We always try to put our scientific findings into practice. An example of this approach is the use of a regional seed mixture for seeding the newly created edges of the highway near Kaplice. If all goes well, next year the slopes will gradually be covered with semi-steppe grasslands and heathlands. The seeds did not come from Africa, New Zealand, or the Netherlands, as is common practice in the seed market. They were carefully collected with a brush harvester from suitable donor meadows and forest edges no more than 50 km away. Sustainable and environmentally friendly with technical support from ZO ČSOP Šumava. The seeds were applied by hydroseeding so that they would remain on the slope until they germinated and rooted through the top layer of soil. Incidentally, as part of our ongoing project, we are also developing a new, affordable brushing harvester to support this effort.
A new biodiverse green roof is being created near Kozí hrádek in Mikulov – and we were there to assist its creation. The roof was seeded with a seed mixture brushed from Stolová hora and Dunajovické kopce in Pálava, enriched with hand-collected seeds of regional origin. The aim is to create a steppe-like community similar to those that occur naturally in the surrounding area. The character of the roof is complemented by small limestone rocks and dead wood, which will provide shelter for various invertebrate species. The project is being implemented by GreenVille, with whom we are collaborating on a TAČR project aimed at supporting the biodiversity on urban green roofs.
Our new learning platform DERTO has been launched! It offers teaching materials on ecological restoration freely available for download. Visit it here: 
Last week, a Focus group on ecological restoration was held in České Budějovice as part of the TEAM#UP project. The goal was clear—to fine-tune the teaching materials that we use to feed the DERTO platform (derto.teamup2restore.eu). All essential information on the topic of ecological restoration will be collected there and made available to a wide range of users. We also discussed the long-term sustainability of the platform and materials, as well as the best way to support the teaching of ecological restoration in VET schools. The meeting was particularly fruitful thanks to the fact that it brought together a very diverse group of people with different perspectives on the issue – from the private, public, academic, and non-governmental sectors.
The intensive cooperation with our partner secondary vocational school in Benešov continues. On Monday, we conducted training there on creating virtual tours in LUMI. The training was attended not only by students, who used it to process material acquired during our earlier excursion to the revitalized stream in Benešov, but also teachers, who will pass the knowledge to their students. The training was skillfully led by our students, Ester Šůsová and Šimon Cais. If you are interested in creating virtual tours, check out our newly created 
Help us improve the newly launched beta version of our educational platform, the Digital Ecological Restoration Toolbox (DERTO)! This platform offers freely accessible educational materials in the field of ecological restoration.
This year's in-person meeting of the TEAM#UP Steering Committee took place in Norway. Since our working group is involved in all parts of this interesting and promising project, we could not miss this meeting. During the introductory excursion, we visited the restored peat bog, which served as a demonstration site for various peat bog restoration methods for students from a partner Norwegian vocational school Norges grønne fagskole - Vea. We then moved to the classroom, where we summarized the project's achievements and progress to date and set goals for the coming year. In the evening, we had the opportunity to visit the school surroundings, where other demonstration and experimental sites were established and monitored by students.
Every year, we attend conferences organized by the Society for Ecological Restoration to gather new ideas and share experiences. This year, six representatives of our Restoration Ecology Group attended the 11th World Conference on Ecological Restoration in Denver, USA. The topics of our takls follow our ongoing projects - Anička Müllerová gave a presentation on the restoration of springs, Kamila Vítovcová shared her experience with monitoring the degradation of peat bogs, Klára Řehounková and Petra Janečková shared their experience with extensive green roofs, Miguel Ballesteros focused on spontaneous succession on former arable fields across Europe, and Karel Prach spoke about non-native species and whether or not they pose a threat during succession. Conferences on ecological restoration are not only a unique opportunity to meet colleagues from different parts of the world, but they also help us to objectively assess our work.
