PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The 460 ha project area in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern lies in an erstwhile channel of the river Elbe; now the site is the confluence of the river Schaale and the river Sude, which meets the Elbe a few kilometres further west. This area, part of the Flußlandschaft Elbe ('Elbe River Landscape') biosphere reserve, is locally known as the Blücher Polder, which - as the name implies - is by no means an untouched natural area. The landscape underwent a drastic transformation in 1963 when the lower course of the Schaale was channelled and shortened by 800 metres. A summer dyke was built around the floodplain, which almost entirely eliminated the river's dynamics. This made intensive grassland and in some cases even arable farming possible. Since then, the site was only inundated by river water as a flood prevention measure. Despite all these changes, a few natural features remained, such as Cnidium (Cnidion dubii) riverside meadows. Otters and corncrakes were regular inhabitants and the site was also a popular staging and wintering site for geese and swans. All this gave rise to the expectation that the former rich floodplain environment would be restored once the barriers to fluviatile dynamics were removed.
OBJECTIVES
The project was designed to re-create an untrammelled river landscape with natural flood dynamics over a 460 ha area. To achieve this, the summer dykes along the Sude and Schale were to be breached, the Blücher pumping station dismantled and the Schaale river restored to its original meandering course. Ending intensive land use was a prerequisite and this entailed land purchase and compensation and agreements with local farms. Once the measures would be implemented, it was planned to leave the permanently waterlogged land to its own devices, so that reedbeds could begin to form and birds like the bittern would be given a chance to recolonise the site. Appropriate recurring management of the intermittently flooded areas would provide new opportunities for Cnidium grasslands and meadow-breeding birds to flourish.
RESULTS
After a long and difficult consultation process in which a series of objections and fears about the impact of the hydrological measures was raised by a number of local inhabitants, the beneficiary successfully obtained a permit in Dec. 2004 to carry out the planned works which would allow natural flooding to be restored to the project site. However, an appeal to the court in Feb. 2005 against this permit meant that its implementation was suspended until the court reached a verdict. The LIFE project duration ended on June 30 2005, before any progress had been made in the court case. The necessary land purchase had already been completed successfully: 270 ha, all the sections targeted, had been brought into public ownership. A management plan was drawn up. Under its terms, the land was converted to extensive grassland farming, which already represents an improvement in conservation status. The LIFE project area will, pending the final court decision, be integrated into a large-scale grazing scheme in the region.After a long and difficult consultation process in which a series of objections and fears about the impact of the hydrological measures was raised by a number of local inhabitants, the beneficiary successfully obtained a permit in Dec. 2004 to carry out the planned works which would allow natural flooding to be restored to the project site. However, an appeal to the court in Feb. 2005 against this permit meant that its implementation was suspended until the court reached a verdict. The LIFE project duration ended on June 30 2005, before any progress had been made in the court case. The necessary land purchase had already been completed successfully: 270 ha, all the sections targeted, had been brought into public ownership. A management plan was drawn up. Under its terms, the land was converted to extensive grassland farming, which already represents an improvement in conservation status. The LIFE project area will, pending the final court decision, be integrated into a large-scale grazing scheme in the region.