About
Wetlands and wet meadows are important parts of the agricultural landscape, in which they fulfill several irreplaceable functions: they retain water, are fundamentally involved in nutrient cycling, have significant aesthetic and production value, and are home to many plant and animal species.
However, in the intensively agriculturally managed South Moravian landscape, most wetlands have disappeared, been drained, plowed up or filled in, which has resulted in a long-term reduction in the landscape's ability to retain water and a loss of species diversity.
Remaining wetlands are gradually degrading. They suffer from eutrophication (excessive nutrient content), pesticide pollution and overgrowth by invasive or expansive species that profit from the high nutrient content, which accelerates their growth (e.g., common reed, Phragmites australis).
Biodiversity of the agricultural south Moravian landscape has always been closely related to human activity. Traditional methods of management and cultivation, such as grazing and mowing, created favorable conditions for a large number of plant and animal species. With the intensification of agriculture on large fields and concurrent abandonment of the traditional management of the surrounding landscape, the landscape has become rather monotonous and biodiversity plummeted.
Protected sites within the NATURA 2000 network also face these problems. The most endangered type of meadow wetlands on the European scale are the inland salt marshes. Inland salt marshes look like grass-herb wetlands, meadows or pastures. They occur on saline soils, which have the highest concentration of salts at 25-30 cm below surface. As water gradually evaporates, salt can crystallize on the surface of the soil and form salt eyes. Salt marshes host rare plant species well-adapted to the high salt content in the soil, which, on the other hand, does not suit most common plants. They are also home to many endangered insect and bird species.
The aim of the project LIFE in Salt Marshes, with the full name Complex ecological restoration of degraded and disappearing salt marshes of Moravian Pannonia, is to improve the current state of the South Moravian agricultural landscape, which suffers from loss of biodiversity, reduced water retention capacity and poor water (and ultimately soil) quality in wetland sites protected under the NATURA 2000 network.
The project includes 8 wetland sites of European importance, where typical salt marsh species occur or have occurred in the past. To restore these sites, we will use methods of traditional management (grazing and mowing), as well as innovative and experimental methods, e.g., sowing of native semi-parasitic plant species in order to suppress the growth of invasive species and sowing of regional seed mixtures to restore the original wetland plant communities. At some of the project sites, we plan to install biotechnical measures to mitigate the effects of previous drainage and improve water quality.
We strongly believe that at the heart of any successful and sustainable protection of natural sites lies mutual cooperation with local and regional communities. Therefore, we place great emphasis on cooperation with municipalities, with the South Moravian Regional Authority Office (which is the official authority responsible for the management of NATURA 2000 sites), local farmers and volunteers. We believe that the restoration of project sites will be successful and we will be able to share the results and methods at an international level.
We are looking forward to meeting you at some of our informational or educational events. You can always find information here on the website or on the project profiles on social networks.
