Das Projekt "Konservierung und Entwicklung der Natur der Federsee-Landscaft" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Bezirksstelle für Naturschutz und Landschaftspflege Tübingen durchgeführt. After a management plan for the entire Federsee basin and a hydrological study have been produced, the aim is to rehumidify areas now in agriculture use in order to regenerate humid and wet meadows on fen substrates and to reduce, or even completely halt, the oxidation of the peat. In order to obtain a coherent block of land on which to carry out these measures, about 60 hectares of land will be bought and, using an official rural land ownership consolidation procedure, swapped against sections inside the site where necessary. A run-down dam across the watercourse draining out of the Federsee basin will be rebuilt and drainage ditches will be closed, moved or have their water levels raised. Recurring management measures to keep areas open for the benefit of corncrakes, snipes, cranes and many others will be launched with LIFE funds and continued after the end of the project by the conservation authorities. A more ecologically sensitive maintance of drainage ditches by the competent bodies will be promoted. The project also has a socio-economic slant. The site attracts 150000 visitors a year and an awareness campaign will point out to the local community that restoration of the natural heritage should impact positively on this tourism. To try and avoid recurring management becoming a permanent financial burden, the beneficiary will investigate if straw from the Streuwiesen could be used in energy production and will collaborate with an EU LEADER programme to see if extensive land use can become economically viable. The 3300 hectare Federsee site ist the largest mire in southwest Germany. Starting as an Ice Age glacier lake, it has subsequently developed all the stadia of the mire cycle, from an open, eutrophic relict lake through extensive fen complexes with calcareous marshes and bog woodland to raised bog. The Federsee reedlands host an extremly rich avifauna with 105 regularly breeding species including corncrake, marsh harrier and bluethroat. The main problems besetting this internationally famed natural gem are falling water levels in the lake, agricultural intensification and drainage activities and abandonment of the traditional 'Streuwiesen' exploitation (ie mowing of very humid meadows dominated by sedges, to produce straw for use in stables). Building on numerous past protection efforts undertaken in the core zone, the LIFE project will now focus on the restoration of the outer parts of the site.