Rokytecké slatě
Area: 90 ha
Elevation: 1 100 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 7 600 m
Site description: This exceptionally valuable complex of several raised bogs in a mosaic with transitional mires in the Rokytka headwater region is also known as the Weitfäller Fens. The area has been protected since 1933 as a nature reserve.
Problem and solution: Despite its prominence and protection, one of the raised bogs was heavily drained by surface channels and intersected by a forest road.
Drainage ditches will be blocked by wooden barriers and partially refilled. Several straightened streams in the spruce forest at the edge of the raised bog will have to be restored to their original natural undulating form.
Březová Lada
Area: 15 ha
Elevation: 850 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 180 m
Site description: Once a relatively large raised bog on the left bank of the Teplá Vltava (Warm Vltava), it was heavily damaged by grazing, draining, as well as peat cutting. To date, only a small, degraded part in the location centre has been preserved, the remaining areas are mostly wet meadows. The former village of Slatina is only represented by plot boundaries – drainage channels. The territory was deforested and traditionally managed in the past, thanks to which the wide Vltava valley is visible there (as opposed to other places where the opposite bank cannot be seen through thick forest stands).
Problem and solution: Mostly shallow channels drain the remaining raised bogs and wet meadows surrounding, the whole area is regularly grazed.
The channels will be blocked and refilled with soil, and capillary streams leading to the river floodplain from the surrounding slopes will be restored.
Malý Bor
Area: 25 ha
Elevation: 870 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 3 600 m
Site description: This site is located on the hillside of Vysoký hřbet Mountain near the road from Hartmanice to Keply, on the left side of the Křemelná river. The settlement of Malý Bor occupied part of the territory. The site comprises several large hill spring areas with adjacent wetlands, now overgrown with self-seeded woods. The spring areas as well as the effluent stream have been heavily drained and the stream has been wholly straightened. The site included minor bog woodlands, but all of them have virtually disappeared due to drainage. Adjacent to the hillside wetlands is a valley raised bog with a Pinus rotundata bog forest bordering on a bog spruce forest. These verge into a fen outside Křemelná and into dry pastures towards the surrounding hillsides. The raised bogs with surrounding peat bogs have not been heavily damaged by draining. The former village was demolished after World War II and the territory was incorporated into a military area.
Problem and solution: The main problems are drained spring areas and straightened streams.
All surface drainage ditches will be blocked and refilled. The straightened stream will be rechannelled from a deep ditch and returned to its former course. Water will freely overflow the restored shallow bed and saturate the surrounding wetlands.
Gerlova Huť
Area: 19 ha
Elevation: 950 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 4 100 m
Site description: The site is located south of the intersection of roads 27 (Klatovy to Železná Ruda) and 190 (to Prášily), on the southwestern hillside of the Tok Mountain towards Pancíř. Once a loose Bog spruce forest, it has become a dense, young-growth spruce stand due to heavy draining. Despite this, rare and beautiful carnivorous plant round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) can be found in the local wet areas. The banks of minor torrents, rushing into the Řezná Stream, are garnished with the sky-blue mountain bindweed (Soldanella montana) in places.
Problem and solution: The main problem is the heavy draining of the spring areas as well as former peaty mires by surface channels, and the extremely entrenched stream.
Restoration focuses on creating conditions to re-establish the bog spruce forest. The blocking of the channels and renewal of a shallow stream will therefore lead to the territory’s inundation, and the dense, young-growth spruce stand will be opened and pruned, so that their structure will be reminiscent of the loose character of a bog spruce forest. This will reduce loss of water by evaporation and ensure enough light for recovery of the sphagnum moss carpet.
Bučina
Area: 43 ha
Elevation: 1 100 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 8 100 m
Site description: Forest wetlands on Vysoký stolec Mountain side, where the Vltavský Stream (or the Small Vltava) springs. Despite the name, spruce now predominates there, mainly as waterlogged spruce forest biotopes; beech only grows on several hectares. The mosaic comprises older as well as young-growth stands, drained by a network of channels in the past.
Problem and solution: Forest peat bogs are scarce there, so restoration will mainly focus on the renewal of forest wetlands and the system of springs with capillary streams that were channelled into the main stream.
The channels will be blocked and refilled, the streams will be returned to the longer, but nicer and more natural courses down the slope.
Černý Kříž
Area: 3 ha
Elevation: 750 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 500 m
Site description: This large, open area in the Studená Vltava valley on the foot of Stožeček Hill features meadow mires and a very small raised bog, almost lost to draining. Trees dispersed over the meadows are favoured by black grouse and corn crakes.
Problem and solution: Instead of spreading into the meadows, water flowing from the spring areas is channelled fast and directly to the Vltava.
The ditches will be blocked and refilled, thus increasing the groundwater level, a fact that will help convert the dry, drained meadow back to peat bog form. Wet meadows will be mowed to prevent overgrowing with woods, and the mowed parts should provide leks to black grouses in the spring.
Mrtvý luh
Area: 313 ha
Elevation: 750 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 7 500 m
Site description: The largest raised bog in Šumava, located above the confluence of the Studená Vltava and Teplá Vltava, is a peaty area shaped like a colossal pie with a slightly arched centre – the peat layer thickness amounts to 7 metres there. The bleak name (Mrtvý luh – Dead Meadow) comes from a multitude of “skeleton trees” left after a large underground peat fire.
Problem and solution: The site has only been drained along its perimeter and most channels have spontaneously filled up and overgrown. However, there are several functioning ditches at the eastern edge of the raised bog near the confluence of both streams, due to which the eastern corner of the raised bog is still being drained.
The ditches will be blocked manually.
Rybárny II
Area: 39 ha
Elevation: 1 075 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 900 m
Site description: This wood on a hillside between Roklanský Stream and Tříjezerní slať (Three Lakes Peat Bog) consists of waterlogged as well as bog spruce forest with a tiny remainder of a raised bog in the upper part of the slope. There are several regulated streams and intertwining drainage channels in the forest, widely used by capercaillies.
Problem and solution: The original bog and waterlogged spruce forest is turning into a depleted mountain spruce forest due to drainage – and we want to prevent this by blocking the channels.
The spring areas will be rehydrated and the streams led into the original, meandering routes with shallow beds.
Ptačí slať
Area: 12 ha
Elevation: 1 130 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 3 200 m
Site description: This site is located in a flat valley in the foothills of Malá Mokrůvka Mountain and Mrtvý vrch Mountain. A road connecting Filipova Huť and the Na ztraceném site passes through here. The bog is watered by the middle part of the Ptačí Stream. The small raised bogs surrounded by a bog spruce forest are now regenerating after bark beetle outbreak. Some old spruces survived, but most of them are slowly dying off and falling down. There are countless saplings and the mountain swampy forest has begun to regenerate.
Problem and solution: The raised bog is pierced with several drainage channels, other channels drain the bog spruce forest above and under the road.
All channels will have to be blocked – more water will help regenerate the bog forest.
Jezerní slať
Area: 101 ha
Elevation: 1 070 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 2 600 m
Site description: This legendary frost hollow between Kvilda and Horská Kvilda features a large raised bog from which peat was manually cut. Frosty August mornings are no exception here. A complete set of flora and fauna typical of Šumava raised bogs can be found in the preserved remainders of the peat bog. The site is a noted black grouse lek.
Problem and solution: The peat bog was exploited in the past – this is indicated by peat bulges separated by extracted holes, now slowly overgrowing with vegetation.
The problem is the central drainage channel, which must be blocked.
Hamerské slatě
Area: 16 ha
Elevation: 1 060 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 3 146 m
Site description: This raised bog is located on the opposite side of the road from Jezerní slať. Gold was extracted from the Hamerský Stream, as indicated by placers, and peat was manually extracted from the bog, a fact evidenced by drainage ditches and peat belts. Visitors can encounter capercaillies, black grouses, and even lynxes there.
Problem and solution: The raised bog is drying out due to peat extraction and drainage, the main problems are the channels on the northwest edge.
Channel blocking can be instrumental in this peat bog’s revitalisation.
Pramenská
Area: 21 ha
Elevation: 1 100 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 4 800 m
Site description: This raised bog and bog forest surrounds the Teplá Vltava a few kilometres outside Kvilda. The habitat is wetter near the river, there are meadow mires with trees standing ankle-deep in water and calf-deep in sedge.
Problem and solution: Channels of various sizes cut through the waterlogged forest, and the draining of the Vltava road is also baleful (it concentrates water from the slope to a handful of culverts).
The channels will be blocked in order to raise the groundwater level, which will be beneficial for the naturally waterlogged and bog forest.
Rybárny I
Area: 27 ha
Elevation: 1 075 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 7 220 m
Site description: This meadow mire and bog forest is located above and below the Rybárna lodge near Roklanský Stream. Waterlogged meadows mires meet dry Nartus grassland on the hillside, while aconites blossom in the floodplain. The forests are more or less waterlogged – according to the drainage functionality.
Problem and solution: The site is interwoven with a network of drainage channels, some of them straightened and recessed, draining water away fast.
The former streams will be distinguished in the maze of channels and then returned to their shallow, meandering, preferably original beds. The remaining channels will be blocked and left to be overgrown by peaty vegetation.
Stožecká
Area: 29 ha
Elevation: 800 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 7 800 m
Site description: A successfully drained forest of formerly waterlogged spruce forest near Stožec, located in a saddle between two prominent mountains, Stožec (1 065 metres a.s.l.) and Spáleniště (961 metres a.s.l.), some two kilometres from the villages of Stožec and České Žleby. It surrounds the road from Stožec to Dobrá. Channels cut through the spring area, draining water from there. The site is a minor water divide – some of the streams flow into the Studená Vltava, and some into the Teplá Vltava.
Problem and solution: The channel network is so dense in some places that it is a wonder that trees have enough room to grow.
The drained spring areas and mires will be rehydrated by blocking the channels, and small streams will return to their original routes.
Ehem. Schießstand bei Kvilda
Area: 16 ha
Elevation: 1 100 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 1 865 m
Site description: This meadow and damp forest surrounds the former firing range near Kvilda, on the Tetřev (Grouse) hillside. The meadows were drained dramatically, turning the mires into semi-arid pastures. Nonetheless, the rare marsh clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) grows on the wet spots of the firing range mound.
Problem and solution: From an aerial view, the meadow looks as if it had been sliced through – and it has, as there are quite a few surface ditches that drain water, trying to turn the sedge fen into a drier, yielding alpine meadow. Spruces sneakily propagate along the channels, closing off the forest-free area. Some ditches are also found in the forest, as well as regulated, channelled spring areas.
Several channels in the forest and most channels in the meadow will be blocked and refilled.
Dobrovodské louky
Area: 61 ha
Elevation: 750 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 15 800 m
Site description: This open valley with wet and peaty meadows along the Teplá Vltava near the settlement of Dobrá is an important biotope of black grouse. The Žlebský Stream, successfully revitalised in 2014–2015, flows nearby.
Problem and solution: The originally waterlogged and peaty meadows were interlaced with a drainage system of surface as well as tubular channels, efficiently dewatering the site, in turn losing its natural alluvial character.
The local water regime was fundamentally impaired by the surface and tubular drainage channels, which we will try to block. The largest channels are 2 metres deep and 4 metres wide. The renewal of mowing of wet meadows should be beneficial to the black grouse.
Ježová
Area: 18 ha
Elevation: 800 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 7 500 m
Site description: This secluded site on the hillside above the Ježová Stream is located on the Czech–Austrian border in the southeast part of the Šumava PLA. The drained transitional mire, now overgrown with self-seeded woods, was barren until the 1950s.
Problem and solution: The system of draining channels built in the late 1980s.
We will strive to re-establish the natural water regime by blocking channels, with an overall length of 7.5 kilometres.
Multerberg
Area: 12 ha
Elevation: 790 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 3 800 m
Site description: The Multerberg Peat Bog natural monument can be found in the area between the right bank of the Lipno reservoir and the Czech–Austrian border. This small, overgrown raised bog is a mosaic of mountain pine and bog pine forest, in which open areas have almost disappeared.
Problem and solution: The spring areas above the raised bog have been impaired in particular, but the raised bog itself has not avoided drainage.
It is necessary to block the network of open channels in the site, decelerate water outflow from the spring area, and undulate the stream straightened in the past.
Raškov
Area: 49 ha
Elevation: 780 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 15 000 m
Site description: This location, approximately 2 kilometres long, comprises heavily drained meadows in the Jezerní Stream floodplain and a narrow belt of a deserted, overgrowing meadow mire area between wooded slopes.
Problem and solution: Some 15 kilometres of drainage channels have been built there, most of them, fortunately, overgrown and defunct nowadays.
The plan is to block the functioning ditches and return the beds of several straightened streams to their natural condition.
Nová Hůrka
Area: 107 ha
Elevation: 910 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 16 200 m
Site description: This open, non-forest enclave adjoins the large, valley raised bog with Pinus rotundata bog pine forest and bog spruce forest in the Křemelná Stream floodplain. The forest-free, waterlogged parts with transitional mires and wet meadows are very valuable, providing habitat to a number of rare plants.
Problem and solution: The major problems are drained non-forest wetlands including sedge meadow mires in the southern and central parts of the enclave.
It is necessary to block all the channels and regenerate the many small streams flowing to the Slatinný Stream, and to fill the large channel that encircles an area of the raised bog where peat was dug.
Slučí tah
Area: 19 ha
Elevation: 860 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 3 900 m
Site description: Located in the northwest part of the national park, near the road from Hartmanice to Železná Ruda, this site comprises both dry and wet grassland utilised as cattle pastures and the adjacent waterlogged and bog forest along the Slatinný Stream.
Problem and solution: Water streams and spring areas in the forest-free area in the upper part of the site were altered completely by draining. Most channels are 1 metre deep, but some parts reach 2 or more metres in the regulated stream.
The channels will be refilled and the stream will be returned to its natural bed.
Smrkový vrch
Area: 30 ha
Elevation: 1 090 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 900 m
Site description: Bog and waterlogged spruce forest, currently degraded due to bark-beetle outbreak. The tree layer has only been preserved on the peripheries and along the forest roads.
Problem and solution: The water regime has primarily been disturbed in the southwestern part of the site. A perimeter channel has been built along the whole southwestern edge, to which channels discharge as well as regulated streams that drain water from the upslope spring area. Most channels are no more than one-metre deep, but the regulated streams are deeper in some places. An irregular network of drainage ditches was also reported in the northwest part of the site, while the eastern part has not been heavily affected.
It will be necessary to block about 6 kilometres of channels in the area, and renew the original beds of the straightened small streams. Work will be complicated by numerous windthrown trees and poor access to the site. With respect to the presence of the very sensitive capercaillies, work will be mostly carried out in the autumn.
Střelecký průsmyk
Area: 4 ha
Elevation: 1 080 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 733 m
Site description: The smallest Czech project site is located near the Czech–German border, northwest of Smrkový vrch Mountain, in the Modrava Plains area. The territory is part of the National Park’s first zone, comprising the sizeable complex of Javoří bogs. The site’s centre is a small raised bog with a bog spruce forest, now degraded, both heavily drained by surface channels.
Problem and solution: The drainage system consists of four main parallel channels, intersecting the central part of the site along the land contour.
Driven plank dams will be used to block the channels, depending on the peat layer depth.
Vlčí Jámy
Area: 46 ha
Elevation: 770 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 11 900 m
Site description: The only commercially exploited peat bog within the project, Vlčí Jámy is located just outside the National Park border, in the Šumava PLA. Peat digging on an area of 19 hectares was terminated as late as 2014. Bare, black peat covers a large part of the territory.
Problem and solution: The measure focuses on re-watering of the area and re-establishing the peat-forming processes and mire biotopes.
The plan includes blocking of the channels, creation of terrain depressions, application of mulch, support of the peat-forming vegetation, and pruning of the woods.
Novosvětské slatě
Area: 51 ha
Elevation: 930 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 10 700 m
Site description: This variegated mosaic of peaty and grassland biotopes in the Vydří (Otter) Stream valley is home to many rare plant and animal species. In addition to the black grouse, the territory is also favoured by beavers, who could teach us a thing or two about dam building.
Problem and solution: The site’s water regime has been disrupted by surface draining. A dense system of drainage channels has been built in the grasslands as well as around the raised bogs. Despite the fact that the channels are mostly shallow and overgrown, undesirable draining still occurs there, degrading the peat-bog biotopes and accelerating the growth of pyoneer woods. And so open areas, an indispensable part of the biotope of the severely endangered black grouse, are disappearing as a result.
Renewal of the water regime in the disturbed peat bogs, mowing of the wet meadows as well as cutting of self-seeded woods should be beneficial for the black grouse, the focus of the measures planned in this site.
Horní Světlé Hory
Area: 29 ha
Elevation: 880 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 300 m
Site description: A complex of several small raised bogs, transitional mires and meadow mires. The raised bog has been disturbed by peat cutting. The bare peat areas are home to round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia).
Problem and solution: Natural processes play a major role in this formerly populated and carefully managed territory. Surface draining dries up the mires, especially in the southern part.
We will try to remedy the disturbed water regime by blocking the drainage channels.
Pod Skelnou
Area: 41 ha
Elevation: 850 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 700 m
Site description: Wet as well as peaty meadows and spring areas under and above the road from Hartmanice to Hůrka, once part of the village of Skelná. The village was erased from the maps and the world by soldiers – it was located within Dobrá voda Military Area.
Problem and solution: Deep channels drain the wet meadows and peat bogs, having caused their depletion and overgrowing with woods. The channels discharge into straightened streams and all water quickly flows to the Křemelná River.
The channels will be blocked and refilled, the streams will be returned to their former, shallow courses, and the drained spring areas will be re-watered.
Kameničná
Area: 66 ha
Elevation: 850 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 10 500 m
Site description: The site is located north of Prášily, under Kamenitý Hill, in an area where the Prášilský Stream is about to join the Křemelná. Vast forest mires with mainly bog spruce forests in a saddle between Kamenitý Hill and Slunečná Mountain above the Prášilský Stream. The area is part of the national park’s natural zone, suitably called V Mokřinách (The Mires). The local streams are home to the river “dragon” – a small fish known as the European bullhead.
Problem and solution: The forest is interlaced with a dense network of surface channels that gradually drain the original mires.
Water will be retained in the territory by blocking the artificial channels, and will return to the former, shallow streams.
Tremlhof
Area: 8 ha
Elevation: 1 050 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 2 730 m
Site description: Two small peaty plots near the road from Kvilda to Horská Kvilda. Once cultivated wet meadows and a small raised bog – set out from the nearby Jezerní slať. Treml’s isolated farm is now only commemorated by a wayside cross.
Problem and solution: Draining is less considerable, yet creeping degradation occurs. As water disappears, xerophilous shrubs and woods, especially spruces, spread in the territory.
Re-watering will be implemented by blocking the ditches and retaining the water in the flat flood plain of the Kvildský Stream and its tributaries.
Mezilesní slať
Area: 70 ha
Elevation: 1 100 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 8 219 m
Site description: Two streams begin on the northern side of the Přilba Mountain – the Losenice and the Hamerský Stream. The first one feeds into the Otava at Rejštejn, the other supplies the Vydra at Antýgl. And both of them drain water from the spring area of Mezilesní slať.
Problem and solution: Parts of the bog have been manually cut, and draining also affected the area.
Channel blocking will help retaining more water in the raised bog and prevent spreading of spruce over the area. Small measures will stop erosion of exposed peat surfaces in the formerly worked part of the raised bog.
Pod Lovčí
Area: 56 ha
Elevation: 1 100 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 15 000 m
Site description: A tangle of streams (unfortunately straightened or deepened in many places) form a tributary of the Filipohuťský Stream under Lovčí skála (Hunter’s Rock), feeding into the Vydra in Modrava.
Problem and solution: The water flows too quickly in straightened streams and drainage ditches – the streams deepen, and then water is lacking or in excess downstream.
There, at the spring area, water will be retained through renewal of undulating and shallow streams and breaking up of the drainage channels.
Knížecí Pláně
Area: 7 ha
Elevation: 1 000 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 896 m
Site description: An inconspicuous wood below the hunting lodge at Knížecí Pláně hides surprising gems. Here is a small raised bog, a habitat for black grouse and the magnificent mountain snowbell (Soldanella montana).
Problem and solution: The small raised bog is affected by draining, although its intensity cannot be compared with other, heavily damaged sites.
Here, too, the drainage ditches will be blocked to prevent the peat bog from losing water and its rare inhabitants.
Devítka
Area: 21 ha
Elevation: 800 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 5 078 m
Site description: This small bog spruce forest under Dolnokrásnohorská Path in the Studená Vltava basin near the village of Stožec is surrounded by thick, drained spruce forests, once apparently waterlogged.
Problem and solution: Water from the spring areas is drained by artificial channels, the bog spruce forest is drained by a network of channels and almost dried up – currently degrading. The excessively thick, young spruce stand also restricts spontaneous regeneration of the bog spruce forest.
Young stands will be thinned and the drainage channels blocked. This will improve water retention where needed.
Gayerruck
Area: 13 ha
Elevation: 1 130 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 2 700 m
Site description: This small, but still active and valuable raised bog is located under the summit of Medvěd, west of Roklanská slať (Roklanská Bog) in the northwest part of the National Park, in the Roklanský Stream basin. The raised bog still includes bog pools and residuals of open sites with low, relic vegetation.
Problem and solution: The surroundings of the raised bog include drained spring areas in forest stands naturally regenerating after the disintegration of the tree layer. A deep, eroding drainage ditch is located on the edge of the raised bog.
All ditches under the spring areas and in the peat bog will be blocked, and water from some of the channels will be routed to natural courses.
Nová slať
Area: 22 ha
Elevation: 1 130 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 8 246 m
Site description: This complex of bog spruce forests under Filipohuťská Path with numerous spring areas and a small raised bog, fully overgrown by mountain pine (pinus mugo), is located approximately 3 km south of the village of Filipova Huť. Despite heavy drainage, the site has so far been fed by ample springs, therefore is rich in peaty parts with rare species.
Problem and solution: The main problem is a dense network of drainage channels and several straightened streams.
The ditches will be blocked and partially refilled, while original courses of small streams will be regenerated.
Stritzelau
Area: 55 ha
Elevation: 730 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 8 250 m
Site description: This valley raised bog in the flood plain on the right bank of the Vltava is located 2 km north of Nová Pec. The bog is surrounded by a waterlogged spruce forest heavily damaged by draining and long-term commercial exploitation.
Problem and solution: The whole site is encircled and intersected with surface channels that drain water from the mires.
The drainage channels will be blocked and refilled in order to raise the groundwater level and support peat formation.
Roviny
Area: 42 ha
Elevation: 880 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 11 430 m
Site description: Located in the western part of Šumava National Park under the road from Dobrá Voda to Železná Ruda, at the very edge of the Křemelná Stream valley, this site consists of heavily drained bog and waterlogged spruce forests, with wet meadows in the eastern part as well as patches of self-seeded woods in the drained minerotrophic peat bogs.
Problem and solution: Draining has mostly affected the western part of the site with numerous spring areas, intersected by a network of surface channels.
The drainage channels must be blocked and refilled. The drainage system also includes several straightened streams which will be returned to their original, shallow beds.
Stráženská
Area: 135 ha
Elevation: 820 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 17 500 m
Site description: Located south of the village of Strážný, this extensive valley raised bog includes stands of bog pine (Pinus rotundata) as well as islands of open areas with dwarf vegetation. Part of the bog has been affected by manual peat extraction, and the northern part by the presence of a large pond with the remains of a dam still noticeable to date. There are numerous peaty and sedge meadows around the bog.
Problem and solution: The major problem is a dense network of drainage channels in the northern, forest-free area.
The channels will be blocked and refilled for the most part. The regulated Kořenský Stream will be returned to the still visible former bed.
Vchynice-Tetov
Area: 21 ha
Elevation: 1 000 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 4 300 m
Site description: This variegated mosaic of peaty mires is located on a gentle, waterlogged slope north of Modrava, in the Vydra River basin. The village of Vchynice-Tetov, now vanished, was situated nearby. The rugged complex of mires is comprised of a small raised bog, a bog spruce forest, peaty areas with self-seeded woods and many spring areas, peaty sedge meadows, wet grassy meadows, and Nardus grasslands.
Problem and solution: The site has been thoroughly drained by two deep streams with fortified banks and systematic underground and surface drainage.
The surface ditches in the peaty biotopes will be blocked, the systematic drainage at the forest-free areas will be raked over and filled, and new, meandering beds will be created instead of the regulated streams.
Haidl am Ahornberg
Area: 109 ha
Elevation: 950 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 21 369 m
Site description: This extensive site with slope wetlands is located in the Křemelná River basin in the westernmost part of the National Park, on both sides of the road connecting the former villages of Starý Brunst and Stará Huť. The rugged mosaic of various wetlands with numerous spring areas, peaty and wet meadows, and extensive successional areas is part of the Zhůřská pláň Nature Reserve.
Problem and solution: All spring areas in the upper part of the slope are drained by channels that rapidly route water along the slope line to the Křemelná River. The area includes several straightened streams, heavily eroding due to the sloping ground. The major problem under the road is systematic drainage of wet meadows by surface channels.
Straightened streams must be returned from the erosion furrows to natural beds, visible in some places. The drainage channels will be blocked and filled. Road culverts will be accommodated to the restored streams.
Hochmoor Markfilz
Area: 11 ha
Elevation: 1 180 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 1 600 m
Site description: This mountain raised bog with mountain pine (Pinus mugo) and small open areas, surrounded by bog spruce forests, is located in the saddle below Černá hora Mountain southwest of Kvilda.
Problem and solution: The peat bog has been intersected by the former Iron Curtain with deep drainage channels, which have already been successfully blocked.
The 3rd stage of restoration in this site addresses the remaining sections of the peripheral channels on the edge of the raised bog. The channels will be blocked and refilled as part of the project.
Nové Údolí
Area: 59 ha
Elevation: 810 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 9 300 m
Site description: Slope wetlands above the Studená Vltava flood plain, located south of the village of Stožec not far from the Czech–Bavarian border. This picturesque area includes heavily drained spring areas of an unnamed Vltava tributary, hidden in the young spruce stand and with wet and peaty meadows, through which the straightened stream runs. A mountain raised bog is located near the Vltava.
Problem and solution: The major problem is the drained spring area and the straightened stream bed.
The surface channels in the territory will be blocked and refilled, the stream will be partially transferred to its original course and shallowed and partially undulated, so as to spontaneously create a natural bed over time.
Silniční slať
Area: 42 ha
Elevation: 990 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 9 365 m
Site description: These drained young forest stands replaced the former bog spruce forest along the road from Borová Lada to Knížecí Pláně. The most valuable part belongs to the nature zone together with the nearby Buková slať (Beech Bog), protected since 1923 thanks to Prince Karl V. von Schwarzenberg.
Problem and solution: The forest peat bog and well as the peaty and mire meadows have been drained by a network of channels in a total length of almost 10 kilometres.
All channels will be blocked, and the young spruce stands will be thinned out in order to open the stands, support the growth of sphagnum moss, and reduce water losses from the peat bog by evaporation.
Standort 1
Area: 0 ha
Elevation: 0 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 0 m
Site description: Negotiations on the purchase of this site are in progress.
Problem and solution: Negotiations on the purchase of this site are in progress.
Langreut/Bischofsreut
Area: 22 ha
Elevation: 900 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 0 m
Site description: The area is a special feature in the natural environment of the Bavarian Forest: On the silicate primary rock, you can find locally calcareous fens with base-loving plant communities. The area is home to a great variety of species due to the mosaic of calcareous fens, acidic fens and transitional fens. The spring bogs in the area are home to remains of the special plant society Parnassio-Caricetum fuscea, which used to extend much further in the area.
Problem and solution: Comprehensive drainage measures, afforestation with spruce trees and upcoming of bushes on areas that have not been afforested are causing the area to dry out more and more and the typical mire plants are disappearing. The water balance of the area is to be normalised again by rewetting measures (backfill of drainage channels) and bush removal measures.
Wagenwasser
Area: 11 ha
Elevation: 910 m n. m.
Length of ditches: 0 m
Site description: Large parts of the spring area of the creek "Wagenwasser" were used as so-called "water meadows" for almost two centuries, with smaller parts used as pasture and forest pasture. This historical use and the small-scale mosaic of various mire and wetland habitats resulted in an enormous abundance of species. Only remains of the vegetation from the time of irrigation have survived in the immediate vicinity of the creek.
Problem and solution: The area is drained by a network of drainage ditches and it becomes more and more dry. Spruce reforestations and bushes also extract water from the area. For this reason, the drainage channels are to be backfilled in order to raise the water level permanently.