Water management works improve conditions in Estonia’s Selisoo bog

Water management works have improved conditions in Selisoo bog in Alutaguse National Park, ERR reported.

The State Forest Management Centre carried out the latest works at Selisoo, near the Jõhvi-Tartu highway in Alutaguse municipality, two years ago. At a cost of 340,000 euros, it built more than 500 dams from surface material to stop water draining from the bog.

The network of drainage ditches was built in the bog in the 1960s, although drainage had begun more than a century earlier, said Ants Animägi, a nature conservation specialist at the State Forest Management Centre.

In autumn 2024, a ditch flowing out of Selisoo’s Suurlauk pool was blocked. Animägi said the owner of the Mäetaguse manor had lowered the level of Seli Lake, also known as Suurlauk, in the late 19th century, although the reason is unknown and surrounded by various legends.

Wooden dams had previously been built there, but they deteriorated. They were replaced with peat dams designed to hold water and raise the pool’s level by about half a metre, Animägi said. Three monitoring points have been established in Selisoo to track the change in water levels.

Animägi said waterbirds appeared to be benefiting from the works.

“When I visited in spring, there were many waterbirds in Selisoo: a whooper swan was nesting, and there were horned grebes and various other ducks,” he said.

He added that the higher water level was expected to slow the overgrowth of Suurlauk for many decades, possibly hundreds of years. The longer-term impact would also depend on future rainfall and climate conditions, he said.

The Selisoo nature reserve, covering more than 2,000 hectares, was established in 2015. It became part of Alutaguse National Park three years later.