• December 12, 2024

News from Poland - OTOP and the Naturalists' Club re-wet the peat bogs in the Orawsko-Nowotarska Basin

After several years of detailed preparations, the Polish project partners - OTOP and the Naturalists' Club - carried out the first peatland restoration activity in the Natura 2000 site PLC120003 Torfowiska Orawsko-Nowotarskie (southern Poland). The activity covered three raised bogs - Baligówka, Bór za Lasem and Las Kaczmarka. Detailed monitoring and a review of existing drainage ditches in the region indicated the necessity of establishing 151 damming, which was carried out in October and November 2024. 

The dome of the Baligówka peat bog, where peat was exploited in the past, is crossed by a dense network of drainage ditches. Peat extraction has not been carried out here for a long time, but the ditches have never been liquidated. And although some of them have become significantly shallower over time, the escape of water from the dome was still significant. The reconstruction of this complex drainage system required the installation of as many as 135 dams.

The domes of Bór za Lasem and Las Kaczmarka are the remnants of one larger dome, which was significantly reduced in size in the past as a result of peat extraction and split into two parts. Here, the most important was to block the outflow of water from the surrounding ditches. The measure was implemented through blocking made at 4 and 12 sites on and around the peat bogs Las Kaczmarka and Bór za Lasem respectively.

The next stage of work in the Natura 2000 site Orawsko-Nowotarskie Peat Bogs will be the removal of unwanted trees from the Las Kaczmarka peat bog. These works will start soon.

The activities of the Life MultiPeat project in Poland are financially supported by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and the Ecological Restoration Fund. Their implementation is possible thanks to cooperation with the Municipal Council of Czarny Dunajec and the local community.