In dem Projekt "Förderung der Rohrdommel im EU-Vogelschutzgebiet Schorfheide-Chorin" mit der Rohrdommel als Wappenvogel wurden für das EU-LIFE-Projekt im Biosphärenreservat Schorfheide-Chorin Konzepte für die Nutzung und Pflege der brandenburgischen Gewässer erarbeitet. In zehn Teilgebieten wurden die Rohrdommel und Röhrichtbrüterbestände, sowie die Amphibien und Fische, die Röhrichtstruktur sowie die Wasserstände und ¿qualität erfasst. Darauf aufbauend wurden geeignete Managementmaßnahmen erarbeitet und umgesetzt. Wesentliche Projektziele waren hierbei: - Rückgewinnung, Erhalt und Verbesserung von Schilfröhrichten als Lebensraum für die Rohrdommel, - Schutz der Schilfröhrichte vor negativen menschlichen Einflüssen, - Positive Auswirkungen auf viele gefährdete Feuchtgebietstypen und den gesamten Landschaftswasserhaushalt des Gebietes.
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.
Das Projekt "Massnahmen zur Hege und Vermehrung der Rordommel-Populationen (Botaurus stellaris) in bayerischen Fischteichen" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern e.V. durchgeführt. The bittern (Botaurus stellaris) prefers nesting in broad stretches of reeds and rushes, but will settle for small fish ponds, when these are part of a more extensive complex of surface waters. The brown speckled bird with its distinctive long claws has been decimated by habitat loss throughout southern and western Germany, and Western Europe in general. One of the most important nesting areas remaining in Bavaria is the Charlottenhof ponds complex, a 900 ha area mainly used to farm carp. Between four to six bittern nesting sites are occupied here each season and there is a potential, assuming appropriate management of the ponds, for more nesting sites. The polygamous bittern requires reeds or rushes which are not too dense and are free from disturbance, as well as good foraging opportunities (fish, amphibians, invertebrates, etc). On the other hand, intensive fertilizer application, high fish stocking densities, continual removal of the reeds and any inflow of nutrients and pesticides must all be avoided. The project is an attempt to develop a model for boosting bittern populations by combining protection with the application of specific forms of fish pond exploitation: Areas of rushes suitable for bittern have to be preserved and, to keep them in good shape, mowed at regular intervals. Extensive fish farming in the ponds has to be ensured. To carry out these measures, about 10 ha of ponds around existing bittern populations will be acquired by purchase or long-term lease and extensification contracts concluded with the fish farmers. These contracts compel them to keep terrestrialization zones (40-50 per cent of total surface area taken up by such zones per pond is ideal) and to guarantee that there will be water in the ponds all year. They will also prohibit them from applying fertilizer, lime or artificial feedstuffs to the pond or mowing aquatic vegetation. Because market prices for carp are currently very low, it is expected that the fish farmers attitudes towards such contracts will be positive, as on the hand less effort and input will go into fish farming (so production costs are lower) while on the other income rises on account of the compensation payments which go together with the contracts. In addition to all this, one-off measures to improves habitats will be taken: flattening the gradient of pond banks to stimulate terrestrialization, bringing more structure to the reedbeds and - along the edges of intensively used farmland - laying out buffer strips and ditches to carry off polluted water.
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
Das Projekt "Bestand und Oekologie schilfbewohnender Vogelarten im Nationalpark Neusiedler See - Seewinkel" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Nationalpark Neusiedler See - Seewinkel durchgeführt. Genaue Aussagen ueber Groesse, Verteilung und Entwicklung der Schilfvogelfauna, insbesondere in der Kernzone des Nationalparks; Erarbeiten konkreter Managementvorschlaege.