The water regime restoration is planned for the Kikepera Nature Reserve, which lies primarily within Saarde Municipality in Pärnu County. The forests in Kikepera were drained decades ago, but now the goal is to close the ditches. Restoration work is being planned for an area covering 3,800 hectares.

According to Agu Leivits, wildlife adviser at the Environmental Board, the restoration is outlined in the area's conservation management plan.

"As part of that plan, about 280 kilometers of drainage ditches are to be closed, primarily to improve the habitat of the Western capercaillie. In the northern part of the Kikepera Nature Reserve, some of this work has already been done and the results have been quite positive," Leivits said.

Kadri Aija-Viik, deputy chair of the Saarde municipal council, said that both the municipality and the local community oppose the plan because it would destroy a landscape that has taken decades to form, damage local roads and increase the risk of flooding in nearby villages.

"We understand that digging a ditch through the bog in the 1960s was unwise, but doing something equally unwise a second time — flooding forests that have since grown on the peat bog and now hold a timber reserve of about 400 hectares — makes no sense. There's no point in saying the water level won't rise this time. It will," Aija-Viik said, adding that the area is estimated to contain nearly a million cubic meters of timber that would be left to rot.

Aija-Viik also questioned why no consideration has been given to removing some of the timber before the restoration work begins.

"The capercaillie's condition has already improved without any ditches being closed or any interventions being made. The bird has always lived there; it hasn't disappeared. And the main threat to the capercaillie is predation," said Aija-Viik.

According to her, a survey conducted among residents showed that the local population is overwhelmingly opposed to the plan.

Peeter Elvelt, a resident of Saunametsa village in Saarde Municipality, warned that the project would increase the flood risk even further.

"I and our entire community remain steadfastly against this thing. Our river's water level can fluctuate by as much as three meters. Right now, when water comes from upstream, it flows off through the Katku bog ditches. If those ditches are closed, that buffer will be gone and all that water will come straight into our village," Elvelt said.

According to Jüri-Ott Salm, head of the wetlands program at the Estonian Fund for Nature, the work will not result in drastic changes to the landscape or widespread forest dieback, though some smaller and lower-lying areas might be affected.

"We're modeling water flow and terrain relief and that allows us to fairly accurately predict where higher water areas might develop or where forest dieback might occur. Then we assess the restoration approach to determine whether it's justified," Salm explained.

According to Salm, the ditches and drainage channels along forest roads will remain in place. "We can confirm that access and movement within the nature reserve will not change, and the drainage systems surrounding the reserve will also continue to function," he said.

Agu Leivits from the Environmental Board emphasized that the goal is not to kill the forest, though he acknowledged that this has unfortunately happened in some areas. He stressed that the work must be carefully planned to prevent tree dieback.

"It must be admitted that there have been places where the forest has died as a result of previous restoration efforts. In my view, this has been a very instructive process for both the Environmental Board and RMK, which is carrying out the work, in terms of how to plan and monitor these efforts," Leivits said.

Jüri-Ott Salm said that community suggestions have been taken into account where possible, and the scope of the planned work has been reduced. He does not consider logging the forest before restoration to be a viable option, as it is not justified from a capercaillie conservation perspective.

"We've listened to the thoughts of local residents. And I acknowledge that we won't reach full agreement or consensus here, because people are very skeptical that this restoration will lead to any improvement. Still, we believe the project is ecologically justified at the landscape level. As for the broader proposal to cancel the project entirely, we disagree based on the goals of the nature reserve and conservation reasons. Some may hope that the timber can be returned to the economy, but that's not the purpose of this protected area in this case," Salm said.

Work is scheduled to begin this fall.

The article was updated to add further comments from the parties.

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