Six Natura 2000 Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in Eastern Poland, including Biebrza Valley, Polesie, Chełmskie Torfowiska, Bagno Bubnów, Narwia Valley, and Middle Bug Valley.
Project ended
Landscape level
A LIFE project in Poland combined habitat restoration for Europe’s rarest migratory songbird, the aquatic warbler, with the production of renewable biomass fuel. By reintroducing large-scale mowing and processing the biomass into competitive fuel pellets, the project restored fen mires, improved bird populations, created jobs, and demonstrated an economically viable conservation model.
The aquatic warbler, a globally threatened species, has lost much of its habitat due to drainage, agricultural intensification, and the abandonment of traditional low-intensity land use. With 80% of Poland’s breeding population - corresponding to 21% of the worldwide population - located in six fen mire and marshy meadow sites, habitat degradation from overgrowth by reeds, scrub, and trees became a major threat. Without human management, these sites would be lost. The project sought to reverse this trend by linking conservation with sustainable biomass use.
The project restored fen mires and marshy meadows through mechanised mowing and bush removal, ensuring open habitats suitable for aquatic warblers. Biomass collected from these sites was processed into renewable fuel pellets, creating a circular link between conservation and economic use. Land purchase, pelleting facilities, and integration with agricultural subsidies ensured long-term sustainability.
Across six Natura 2000 Special Protection Areas in eastern Poland, the intervention focused on restoring and maintaining open fen mire and marshy meadow habitats by reversing scrub, reed and tree encroachment caused by the decline of traditional low-intensity manual mowing.
Habitat restoration and maintenance were delivered through large-scale, mechanised vegetation management. The total area under recurring management favourable to the aquatic warbler increased from 1,551 ha to 6,344 ha. Restoration activities were mainly implemented through removal of trees and bushes and “first-time” mowing of previously unmanaged areas. In priority aquatic warbler breeding habitat, bushes were removed from a cumulative 476 ha across two LIFE projects, including 188 ha under this project; these areas were subsequently managed in line with species habitat requirements, largely through regular mowing.
Because wet fen mires are difficult to access with conventional tractors, mowing relied on specialised tracked machinery with wide caterpillar tracks to reduce ground pressure in marshy and boggy conditions. The approach built on adapted piste bashers (former snow groomers) that were rebuilt for mowing and continued to be modified and upgraded based on field experience to improve effectiveness while minimising environmental impact. Where mechanised mowing was not feasible, hand scything remained an alternative.
A key implementation challenge was managing the large volumes of low agricultural value, high-moisture biomass produced by mowing. The project addressed this by linking habitat management to biomass utilisation. Cut material was transported using caterpillar tracked vehicles and converted into a renewable solid fuel (pellets). In the Biebrza Valley, where fen mires cover extensive areas, the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP) established a dedicated pelleting facility to process biomass collected from managed sites; the production line in Trzcianne (Podlaskie province) began operating in February 2013. The pellets produced (OTOPellet) were described as price competitive and recognised locally. In the Lublin Province, where fen mires were smaller and dispersed and processing facilities already existed, OTOP worked with local partners, testing biomass use in two pelleting facilities and in a cement plant (as alternative fuel); all options proved technically usable for fen-mire biomass. A feasibility study also assessed the potential for an electric power plant fuelled by this biomass in Mońki County.
Implementation was structured around annual operational cycles combining planning and equipment upkeep (spring–summer) with mowing and biomass collection (starting in early August), with weather conditions affecting the ability to harvest the planned areas. An illustrative season in the Biebrza Valley (2014/15) included preparatory planning and repairs from March to July, followed by mowing and biomass collection across a planned 295 ha, supported by dry weather conditions. OTOP carried out management on land it owned and on land leased from Biebrza National Park. Site-level restoration works included bush and sucker removal and the construction of fascine tracks.
The intervention combined direct habitat restoration by project partners with longer-term maintenance through continued mowing and biomass collection. At the Ciesacin fen mire (a 130 ha priority area within the Polesie SPA), where the aquatic warbler had effectively disappeared due to rapid scrub and tree growth, active measures included bush removal on almost 50 ha by the project partner F.U.T. Zelent, alongside mowing; aquatic warblers returned within two years and increased to seven singing males by 2014. Across sites, much of the managed habitat—often leased by local farmers from Biebrza National Park—was subsequently maintained according to aquatic warbler habitat requirements through agri-environment scheme management, supporting continuation of mowing-based habitat upkeep beyond the initial restoration works.
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