display
Wiesbaden (dpa / lhe) - In order to improve the living conditions of numerous endangered bird species, among other things, water is to be artificially introduced into the Pfungstädter Moor in the coming years.
The state will provide around 270,000 euros for the construction of the irrigation system and operation in 2021, the Ministry of the Environment said on Thursday in Wiesbaden.
From 2022, 208,000 euros should be available.
"By improving the water balance, we can protect the fens that still exist in this area and, in the long term, a large moor area with corresponding fauna and flora can develop again," said Hesse's Environment Minister Priska Hinz (Greens) about the renaturation.
By introducing additional water in the Pfungstädter Moor as part of an EU bird sanctuary, "the living conditions of many endangered species such as bluethroat, marsh harrier and various warbler" are to be significantly improved, it said. The species would have "suffered a lot from the aridity of the area". Intact peat soils are also "of great importance as carbon stores". According to the Ministry of the Environment, the moor had been drained for peat extraction, among other things. The groundwater level had also dropped sharply due to a high level of groundwater abstraction for drinking water.
The 100 hectare moor south of Darmstadt is reported to have been designated as a nature reserve since 1995.
The moor is therefore in a loop of old necks in the Hessian Ried.
With the watering, "an important agreement of the round table to improve the groundwater situation in the Hessian Ried" will be implemented, said Hinz.
Among other things, the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) had requested the irrigation of the moor.
display
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210506-99-492014 / 2