Page 24 - Tallinna Ülikool

9.
By restoring mires we will reduce the damage to nature caused by economic activity
Management-related wounds can be repaired by applying appropriate restoration techniques. In Estonia, simpler and cheaper ways of restoration can be handled than in countries where mires have been destroyed more fully.
For centuries, humans have been using mires – for farmland, pastures, forests and peat min- ing. Horticulture, berry growing, peat-based chemical industry, recreation etc. have been added as new activities using mires.
Damaged landscapes also impoverish society. Economic activity – cultivation of agricultural and forest crops as well as peat extraction, leaves a mark on a wider area than that cov- ered by direct management. e milling elds a er the end of peat extraction do not recover
by themselves. Ditches that separate managed peatland forest and natural mire drain both, the forest and mire.
So far, management has required drainage of peatlands, which is the reason for many envi- ronmental problems. New paludiculture – cul- tivating crops in mires without lowering the water level, is a good way to grow plants while keeping the turf. Estonia also seeks to develop such management methods.
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Ditch in the abandoned Viru peat eld, Lääne-Viru county / R. Pajula TEN REASONS TO RESTORE ESTONIAN MIRES / 2019