Natura 2000 habitats
The Habitats Directive is providing rules and direction on the protection of animal and plant species, and also rules on the protection of habitats endangered on the European scale. These are defined in the Natura 2000 habitat types system. The habitat type is actually a type of living area that forms an individual unit with distinctive plant and animal species. Habitat types are divided into several categories. Detailed breakdown within each category requires good identification of individual species or plant communities. In the area Natura 2000 Goričko we protect 7 habitat types.
Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia) (*important orchid sites) (HT 6210*)
Dry grasslands on a moderately dry soil poor with nutrients are here mowed once or twice a year. Due to the relatively large number of plant species growing on them, they can be very colourful in the spring. These types of meadows are often habitats of green-winged orchid, when in bloom, protection of these meadows is a priority. In Goričko they can be found only on acidic sandy soil. Other typical species are found on these habitats are: Flatweed (Hypochaeris radicata), Furrowed fescue (Festuca rupicola), Quaking-grass (Briza media), Yellow Oat-grass (Trisetum flavescens), Hoary Plantain (Plantago media), King Devil Hawkweed (Pilosella caespitosa) Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria) and Maiden Pink (Dianthus deltoides).
Dry meadows are a habitat of meadow orchids 
M. Podletnik
Molinia meadows on calcareous, peaty or clayey-silt-laden soils (Molinion caeruleae) (HT 6410)
Those are meadows that thrive on soils where water occasionally stagnates (along the waterways or on poorly permeable soils). The soils are unfertilized and with little nutrients. Typical species for them are: Tall Moor grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea), Tufted Hair-grass (Deschampsia caespitosa), Devils-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis), Tormentil (Potentilla erecta), Betony (Betonica officinalis), Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe), Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica), Saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria), Pale Sedge (Carex pallescens), Siberian Iris (Iris sibirica), and Yellow Day-lily (Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus).
Yellow daylily and Siberian iris colour wet meadows in the spring K. Malačič
Lowland hay meadows (Alopecurus pratensis, Sanguisorba officinalis) (HT 6510)
Those are wet cultivated meadows with moderately fertilized soil and mowed two or three times a year. Meadows with many plant species are characteristic part of the cultural landscape of Central European lowlands. Typical species growing there are: Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens), Ragged-Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi), Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), Meadow-grass (Holcus lanatus), Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratensis), Rough Meadow-grass (Poa trivialis), Rough Hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus), Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis), Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) and Red Clover (Trifolium pratense).
Lowland hay meadows occur in two types - dry and wet G. Domanjko
Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae) (HT 91E0)
Lowland black alder forest grow along streams M. Podletnik
Illyrian oak‑hornbeam forests (Erythronio-Carpinion) (HT 91L0)
Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) and Common Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) forests grow mainly on a rich and deep soil in the valleys. Due to the deforestation and removal of debris in the past, the prevalence of this type of forest in Goričko got significantly reduced.
Sessile oak and common hornbeam forests grow in the valleys G. Domanjko
Luzulo-Fagetum beech forests (HT 9110)
Beech forests grow on moderately acidified soil, on hilly areas of Slovenia. Alongside beech, they include Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea). Bottom layers are dominated by woodrushes, ferns, and grasses, with bushes of blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) also appearing. Beech forests are of secondary origin and thrive on poorer soils on steeper areas.
Beech forest are a habitat of black woodpecker G. Domanjko
Oligotrophic to mesotrophic standing waters with vegetation of the Litorelletea uniflorae and/or Isoëto-Nanojuncetea (HT 3130)
Extremely rare habitat type, documented to the largest extent on Ledava Lake. These are pioneering groups of muddy or sandy shores that occur only in transitional habitats (occasionally flooded areas due to the fluctuations in water levels). Typical species there are: Common False Pimpernel (Lindernia procumbens), Water Mudwort (Limosella aquatica), Pygmy Sedge (Cyperus michelianus), Eocharis acicularis and Brown Flatsedge (Cyperus fuscus).
