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Raising biodiversity of peat bogs Raised bogs sequester CO2 and provide a unique habitat for wildlife, but many have been degraded. The LIFE CrossBorderBog project is now working to rewet and conserve a raised bog in the Dutch-German border region. This will fulfil Nature 2000 targets and boost its ability to mitigate the impact of climate change, as Jacob van der Weele and Christoph Rückriem explain. The Aamsveen-Hundfelder Moor

LIFE CrossBorderBog

is situated on the Dutch-German border and is part of a former large raised bog area. The bog started to form approximately 5000 BC and has historically provided an important habitat for flora and fauna as well as the storage of large quantities of CO2 . However, over time large quantities of peat were extracted from the area, and the bog does not function in the same way today. “Currently the raised bog is considered to be degraded, as it is limited in its ability to retain water. Water loss changes the quality of peat, the physical way that water is retained,” says Christoph Rückriem, a biologist and site manager at the Zwillbrock Biological Station, located close to the Moor. This issue is crucial to the CrossBorderBog project, an initiative funded under the EUs LIFE programme, which provides valuable support for biodiversity, environment and climate related issues. The aim in the project is to restore and conserve the biodiversity of the raised bog, which starts from preventing water run-off. “We want the bog to retain the water that it needs,” explains Jacob van der Weele, an ecologist with project partners Landschap Overijssel. “In the project team we have a lot of experience in restoring or re-wetting raised bog areas. We’ve seen that if we make small compartments, and enclose them by dams, we can prevent water run-off and create conditions in which peat can grow again. Only then can we create the conditions for typical peatland biodiversity to develop again.”

As part of their roles in the project, Rückriem and Van der Weele aim to help support the growth of peat mosses at the two Natura 2000 sites, while also looking to bridge national differences and essentially merge the two sides into a single raised bog. This is not a simple task however, as the bog has been managed differently on both sides of the border, notably with the creation of a drainage ditch in the ‘70s on the German side. “Managers at the time decided not to collaborate with their counterparts across the border but to find their own, purely German

the project makes it much more complicated than a purely national initiative, but one of the benefits is that it moves both sides out of their comfort zones.” The two sides were initially quite far apart in terms of their vision for the area, and it took some time to identify joint goals before the project began in 2023. A key aim in the project is to establish a consistently high water table to support the growth of peat mosses in the bog, specifically sphagnum moss, a key component of peat. “There are about 15 species of sphagnum moss in the area, and each has their own particular

“It would not be possible to do this work on a purely national basis, as many of the proposed measures require close crossborder coordination. We need to establish cross-border compartments in the bog for example, and they have to be organised and managed on a common basis.” solution. So they created this drainage ditch on the border, which allows water to run out,” explains Rückriem. Given this background, and shared environmental concerns, Rückriem emphasises a cross-border initiative was required to restore the bog. “It would not be possible to do this work on a purely national basis, as many of the proposed measures require close cross-border coordination. We need to establish cross-border compartments in the bog for example, and they have to be organised and managed on a common basis,” he points out. “The cross-border nature of

preferences in terms of where they grow, how they grow, and how fast,” outlines Van der Weele. These mosses require a stable water level near the surface, so the project team are establishing dams to prevent runoff. “In the Netherlands we look to establish loam dams, using a very sticky type of mud, which is impermeable to water. Our German colleagues only use peat to build dams,” says Van der Weele. “There are also © Biologische Station Zwillbrock e.V.

some other differences in approach. In the Netherlands we have decided to remove all the birch trees in our area, whereas in Germany they are taking a more gradual approach, in the knowledge that water levels will rise in future and scattered birch forests will slowly diminish.” A third important measure in the project involves essentially flattening the area, taking into account significant differences in the height of the water table within the bog. Some peat ridges within the bog have been excavated while others haven’t, leading to height differences of up to two metres, which Van der Weele says represents a significant challenge to the project team. “It’s very difficult to establish a flat water table with these height differences. We fill up the lower parts and look to bring down the high parts, to try and get a flat surface,” he explains. The impact of all the restoration actions will be monitored, with the project team paying particularly close attention to the development of the water table within the bog. “We’ve put between 50-60 monitoring sensors in the area which are taking measurements continuously. In collaboration with our partners at the University of Münster (ILÖK) we will develop a groundwater table model, to provide annual reports of the main changes,” says Rückriem. “We will be able to see a detailed picture of the whole area, then we can identify specific areas where we haven’t had the impact we hoped and where we maybe need to take some additional measures. All of this is being done with a view to caring for flora and fauna.”

Stable water level The main aim here is to establish a stable water table and only raise it gradually, to prevent the development of large water bodies, which are not well-suited to the growth of peat mosses. The water level will

be raised step by step, taking into account variations in the climate and observations of growth rates. “If we see strong growth of peat mosses, we can potentially look to raise the water level somewhat quicker, while if we have very dry summers we will perhaps look to raise it at a different speed,” says Van der Weele. The team is also considering how the site will be managed over the longterm, beyond the end of the project, with climate change likely to have an impact on water levels in the bog. “We modelled the stability of the water table, in the context of climate change. We found that we can still reach our goals in conserving the bog, even with the likelihood of longer, drier summers in future,” outlines Rückriem. “We will create these compartments with adjustable overflows in the bog, so we can react to monitoring data, which will be very valuable for long-term management of the site.” This work will in the long term enable both Natura 2000 sites to once again host the typical elements of biodiversity associated with raised bogs, while also increasing their capacity to store CO2 and so mitigate the impact of climate change. This is a prominent issue across Europe, and so Van der Weele and his colleagues are keen to share their findings with other site managers of raised bog areas. “We held a symposium in October 2025, at which we presented our findings to site managers from across North-Western Europe, and described the steps we took,” he says. However, while the project’s research holds valuable insights for others looking to restore raised bog areas, Rückriem says that each bog is different and requires a specific solution. “It’s essential to consider the local circumstances and the specific conditions,” he stresses. “In ecology, it is important to be guided by the facts, then you can put in place the right measures, in the right place, at the right time.”

EU Research

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LIFE-CrossBorderBog Cross-border restoration and reunion of the raised bogs Aamsveen and Hündfelder Moor

Project Objectives

The overall objective of the LIFE CrossBorderBog is to create living raised bogs in the Natura 2000 areas of Aamsveen and Hündfelder Moor. In doing so, we are also protecting and creating habitats for typical raised bog animal species such as the crane, Artic emeral dragonfly, raised bog mosaic dragonfly, European frog, adder, common lizard, common snipe and golden plover.

Project Funding

The Life CrossBorderBog is financed by the LIFE programme, the EU Financial instrument for nature, environment and climate protection. The project takes place in the Natura 2000 sites Aamsveen (NL2003001, Netherlands) and Amtsvenn u. Hündfelder Moor (DE3807301, Germany).

Project Partners

https://lifecrossborderbog.nl/en/partnersfunding/

Contact Details

Project Coordinator, Gert-Jan Hoeve LIFE CrossBorderBog Aamsveen – Hündfelder Moor Postbus 10078 8000 GB Zwolle Netherlands T: +31 6 10982752 E: gj.hoeve@overijssel.nl W: https://lifecrossborderbog.nl/en/

Christoph Rückriem Jacob van der Weele

Christoph Rückriem is an ecologist and site manager at the Biologische Station Zwillbrock e.V., and has worked as the German project manager for the LIFE CrossBorderBog project since 2023. Jacob van der Weele is a biologist. He has long experience of working in nature conservation for provincial governments and for the last two decades has served as an ecological advisor within Landschap Overijssel, a nature conservation organisation.