LIFE+ Restoration of the Lower Morava floodplains

The river March is the biggest left bank tributary in the upper course of the Danube and simultaneously the only near-natural lowland river of Pannonian character in Austria. Periodic floods are characteristic for the meadows and floodplain forests along the March. Due to regulation and intensification measures during the former century, the river is only in moderate status. The habitats of endangered animal and plant species are only limitedly available.

In the course of the EU co-funded project “Restoration of the Lower Morava floodplains” ambitious renaturation measures and species protection projects were implemented.

The project´s objectives were the extensive restoration of a near-natural river dynamic in the floodplain forests of the Lower March, the extensification of cultivation as well as targeted protection measures for endangered species.
The most important task was the restoration of a near-natural river dynamic. In order to achieve that existing regulation structures, such as large stone armour blocks along the riverbanks, are in part being utterly removed and dismantled around the transversal structures in order to initiate a dynamic development. By doing so, the connection between river and the adjoining riparian areas was restored.

Further information is available here.