Case study:Skjern River Project

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Location: 55° 54' 13.10" N, 8° 26' 25.42" E

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site	http://www.SkjernEnge.dk
Themes	Fisheries, Habitat and biodiversity, Social benefits
Country	Denmark
Main contact forename	Niels Dahlin
Main contact surname	Lisborg
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	The National Forest and Nature Agency (Denmark)
Contact organisation web site	http://www.naturstyrelsen.dk/
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Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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In within a catchment area of 250,000 hectares, the River Skjern (in western Jutland) is the largest river in Denmark in terms of water flow. Previous to human alteration, there was a huge expanse of marshland (4,000 ha) with a mixture of reed-swamps, meadows, meandering watercourses and shallow lakes at mouth of the river.

The delta area constituted the habitat for thousands of migratory bird species and also for stable breeding populations of bittern ("Botaurus stellaris"), black tern ("Chlidonias niger") and corncrake ("Crex crex"). Other species (i.e. European otter ("Lutra lutra"), Atlantic salmon ("Salmon salar"), etc.) were also relatively common until the 1960’s, following the straightening and channelizing of the Skjern and the cultivation of the marshland. This had negative impact on wild flora and fauna species, and dealt to water quality issues with severe effects of the fish and waterfowl populations of Ringkoebing Fjord.

In 1987, the Danish government decided to launch a major strategy to restore marginal areas to their former natural state and to introduce more compatible land use. The River Skjern was to be the milestone of this strategy.

The part involving restoring areas of conservation value of the Skjern was brought as a LIFE-Nature project in January 2001. The "Restoration of habitats and wildlife of Skjern River" aimed to restore 875 ha of the river valley and to improve biological diversity over 1,600 ha by re-introducing grazing. Construction work in the river bed and its tributaries was undertaken for re-meandering 20 km of the river along a more natural course. This enhanced nutrient retention capacity of the river system and enhanced the physical conditions of the site.

By the end of project in December 2004 about 1,200 ha of grassland were established, which was less than originally foreseen (1,600 ha). The reason is that the restoration work finally resulted in increased areas of floodplain. However, these extended wetland areas have benefited important species such as the spotted crake ("Porzana porzana"), avocet (Recurvirostra spp.) and bittern (Ardeidae spp.) and consequently will lead to more enhanced nature conservation.

Monitoring for the assessment of the ecological conditions in the restored area started in 2000. From 2004, the environmental monitoring programme for the project area is part of the national environmental monitoring programme (NOVANA). This surveillance monitoring is more extensive compared to the 2000-2003 monitoring programme for the Skjern River project area.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Catchment and subcatchment

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Site

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Project background

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Project completed	2004/12/31
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Total cost (k€)	37926811.0037,926,811 k€ <br />37,926,811,000 € <br />
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Reasons for river restoration

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Mitigation of a pressure
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Measures

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Structural measures
Bank/bed modifications	Excavation of the new river course, removal of existing dikes, the filling of the old channelized river reaches, removal of an old pumping station and a weir, construction of bridges, paths and car park.
Floodplain / River corridor
Planform / Channel pattern	Construction of new bridges, Correct the morphology of the bed., Creation of active side channel
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