Active conservation of waterfowl and waders in the area of the Northern Polder in the Warta Mouth National Park. Wetlands Work Wonders! Stage 2

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The Warta Mouth National Park includes part of the “Warta River Mouth” (PLC080001) Natura 2000 site, which provides protection for unique wetlands, spacious meadows and pastures. It is considered to be a crucial aquatic bird habitat; some 270 bird species have been recorded here and about 170 of these use the area as a breeding ground. Species include the black-tailed godwit, corncrake, spotted crake, great snipe, montagu`s harrier, shoveler, garganey and whiskered tern.

Drainage works have adversely affected the quality of wetland habitat in some parts of the Warta River basin and other land use changes have led to meadows becoming overgrown with willows. These changes create unsuitable conditions for nesting birds and as a consequence, some species have almost entirely disappeared from the area.

OBJECTIVES

This LIFE Nature project’s main objective is to restore degraded habitats located within the borders of the Warta Mouth National Park. Interventions will target breeding, feeding and resting grounds for birds in order to improve conditions for species that rely on open meadows and wetland habitats during migration and wintering.

The "Wetlands Work Wonders!" project vision is to work in partnership with local stakeholders to ensure extensive pasture management and maintenance of flood control functions in the project area.

Expected results:

The restoration and protection of nesting, feeding, resting and wintering sites for wetlands birds species in an area covering at least 2 800 ha;

Halting land degradation and loss of wet meadow habitats by establishing an appropriate water regime in an area of at least 2 800 ha;

The introduction of a water management system in an area of 5 000 ha;

Improved water management as a result of the refurbishment and expansion of four weirs (including three fish ladders), the repairing of 36 valves and culverts, and the refurbishment of drainage / irrigation ditches on a total length of over 187km;

The removal of willow thicket from an area of 200 ha.