Nuthe-Nieplitz Lowlands (Nuthe-Nieplitz-Niederung)
Project description
In this contiguous lowland landscape, damp meadow vegetation complexes, tall forb communities, reedbeds and broad-leaved mixed forests alongside watercourses and lowland lakes form a diverse mosaic of habitats meriting special protection. These include fens, seepage springs, swamps, reedbeds, open inland dunes, acidic grassland, fen woodland and swamp forests, and an inland salt site with wild celery (Apium graveolens), sea milkwort (Glaux maritima) and lesser sea-spurrey (Spergularia salina or S. marina). Other noteworthy plant species found here include the early marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata) and broad-leaved marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis), lesser centaury (Centaurium pulchellum), white beak rush (Rhynchospora alba) and narrow small-reed (Calamagrostis stricta). Furthermore there are 63 bird species classified as endangered at national level including the osprey (Pandion haliaetus), white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and Eurasian crane (Grus grus), as well as European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) and moor frogs (Rana arvalis). The Nuthe-Nieplitz lowland is also the main site of occurrence within Brandenburg for the bunting (Emberiza hortulana), which favours sun-drenched forest margins close to extensively managed cereal fields as its territory. The objective of the conservation project is to preserve and optimize this valuable natural and cultural landscape. Besides the land acquisition measures which have taken place to date, the conservation measures carried out include forest restructuring, rewetting, extensification and conversion of arable land into grassland and a reduction in access routes in order to reduce disturbance of the susceptible biocoenoses.