Das Projekt "Feuchtgebiets-Habitat-Management im Naturpark Schaalsee mitbesonderer Beruecksichtigung der Arten Rohrdommel und Wachtelkoenig" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Biosphärenreservatsamt Schaalsee-Elbe durchgeführt. Smack on the former Iron Curtain between Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Hostein is the 16200 ha Schaalsee nature park, and it is the dead quiet engendered by this very location for many years, which has allowed the many habitat types and their characteristic species to survive in this nature park. Much of Schaalsee, part of the west Mecklenburg lake and hill country, consists of oligotrophic lakes, fens, swamps and mires interpenetrated by woodlands and grasslands, which provides a habitat for a wide range of birds. With the disappearance of the Iron Curtain, the area was opened to change and is now threatened by rising recreational pressure, construction of traffic infrastructure and intensifying agriculture and hunting. Consequently, a detailed management plan, extending to parts of Schleswig-Holstein as well, was drawn up with financial support from the Federal German government. The LIFE project intends to implement part of the management plan and focuses on two specific subsites: the lake called Roeggeliner See with its reedbeds, humid fringes and adjoining Kuhlrader Moor mire, as well as the Kneese/Sandfeld zone, a mire ecosystem along the Kneeser Bek stream, with largely undisturbed alder swamp forests. The target is to rehumidify important areas in both subsites with the help of hydrological engineering works, and to reduce the eutrophication of the Roeggeliner See and Kneeser Bek caused by nutrient seepage from agriculture and untreated wastewater from surrounding villages. To do this, drainage ditches around the lake are to be closed, thereby rehumidifying some 200 ha grassland. By reducing nutrient inputs, the brook which brings water from its catchment area into the lake, will be renaturalized. Buffer strips are to be laid out and fences put up to protect sensitive areas from livestock. In the fen lowlands along the Kneeser Bek, drainage ditches need to be closed to rehumidify 150 ha while the stream itself is to be restored to its original natural state over a length of 3 km. Here too, plans are to lay out buffer strips and put up fences. These measures will benefit the bittern (Botaurus stellaris) and the corncrake (Crex crex), priority birds for funding under LIFE. To keep recreational pressure at both subsites within reasonable limits, visitor movements will be gently guided by building two observation platforms plus information facilities. The project is to be carried out in the Schaalsee Nature Park, an Important Bird Area. Following an already existing management plan, it is intended to undertake re-naturisation measures at two locations with wide-ranging, naturally formed and richly structured biotope complexes offering a wide varity and intensity of habitats. Both locations accomodate a rich variety of species of animals and plants particular to wetland habitats. The result of these measures shall be a re-hydration and extension of bog and marsh land including the re-naturisation of flowing watercourses. A further outco