Saving the Fochteloërveen: a battle against climate change and peat loss

The Fochteloërveen is a vast high moor landscape bordered by heathland, forests, fields and transition zones. But the core are the peat bogs, with about 20 types of peat mosses, a rarity in the Netherlands.

The landscape in the Netherlands used to consist of about 180,000 hectares of high moorland. Nowadays there is almost no raised moor in the Netherlands. It is still there only in a few places, including the Fochteloërveen. The raised bog has been badly damaged and has almost disappeared because the peat was used as fuel. Part of the raised bog was also drained to grow buckwheat.

The raised bog that is still there is therefore rare. But these last pieces are also in danger of disappearing. For example, this Natura 2000 area, like the rest of the Netherlands, has to contend with desiccation and nitrogen deposition. In the Fochteloërveen, this means that the pipe straw is taking over at the expense of the peat mosses.

Water is essential for the raised bog. The most important thing is to conserve the rainwater in the area. Hoogmoor benefits from stable water levels and wet conditions. Peat moss is one of the few plant species that can thrive in such nutrient-poor, acidic conditions. Peat mosses absorb rainwater. If peat mosses can spread, then you speak of living raised bog. Then it can sustain itself.

Natuurmonumenten is doing everything it can to restore the raised moor and even to expand it. The most important measure is to improve water management, the water level. They do this, among other things, by repairing the summer quays. The old quays were no longer good, causing rainwater to seep away from the area. And now that it is getting drier, it is all the more important to retain rainwater. In this way, the high moor landscape can remain and with it the species that use this area as a foraging place or nesting place, such as the crane.

Watch the broadcast about the Fochteloërveen on Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 7:15 p.m. on NPO 2!