Category: News

The closing event for the project “Promotion of the Natural Values of the Shara Mountain by lectures on natural environment and involvement of the stakeholders” took place on 25 May this year at Popova Shapka, with more than 100 participants. This project was organised by MES, as a national coordinator, and the Center for Development and Improvement of Public Life (CDIPL), as a local coordinator, with the international collaboration with EuroNatur, our longstanding partner from Germany, and financially supported by the German DBU Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt).

The official part of the event consisted of welcome speeches from  the MES president Ljupcho Melovski, the Euronatur representative Gabriel Schwaderer and the DBU representative Claudia Domel. As the project coordinator, Dime Melovski presented the accomplishments of all the applicants who carried out small grants, as the main activities of this project. Traditional music, national costumes, food, the documentary “Shara’s Eyes” and the puppet show for the youngest “Meet Sharco, Marco and their friends” were part of the unofficial programme of this event. In the framework of this event, there was a presentation for each project on stalls where the visitors had the opportunity to see the accomplishments and the promotional materials for the 20 projects financially supported by MES.

The event was featured in the media, that is, in the national televisions Telma and Sitel, as well as in the local television KISS, which had also been part of the small projects carried out at the Shara mountain.

We hope that with the help of this event MES will bring closer to the local citizens the idea for proclamation of the Shara mountain to be a national park. By doing this, new possibilities will emerge for the benefit from the protected areas and their grand significance.

The MES team for conservation of the Balkan lynx, in collaboration with the employees in the Mavrovo National Park, initiated the third systematic camera-trapping session in this national park. The session began on 9 March and will last exactly 60 days. The results from these sessions will provide an exact measurement of the quantity of the lynx population in what is for now the only region in Macedonia with confirmed lynx reproduction and, unfortunately, the only known source of the population so far. These results will further on provide information about the number of the population of the lynx in the suitable habitats in Southwest Balkan.

Moreover, comparison of current results and those from 2008 and 2010 will show park’s population trend. This exceptionally important ecological parameter will contribute to obtaining further insights about the critical status of this animal.

Finally, the confirmation of presence of lynx main prey (roe deer and chamois) and its abundance carries great significance for the future survival of the lynx, not only in the protected areas, but also in the rest of the region.

MES expresses deep gratitude to the Hunting Prevention Service within the park for unselfishly sharing its knowledge about the presence of lynx in the park and selecting suitable camera-trapping sites. Dejan Georgievski and Marija Vasilevikj, MES volunteers, have offered great help in the realisation of this year’s session.

This workshop signifies one of the latest activities MES fulfilled as part of the second phase of the Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme, the aim of which is to protect and conserve the native population of the Balkan lynx in the Republic of Macedonia.

The workshop took place in Demir Hisar on 20 November 2012, where the most important audience were the representatives from the forestry department and individual stockbreeders from the region of the Ilinska-Plakenska Mountain Range, as well as Jablanica and Shar Mts. Greatly significant was the attendance of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy of the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the presence of the mayors of the municipalities of Demir Hisar and Vevchani.

During the workshop, besides presenting results from the research conducted so far and the future directions of MES within the project, also shown were the positive sides of the implementation of traditional practices of stockbreeding, as an activity in the framework of the future protected areas suggested by MES. Moreover, suggestions for sustainable management and usage of the forest potential in these areas were provided.

Much to the delight of the MES team, having been working for several years now on the issue of lynx conservation, many interesting suggestions and ideas for mutual operation in these areas were presented during the workshop.

Martin is the third lynx that was captured two days ago (31 October 2012) by MES in the Stogovo Mountain in the area of Kichevo. Having captured the lynx, the team sedated, weighed and measured it, and then took blood and hair samples for genetic analysis. After they successfully put a GPS collar, Martin was released into the wild.

Martin was trapped in an oak forest on steep ground. The lynx age is estimated to be 3-5 years, the length of the body is 98 cm and the weight of 24 kg.

This is the third lynx in the last three years which got a GPS collar, with the help of which the lynx movement can be monitored. Marco, the first lynx, was captured in the Mavrovo National park in March 2010; and Riste, the second lynx, in March 2012 in the area of Lopushnik, Kichevo.

Using GPS and VHF technology, Martin will be sending data about its movement. MES will use the data in order to monitor the lynx. Collected data will have enormous significance and it will be used as source of information for the lynx biology and ecology. After comparing the data received from the previously captured lynx individuals, Marco and Riste, it will be established whether this individual is moving in nearby areas.

All data will be used to prepare precise protection measures for the Balkan lynx.

The Balkan lynx team of MES, with the help of several dedicated volunteers, carried out activities for capturing lynx in the Jablanica, Bistra and Stogovo Mts. in the period from 26–30 April 2012. The operation also took place in 2010 and 2011, as part of the project Status, ecology and land tenure system of the critically endangered Balkan lynx Lynx lynx martinoi in Macedonia and Albania. Much like in 2010 and 2011, the team’s aim was to capture lynx to which they can put a GPS/GSM collar and in that way monitor it using radio telemetry method. All this would result in liable data for the biology and ecology of the Balkan lynx.

There were 3 box traps in total set during the effort to capture lynx, one at each mountain. The team was in constant search for lynx prey by making transects and talking to the locals. In addition, special foot traps were used for this aim. During the research, the box traps were activated three times, but, unfortunately, not a single lynx was captured.

Activities using box traps took place simultaneously in the region of Jasen, as well as on the territory of the Dushegubica hunting ground, managed by PE “Macedonian Forests”, the subsidiary of Lopushnik-Kichevo, where the second Balkan lynx Riste was captured in March 2012. Field activities in this area are to continue in the following months as well.

The Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) and the German foundation EuroNatur open a call for submitting projects concerning the local sustainable development of the region of the mountain Shar Planina Mt. The call is part of the projects Promotion of the Natural Resources of the Shar Planina Mt. by education for the environment and involving the parties concerned. This project is implemented by EuroNatur and MES and financially supported by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU).

Proposed projects have to be connected to the following thematic activities:
1. Raising public awareness and education for the environment and nature (for locals and/or tourists);
2. Production of info material for the environment and nature (for locals and/or tourists);
3. Sustainable use of the natural treasures as a source of income.

Entities eligible to submit the draft projects are:
– The municipalities of Jegunovce, Tearce, Tetovo, Bogovinje, Vrapchishte, Gostivar and their local communities and organisations which gravitate in the region of the Shar Planina Mt.;
– Civil societies with headquarters in the abovementioned municipalities;
– Legal entities and natural persons with headquarters/residential address in the abovementioned municipalities;
– Partnerships formed by two or more entities from the abovementioned municipalities.

The financial support for one project will be 500-3,000 Euros in denars from the abovementioned topics (1, 2, 3). One organization can apply with more than one project. Co-financing from is possible and advisable. The draft projects should be produced according to the given directions and the form can be found here in Macedonian and here in Albanian, or at:

– MES office (contact person: Dime Melovski, 02/2402 – 773 and 2404 – 774; e-mail: melovskid@mes.org.mk)

– The office of the Center for development and promotion of public life (CRUJZ) Tetovo (contact person: Borislav Pavlovski, tel: 044 339 – 744; 078/ 444 – 870; e-mail: crujzte@yahoo.com)

Needed documents:
1. Signed attached letter;
2. Filled out form
3. Detail budget of the project
4. Document for a provided co-financing of the project, if the project includes co-financing
5. Signed document for a partnership if several subjects submit the draft – project

The draft projects should be submitted until 30.12.2011 to the Macedonian Ecological Society on the following address:

Macedonian Ecological Society, bul. Kuzman Josifovski Pitu 28/3-7, 1000 Skopje or by email to Dime Melovski or Borislav Pavlovski.

Forty-seven project applications were submitted in the framework of the small grants programme organised by MES, the German organisation EuroNatur and the Centre for Development and Improvement of Public Life from Tetovo (CDIPL) and carried out in the region of the Shar Planina Mt. Twenty of the submitted projects were chosen. The board evaluating the submitted draft projects consisted of: Dr. Alexander Bittner (DBU – Germany), Annette Schpangenberg (EuroNatur – Germany), Manuela von Arx (KORA, Switzerland), Aleksander Trajce (PPNEA, Albania) and Gjorgje Ivanov (MES, Macedonia). All the submitted draft projects were evaluated according to the following criteria: the quality of the draft project, social and geographical encompassment, financial justification, originality of the project, whether it is sustainable and whether it has humanitarian aims. The board concluded with great pleasure that most of the draft projects are with high quality and completely met application criteria.

The German documentaries “In the Heart of the Balkans – In Search of the Lynx” and “In the Heart of the Balkans – The Pelicans of the Prespa Park,” last year were shown for the first time on the European television Arte, are finally available to the Macedonia audience.

Both movies were translated into Macedonian and are going to be presented on 5 and 6 April in the Cinematheque of Macedonia. There will be three projections, the first day at 13:20, and the second day at 20:00.

The screenwriter and director of the documentaries, Kornelia Folk, will be at the launch of her works.

MES, in collaboration with EuroNatur, NGO from Germany, and the Mavrovo National Park, participated in the making of the documentary “In the Heart of the Balkans – In Search of the Lynx,” regarding the natural resources of Mavrovo National Park, where Marko, the first lynx with a GPS collar, was recorded and was the first lynx to be monitored by the MES team for almost a year and a half in the Mavrovo National Park.

The launch of the German documentaries in Skopje is organised by MES and UNDP.

MES captured a Balkan lynx on 5 March on Stogovo Mountain. After the GPS collar was mounted, the lynx was released back in the wild. The capture was conducted within the project Status, ecology and land tenure system of the critically endangered Balkan lynx Lynx lynx martinoi in Macedonia and Albania, which is financially supported by the Swiss Natural Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The animal was captured using a box trap deployed on the territory of Hunting Society Dushegubica, which is managed by PE “Macedonian Forests”, the sector Lopushnik-Kichevo, in oak forest with steep ground. The Balkan lynx protection team established a very fruitful collaboration with this hunting society, by means of which the lynx is monitored.

After being captured, the lynx was sedated, and while under sedation, the animal was thoroughly examined and measured, blood and hair samples were taken for genetic analysis and a GPS collar was placed on it. The lynx is a male, healthy individual, probably two or three years old, 98 cm long and weighing 17 kg.

The MES team decided to name the lynx Riste. Thanks to the GPS technology, Riste is already sending data about its movement. This data is of exceptional scientific importance in the process to obtain knowledge about the ecology and biology of the Balkan lynx. By comparison of data we will be able to see whether Marko, the lynx captured in 2010, and Riste are neighbours, that is, whether their home range overlaps.

This is the second lynx in Macedonia we have placed a GPS collar on. The MES team comprising Dime Melovski, Aleksandar Stojanov, Gjorgje Ivanov and Vasko Avukatov has already been working for six years on the protection of the Balkan lynx within the Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme. The first lynx they put a GPS collar to was captured in a box trap in March 2010 in the Mavrovo National Park. The session for capturing Balkan lynx individuals is going to continue this year as well, and the team hopes that new individuals of the critically endangered Balkan lynx will be captured.

Thirty-eight draft projects for the open call for submitting of project concepts/projects for small grants of the region of the mountains Ilinska and Plakenska were received by 30 December 2011. They were delivered to the members of the committee. All the submitted draft projects were evaluated according to the following criteria: the quality of the draft project, its viability, its sustainability, its influence on the environment and estimation of the financial plan. The committee gladly concluded that most of the draft projects are of high quality and completely meet the application criteria.

The committee for evaluation of the submitted project proposals, comprising representatives from EuroNatur – Germany and MES, met on 3 February 2010 and reached a decision to finance the draft projects which were submitted after the call for submitting of draft projects concerning the local sustainable development of the regions of the mountains Ilinska and Plakenska. The committee ranked all of the 38 submitted projects, but due to the limited funds, it had to choose only 7 of them. The chart with the approved and unapproved project proposals can be found below in the text.

MES congratulated all the groups which were awarded a financial aid for their success and the well-produced project, wishing them success in fulfilling it!

MES encourages the rest to submit their projects to other financing foundation of in the possible second call by MES in future (there are no more financial funds at the moment). MES sincerely offers you its capacities at your service for completion and implementation of the project and the rest of your activities. We hope that in future as well you will be part of the whole process for nature protection and improving living conditions for the people living in the abovementioned areas.