Reed products from protected areas of Lithuania

Aquatic Warblers mostly disappear because they lose their home - flooded meadows and fen mires. These places are plough up, drained or abandoned grow up with shrubs. When protecting Aquatic Warblers naturalists take care of habitat restoration and try to ensure its constant maintenance: to mow it on time and to remove the remaining biomass from fields in order vegetation will not be changed.

Aquatic Warblers breed twice per season. Late mowing (at the second half of August) is needed for juveniles of both broods of Aquatic Warbler to be safe. Only in August, the birds form the second brood can get away from mowing machinery.

Late-cut grass turn woody; therefore, a huge amount of remaining biomass becomes unsuitable for its regular use as fodder. If left in fields, in a long run this accumulating biomass will change the vegetation. As a result, the rare birds and other animals will abandon the territory. Farmers that are taking care of these fields to save its flourishing nature face the problem where to put this biomass. “Nine voices” provide a solution – we collect the grass and turn it to a new product – grass pellets.

Biomass processing facility “Nine voices” acts as an environmental business. The primary scope of our work is nature conservation. All income gained is used to maintain the facility itself to create a self-sustaining closed nature conservation system, which prevents the accumulation of late-cut biomass in unique habitats. The gained profit is used to invest in further nature conservation activities and scientific research.