Objective
The central goal of the LIFE project is to restore the natural hydrology of the valuable mire sites, in order to preserve the wetland landscape and topography and to protect the endangered habitat types and the original mire fauna and flora. This will be done by blocking, damming or filling up the drainage ditches. Hydraulic equilibrium is further promoted by cutting trees in order to decrease evapotranspiration; simultaneously this will restore the vanished open mire landscapes.
A key action aims at raising public awareness to influence the local inhabitants' attitude towards the safeguarding of the internationally valuable mire habitats. Local people are to be closely involved in the mire restoration work, for example by helping to dam the ditches. This represents an interesting aspect of this project as it can create jobs; ironically, closing the ditches may well be done by the same people whose job it was to dig them in the past.
Finland has many mires scattered among its forests, but during this century human influence in these mire areas has been significant. They have suffered from peat extraction, agricultural measures and especially afforestation, all of which entail drainage of the mires, upsetting the very sensitive hydrological balance which maintains the whole mire ecosystem. Besides ruining the hydraulic equilibrium and wetland structure, drainage degraded the original mire vegetation, allowed open spaces to become overgrown with shrubbery, threatened the survival of birds and other mire fauna and brought peat accumulation to a halt.
Restoring degraded mires has only been undertaken a few times so far in Finland. This LIFE project will tackle 17 mires in western Finland so that it is quite innovative in national terms. Consequently, monitoring the effects and efficacy of the restoration will play an important role in the project. The 17 sites exhibit a remarkable variation of different mire types, which include Habitats Directive priority types such as active raised bogs, aapa mires and bog woodlands. All the areas are state-owned and as such safeguarded as various types of protected areas under the Nature Conservation Act.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
39701 Parkano
Finland