Large-scale grassland restoration in Estonia – best practice and socio-economic implications

Abstract

In the beginning of 20th century, 1/3 of mainland area of Estonia – 18 000 km2 – was covered by semi-natural grasslands. Since then, similarly to all other regions in Europe, changes in land-use resulted in abandonment and conversion of grasslands and disappearance of cultural landscapes. In 2013, only 270 km2 (1.5% of historical coverage) of semi-natural grassland areas were under suitable management (grazing or mowing), necessary for their long-term persistence. With a target set in the “Action plan for Estonian semi-natural grassland communities until 2020”, Estonia aims to increase managed grassland area to 450 km2 by 2020 [1].

We will provide overview of the current status and trends of restoration of biodiverse semi-natural grassland systems in Estonia. More specifically, we will focus on large-scale restoration activities that have occurred in alvar grasslands in Western Estonia. From 2014 to 2020, ca 600 land-owners and 41 local farmers and farming companies in 25 regions all over western part of Estonia are participating in the LIFE+ program project “LIFE to Alvars” (LIFE13NAT/EE/000082). Project aims to double the area of managed alvars in Estonia by restoring 2500 hectares of grasslands and encouraging local people and farmers to take up grazing. Since the beginning of project, we have gained considerable new knowledge regarding the best practice of large-scale grassland restoration starting from the awareness raising and public engagement to best techniques for actual restoration.

Already by 2017, restoration activities, vastly changing landscapes and awareness-raising activities have had considerable impact both on the public knowledge about the value of grasslands, as well as on economic and lifestyle choices among local people. Implementation of infrastructure necessary for grazing (fences, animal drinking places and shelters, gates), coupled with the support system for managing semi-natural areas have created incentive for local farmers to increase their livestock and move animals from cultural grasslands to restored alvars. By 2017, following the restoration of the first 1500 hectares of traditional grassland landscapes, 270 head of cattle and 400 sheep had been added to the herds of local farmers. In addition, 4 families had moved back to countryside and changed their profession to livestock farmers. Open grasslands have great aesthetical, cultural heritage and recreational value and several nearby tourism facilities noted the positive effect of grassland restoration on their activities, by boosting number of visitors and by increasing the opportunities to offer scenic nature tours [2].

[1] Ministry of Environment, Estonia (2013). Action plan for semi-natural grasslands 2014-2020. [in Estonian].

[2] Prangel, E. (2017). The provisioning of ecosystem services on open and successional alvar grasslands. Master thesis. University of Tartu. [in Estonian].