Restoration of Grote Beek

Overview

The Valley of the Grote Beek lies north of the Valley of the Zwarte Beek and is located in 3 municipalities: Beringen, Ham and Leopoldsburg. Like the Valley of the Zwarte Beek, the Valley of the Grote Beek is a fen peatland, originally a percolation mire. You will find mainly Alder swamp forest there, but also parts with more open fens.  The Valley of the Grote Beek actually consists of 2 stream valleys. On the one hand, there is the Grote Beek which originates in the military domain "Kamp Beverlo" in Leopoldsburg then passes north of Beverlo through Ham and so on to the Grote Nete. On the other hand, there is the Kleine Beek, which originates in Beringen and passes south of Beverlo. Here it merges with the Laardijbeek and then flows further towards the Demer. The Valley of the Grote Beek comprises 230 hectares managed and owned by Natuurpunt. However, the area is still very fragmented. 

Background

Currently, the Valley of the Grote Beek is a rather unknown and ‘forgotten’ area. Nature there is scattered in small plots and is often strongly influenced by its surroundings. During World War II, parts of this area were heavily bombed and thus bomb pits are still present in the landscape. After the war, this wet area spontaneously developed into alder swam forests. In the future, we aim for a large, contiguous, natural valley area to develop here, where peat can play an active role again in climate change mitigation by storing carbon instead of emitting it, but also buffering water from floods and droughts.

Objectives

In the context of climate adaptive nature restoration, it is important to look further than only at the plots with most potential. Here, a complete restoration of the ecosystem is necessary. So, we restore the abiotic factors of large parts of the valley to enable it to provide various ecosystem services again. More exactly, we will restore the valley hydrologically here. To do so, canals and streams will be closed, relevelled or dammed to ensure that the water in the core area stays between 10 and 20 centimetres below surface level. Putting this hydrological restoration into practice requires good knowledge of the hydrological system in the stream valley. For this purpose, an ecohydrological study is being done. 

Activities

Within the valley we aim to restore two peatland habitats: Alder swamp forest and Transition mires. Alder swamp forest is a type of forested peatland, characterised by long-term stagnant surface water or by strong seepage resulting a rich undergrowth of Sedges, Marsh Marigold, … Transitional mires have active peat formation. They are always under the influence of water (both precipitation and surface or groundwater). Transitional mires are actually a transition between fens and bogs or land or water communities. They are characterized by a complex water regime and are sensitive to disturbance. Some characteristic species for this habitat type are: Peat Mosses, small Sedges, Beaksedges, Buckbean, Water Arum, Cottongrasses, Marsh Cinquefoil, …

If you want to know more on the LIFE Multi Peat project in Belgium, please visit the Natuurpunt project page (mainly in Dutch).