PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Raised bogs took thousands of years to form in humid, acidic, and nutrient-poor conditions. Over the last century, these surfaces have been drained and cultivated to meet the growing demands of human agriculture which led to a massive decrease in the wet habitats in North-West Europe. Furthermore, raised bogs will face pressure in the future as a result of ongoing climate change. Studies indicate that we will face longer dry periods in summer that will adversely affect the hydrology of raised bog ecosystems. In dry conditions the ongoing mineralisation of the dry peat emits CO₂ and therefore contributes to climate change.
Raised bogs took thousands of years to develop in humid, acidic, and nutrient-poor conditions. Developing slowly, these ecosystems accommodate several typical habitat types (H3160, H7110*, H7120, H7140, H7150, 91D0*,) and host a significant number of species which thrive in these specific conditions, some only growing in raised bogs. Common bog species are critically endangered and protected by the EU Habitats and Birds Directives in addition to being listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN), in the Netherlands and Germany. The restoration of bog systems, together with their specialised species, plays an important role in the conservation of European biodiversity and the implementation of Natura 2000.
Within the Atlantic biogeographical region, living raised bogs (7110*) are almost extinct compared with their natural distribution area with approximatively one square kilometre (km²) remaining in the Netherlands and 4.3 km2 in Germany.
LIFE CrossBorderBog (LIFE CBB) aims to tackle the problem by restoring raised bogs and related habitats in two adjacent Natura 2000 sites: Aamsveen, in the Netherlands and Hündfelder Moor, in Germany. Despite the degrading state of the habitats, the Aamsveen-Hündfelder Moor complex has retained a lot of its peat, including an intact lagg zone on the Dutch side. Furthermore, it is relatively isolated from the bordering agricultural land. This provides a rare opportunity for sustainable restoration efforts.
At present, the targeted raised bog suffers from desiccation, and faces four main threats: water loss; nutrient pollution; ecological succession; GHG emissions.
The project will take action to face those threats by restoring and recreating the targeted habitats and improving the hydrological conditions to obtain a fully functional raised bog that will retain water, limit the effects of nutrient pollution, stop ecological succession, and reduce GHG emissions.
Aamsveen and Hündfelder Moor are remnants of a formerly large single raised bog reaching both sides of the German-Dutch border. About 500 years ago, it covered between 2 000 to 2 500 hectares (ha) of land. In the last centuries, the raised bogs on both sides of the borders suffered from peat exploitation and water drainage.
Nowadays, a wide ditch separates the former entire bog into two parts: Aamsveen in the Netherlands and the Hündfelder Moor and the Amtsvenn in Germany. Although divided by this ditch, the Dutch and German parts of the bog form an integral hydrological system. Its restoration therefore requires a closely cooperating cross-border partnership to be fully effective.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the project is to protect, re-create and restore active raised bogs with the ultimate goal of creating active habitats that will fulfil an important function in the entire Atlantic biogeographical region.
In order to realise this overall objective, there is a need to:
Reunite the bog to form one functional ecosystem, and reduce or stop the water loss degrading the raised bog;
Raise the groundwater levels within the project area to near-surface level;
Reduce the water level fluctuations throughout the year;
Improve the resilience of the hydrological system to offset the impacts of climate change by creating new still water bodies as water supplies for the ecosystem, to benefit species such as protected birds, amphibians, and invertebrates.
In the long term, the project aims to:
Re-create new active raised bogs (7110*) and bog woodland (91D0*) within the project area;
Improve the area and the conservation status of already existing raised bog-related habitat types and typical bog species such as common crane, European nightjar, bluethroat, great grey shrike, Eurasian teal, common snipe; invertebrates such as northern emerald, white faced darter, and subarctic darter; and species such as the common European adder, pool frog and moor frog;
Reduce the CO₂ emissions that derive from the desiccating bog;
Increase the capacity to store CO₂ in the raised bog.
RESULTS
Once the project meets all its objectives, it will bring a substantial improvement in the conservation of raised bog. In fact, within the project lifetime, the main expected results are:
One cross-border raised bog with a functional hydrological system, covering a space of approximatively 201 ha;
Private areas in the area of the planned renaturation measures (10.47 ha) bought for restoration purpose by Land Nordrhein-Westfalen;
Rised groundwater levels within the project area. More specifically, the project will restore the hydrology of the subsites of Aamsveen and Hündfelder Moor, and bolster the resilience of such precipitation-dependent sites to future-proof against climate change by:
Managing the groundwater level (class 1) to keep it between 15 cm above and 15 cm below surface on 121 ha;
Managing the groundwater level (class 2) to keep it between 15-30 cm above surface or 15-30 cm below surface on 32,5 ha;
Managing the groundwater level (class 3) to keep it more than 30 cm above surface on 8.5 ha;
Managing the groundwater level (class 4) to keep it more than 30 cm below the surface on 12.56 ha.
Improved resilience of the hydrological system will help to tackle the impacts of climate change by creating 31 ha of new still water bodies as water supplies for the ecosystem.
Actions taken over the project lifetime will lead to:
Restored active raised bog and bog woodland within the project area. In total, 99 ha of active raised bog (7110*) and 21 ha of bog woodland (91D0*) are expected to be re-created;
Improved conservation status of already existing raised bog-related habitats. These range from natural dystrophic lakes and ponds (3160, 13 ha), degraded raised bogs capable of natural regeneration (7120, 27 ha), transition mires and quaking bogs (7140, 8 ha) and depressions on peat substrates of the rhynchosporion (7150, 5 ha), alluvial forest (91E0C, 1.5 ha), species rich nardus grassland (6230, 0.5 ha) and nutrient-deficient grassland with carnation sedge (6410, 0.5 ha);
Reduced CO₂ emissions that occur from the desiccating bog. The goal is to reach a rate of 484 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent per year by 2029;
Increased capacity to store CO₂ in the raised bog. Ultimately, the project aims at storing 119 tonnes of CO₂ per year.
