13: Integrating economic development and biodiversity conservation in the Hautes-Fagnes Eifel Natural Park

Release date	24/08/2009

The ecological value of the Belgian-German Haute Fagnes - Eifel Natural Park lies on the one hand in the raised bogs of the Hautes Fagnes Nature Reserve and on the other hand on a dense network of watercourses with a varied shoreline vegetation ("valley bottoms"). In these valley bottoms, semi-natural meadows with high biodiversity have been in place since the Middle Ages thanks to extensive agricultural practices. Since the 1950's, substantial changes in agriculture (mechanisation, chemical fertilisers) lead to the abandon of those wet valley bottoms and to their afforestation with spruce (Picea abies). Due to its rapid growth, spruce generates short-term profits but also contributes to the fast regression of favourable habitats for indigenous plant and animal species. Within the framework of an important project of valley conservation, spruces planted along riverbanks were cut before harvesting age on nearly 300 ha (200 ha in Belgium and 100 ha in Germany), forest owners receiving financial compensations. In return, the owners of deforested plots committed themselves by contract to respect wild fauna and flora.