Forests are a fundamental and the only self-renewable natural resource. Forests are a fundamental and the only self-renewable natural resource. They are the source of drinking water, clean air, natural soil, flora and fauna, biodiversity, naturalness, mild climate, lovely landscape and wooden material. in just a few words: they are the source of life.
The Spačva basin is the lowest and wettest part of the Bosut’s Posavina, dominated by the pedunculate oak that needs a lot of water. The forest complex of this basin is in the easternmost part of the Republic of Croatia between the Sava and Danube Rivers in the basin of the River Bosut and its tributaries Spačva, Ljubanj and Brežnica, and in the eastern part of Berava, Biđa and Studva. The central and longest watercourse is the Spačva River, which gave the name to the basin.
Its longitude is 18°45′ – 19°10′ E and latitude 44°51′ – 45°09′ N.
Its altitude is 77 – 90 meters above sea level. The basin area forms an undulating lowland interspersed by rivers and streams, which gradually rises in the south towards the Sava River, and in the north towards the Vukovar plain.
Geological research shows that chalk sediments and deposits from the Pliocene were deposited on Palaeozoic rocks at various depths.
Long ago, these forests of ours were of the rainforest type, entirely inaccessible and uncultivated, they were the real wilderness. Some specimens were 150 to 200 years old, and some exquisite oaks were even 400 years old. During this long period, the pedunculate oak sometimes grew to a total height of 40 meters, with a diameter of up to 2.5 meters.
It is therefore not surprising that parquets, furniture, carpentry, as well as railway sleepers, ships and even bridges are made from the hard, solid and durable wood of the pedunculate oak. Many church roofs throughout Europe, the neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest, and the Vienna City Hall were built from Slavonian oak. Today, Slavonian oak is also used to make valued barrique wooden barrels in which the best wines are aged.
— Even E. Lanier, forestry professor, has once said:
“If you want to taste real cognac, go to the French province of Cognac. If you want to see a real pedunculate oak, go to Slavonia.”
Indeed, the pedunculate oak is the most valued tree of the lowlands, and in Croatia this giant’s largest forest is Spačva.
We have already mentioned that the largest continuous complex of the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) in Croatia is in the Spačva basin, covering an area of almost 40.000 hectares. In addition to the pedunculate oak, which covers 96% of the Spačva basin, in the same area we can also find the narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl.), common hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.), field maple (Acer campestre L.) and field elm(Ulmus minor Mill. emend. Richens).).
The Spačva Forest is a real ecosystem inhabited by roe deer, deer, wild boar and smaller mammals such as foxes, skunks, weasels, stouts and martens. Although they do live there, wild cats are rare in Spačva, unlike jackals, whose loud howling can often be heard at night. Birds of prey such as hawks, sparrowhawks and buzzards build their nests in oak treetops, while owls are active at night.
In the trees, woodpeckers dig holes that are later used by other birds, such as nuthatches and tits. Insects live under the bark: the stag beetle, the horn beetle and many others.
Rodents live in the forest as well, e.g. the bank vole, the wood mouse and the striped field mouse.
Numerous rivers, streams and tributaries of the Spačva basin create ideal conditions for an aquatic invertebrates’ ecosystem: beetles, aquatic larvae of mosquitos and lake flies, dragonflies, mayflies and caddisflies, bivalves and crustaceans. All of them are food for fish (e. g. the common carp, the tench, the northern pike, the catfish, the crucian carp, the sunfish, the sunbleak, the European perch, the common bream, the common roach, the common bleak and the weather loach) in the slow-moving lowland water communities. And fish, in turn, are regularly on the skilled otter’s menu.
Birds of moist habitats nest and feed in the sedges and reeds: the great white heron, the gray heron, the white stork, the black stork, the lesser spotted eagle, the white-tailed eagle, the common coot and the great reed warbler.
Did you know that forests cover almost half (47.5%) of Croatia’s land area?
Forests make up the so-called ecological triad together with soil and water, and are a gift from previous generations. However, apart from being a gift, they are also an obligation because they should be bequeathed to the generations to come. Unlike foresters in many countries worldwide, the foresters in Croatia have managed to preserve the forest ecosystems in optimal condition over the centuries and continue to do so.
The Spačva Forest is part of the ecological network Natura 2000, whose goal is to preserve natural habitats and the “wilderness” of the forest ecosystem. Their ability to ‘remove’ carbon dioxide from the atmosphere makes them the most effective natural means of mitigating climate change.
The tradition of 255 years of continuous action according to postulates that are still valid today, make the management of the forest wealth of the Spačva forest sustainable (sustainable management) or, as foresters would proudly say, “permanent management”.
As much as 95% of forests in Croatia were created by natural renewal or management close to nature, so their main feature is naturalness.
Spačvanska šuma is part of the ecological network Natura 2000, the aim of which is to preserve natural habitats and the ‘wilderness’ of the forest ecosystem.
In the depths of the Spačva Forest such peace and quiet reign which you will rarely find anywhere else. In the evening, tucked into the silence of the forest, observe the starry sky above you. Wake up with the sunrise, when the Sun is peeking through the crowns of the centuries-old oaks, and take a deep breath of the Spačva’s fresh air.
This luxury is impossible to buy, but it is still available to those who come to the Spačva Forest.
