Estonian Fund for Nature resumes Kikepera peatland restoration

Peatland forest restoration has resumed at Kikepera Nature Reserve in Pärnu County after several interruptions, ERR reported. The Estonian Fund for Nature hopes to complete most of the work before winter.

The restoration began last autumn but was halted several times after the work was challenged in court, the local municipality demanded a building permit and seasonal nesting restrictions came into force in the reserve.

The municipality dropped its demand for a building permit at the end of June, while nesting restrictions ended in part of the reserve. The fund resumed work in August.

“Work resumed after the nesting restrictions ended on August 10, but nature conservation restrictions remain in place in some areas until the end of August,” said Jüri-Ott Salm, a co-project manager at the Estonian Fund for Nature.

So far, one excavator has been operating and six kilometres of the reserve’s 131 ditches have been blocked. More machinery is expected to begin work in September.

The interruption had raised concerns that the project could lose European funding. Salm said the project agreement had been extended until May, allowing work in the reserve to continue until mid-March, when the next bird nesting protection period begins.