Das Projekt "Bewahrung und Entwicklung von Brutraeumen des Crex crex nahe der Niederelbe (Crex crex = Wachtelkoenig)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Niedersächsisches Umweltministerium durchgeführt. The LIFE project's prime target is to improve and expand the breeding habitat for the corncrake, in order to stabilize the population and, in as much possible, increase it. This target is to be met through land purchase (about 30 ha) with an aim to making coherent blocks out of the sections already aquired in the past. Arable land purchased is to be converted back to grassland and farmed extensively. Once coherent blocks have been assembled, it will be possible to improve the hydrology of large areas of meadow behind the dykes by restoring year-round high groundwater levels and allowing floodwaters to back up in winter and cover the land. In turn, this will lead to the regeneration of species-rich, extensively-used marshland and to the preservation and development of habitat structures in the transition zone between land and water. With its specific focus on corncrakes, the project complements on-going LIFE projects upstream along the Elbe in Niedersachsen, Brandenburg and Sachsen-Anhalt very nicely. With its river floodplain marshes, tidal flats and expanses of open water, the Elbe estuary in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) is of great value for nature conservation. The calcareous, brackish-water and saltwater marsh subsoils support a typical meadow-based livestock husbandry and provide habitat for a broad range of bird species, 20 of which are listed on Annex I of the Birds Directive. These include, besides the globally threatened corncrake (Crex crex), the bittern (Botaurus stellaris), the ruff (Philomachus pugnax) and the short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), among others. 19 calling corncrakes males have been identified in the project area, equivalent to about 20 per cent of Niedersachsen's total population. The corncrakes nest both in the meadows on the foreland of the Elbe river dykes as in those behind the dykes. These inland meadows in particular are effected by drainage, intensification, ploughing up of grass, removal of important habitat structures and mowing which is done too early in the season. In response, implementation of a nature conservation programme for the lower Elbe has been going on for quite a few years now, with considerable investment in land purchase and improvements to the hydrology of the meadows.