The MOIST project – mapping degraded peatlands and assessing their suitability for regeneration – was supported by the NextGenerationEU funds and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection's Biodiversity Fund. This year's final meeting with project partners took place in the Tanner Moor nature reserve. Located in the municipality of Liebenau in the Freistadt district of the northeastern Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria, at an altitude of 900 meters, the reserve is also a Natura 2000 site under the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive. From 2019 to 2024, the state of Upper Austria implemented what is currently Austria's largest rewetting project. The MOIST team gained comprehensive insights into the extensive measures designed to prevent the peatland from drying out.
The interesting excursion through the moor was led by Christian Schröck, who also coordinates the Life+ project AMooRe. The focus of the visit and in-depth discussion was the sealing of the drainage ditches with larch wood sheet piles and the associated rise in the groundwater level, also caused by the leveling of ditches with peat.
Renate Mayer from HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein participated in the excursion. We thank the project team for their collaboration and for inspiring further initiatives.
MOIST Partnership:
Agency for Health and Food Safety (Lead Partner) - MOIST: Survey of degraded peatlands in Austria and assessment of their suitability for regeneration - AGES
Federal Office for Water Management BAW-IKT, Activity Report 2025.pdf
Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW)
HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Survey of degraded peatlands in Austria and assessment of their suitability for regeneration (Moist)
Nature Conservation Association of Lower Austria, MOIST - Inventory of degraded peatland areas - Nature Conservation Association of Lower Austria
University of Vienna (UNIVIE), MOIST – Survey of degraded peatlands in Austria and assessment of their suitability for regeneration
Austrian Chamber of Agriculture (LKÖ)
Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
Pictures
