Slunjčica
The Slunjčica significant landscape territory was established in 1964. and covers an area of 147,88 ha in Karlovac County in central Croatia. The public institution "Natura viva" is responsible for managing this area by maintaining a balance between the goals of preserving the exceptional natural and cultural-historical values and the needs of the local population. The code of this Natura 2000 site is HR2000596.
Even though only 6.5 kilometres long, the Slunjčica river is a pearl of the Croatian karst. The area is important for several Annex I habitat types: water courses of plain to montane levels with the Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitricho-Batrachion vegetation (3260), Tufa cascades of karstic rivers of the Dinaric Alps (32A0) and caves not open to the public (8310). Most notably, Slunjčica is one of few rivers in which creeping marshwort (Apuim repens), a very rare species in Croatia and species listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive. The river Slunjčica is also the habitat of European crayfish (Astacus astacus) and stone crayfish (Austropotamobius torrentium), two of the four autochthonous species of freshwater crayfish from the Astacidae family in Croatia. As it is a typical trout watercourse, the fish community is made of brown trout (Salmo trutta), European bullhead (Cottus gobio), common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) and grayling (Thymallus thymallus).
Due to its complex synergy of social and natural values, the increasing pressure of tourists, and related pollution, NATURA VIVA has been managing the site for many years. They’ve been doing it based on the management plan that will be revised and updated to reflect the constantly changing situation on the site. In the meantime, many of their activities are based on Visitor Management Action Plan 2020-2029.
The management authority’s goal is for the site to remain recognised not only as of high value for the local community but also for the public, especially scientific researchers. They emphasise the importance of intensifying the research of Slunjčica to have a clear and concrete database as a basis for preserving the extremely high value of the green karst area. In addition, they design and conduct workshops for children with printed educational materials with considerable interest from schools. Accordingly, in cooperation with the County of Karlovac, the City of Slunj, the Tourist Board of the City of Slunj and the Tourist Board of Karlovac County, they have also designed a short educational walk for a wide range of interested parties, which they will start organising in 2022.
