RMK restored more than 3,200 hectares of degraded wetlands in 2021
The State Forest Management Center (RMK) conducted restoration works in nine bogs and former peat extraction areas over the last year and restored a total of 3,217 hectares in degraded wetlands.
The restoration project started in the Kikepera nature reserve's Saessaare bog in 2019 and also wrapped up in the same area after some 1,000 hectares were restored to turn back what human has done to dry the land. The works involve closing ditches so that water in dehydrated areas can rise closer to the ground.
"More than 70 km of ditches were filled over the entire area, dams were built and the picture is now more open and wetter," said RMK nature conservation specialist Priit Voolaid, adding that Saessaare bog has been significantly more bare than it is now.
"There has been a more diverse bird population here. We hope the flatness returns in the future and that the life of birds can be correspondingly richer than it is today," Voolaid noted.
He added that decomposing peat causes carbon to rise into the atmosphere and that closing the ditches has now restored this important function in former peat extraction areas.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste
