plan: December 2006

• Guidelines for sustainable Tourism Development: December 2006

• Workshops for multipliers and decision makers about EU-Directives and their consequences, sustainable tourism, visitor management (minimum five workshops): June 2006 – September 2007

• Dissemination of results, media work: continuously