The purpose and main activities
The aim of the project is to restore overgrown wooded meadows and carry out activities to improve the condition of the habitat and species.
read morelDuration
November 1, 2021 - December 31, 2026
Restoring and promoting a long-term sustainable management of Fennoscandian wooded meadows in Estonia and Latvia. Learn more about the project in Latvian on the Latvian Fund For Nature webpage here.
Partners
- Estonian Environmental Board (Lead Partner)
- Estonian Seminatural Communities Conservation Association
- Estonian Fund for Nature
- University of Tartu
- Estonian Academy of Arts
- Latvian Fund for Nature
- SERE - Society for Ecological Restoration Europe
Project areas
There are a total of 33 project areas in Estonia and Latvia, of which 25 project areas in Estonia are located in Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Pärnu County, Lääne County, Lääne-Viru County, Rapla County, Tartu, and Valga County, and 8 project areas in Latvia.
See more information about the project areas below.
Financing
The total budget of the project is 6,697,642 euros, of which the participation of the Environmental Board is 3,756,9877 euros, and the participation of the partners is 2,940,765 euros.
The European Commission will finance the project with 75% or 5,023,229 euros, and the remaining funding will be covered by the project partners and the Environmental Investment Center.
The website reflects the views of the project and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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About wooded meadows
Meadows rich in flowers and birds have been a characteristic part of Estonian and Latvian landscapes for centuries. At a time when most of the population lived in the countryside, pastures were needed to graze the animals and meadows to obtain winter fodder. In this way, various semi-natural meadows were formed over a long period of time, including beautiful and species-rich wooded meadows. Wooded meadows are areas with regularly mowed natural herbs and sparse trees and shrubs, where the sunniest open areas alternate with individually growing trees and more shady groups of trees. It is these diverse conditions that help woodlands to maintain an exceptional species richness. Plant species with very diverse demands grow side by side and are also associated with extremely rich insect and soil fauna and birds.
Today, disused wooded meadows have largely become overgrown, and their area has shrunk to almost non-existent throughout Europe. Today, unfortunately, wooded meadows are no longer important on farms, but they continue to be an extremely important habitat for rare animal and plant species, carrying the values of both open meadows and forests. Wooded meadows are also carriers of great species richness - more than 70 different plant species can grow on one square meter, which is also very special on a global scale.
Estonian and Latvian wooded meadows make up about 60% of all wooded meadows in the boreal region.
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In 2021, 1,100 ha of wooded meadows were maintained, 1100 ha in Estonia, and 343 ha in Latvia, which is not enough to ensure the long-term preservation of these species-rich habitats. According to the "Action Plan for Semi-Natural Meadows 2021-2027" and the Latvian Natura Financing Action Plan (PAF), the goal is to maintain 2,000 ha of wooded meadows in Estonia and 992 ha in Latvia by 2027.
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In order to increase the maintenance area of wooded meadows in both countries and to help ensure the preservation of natural values in the future, a LIFE project has been launched with the support of the European Union, one of the goals of which is to restore overgrown areas.
The aim of the project is to restore overgrown wooded meadows and carry out activities to improve the condition of the habitat and species.
In addition to improving the condition of wooded meadows, the project aims to promote the sustainable maintenance of wooded meadows, monitor the effectiveness of the project, and increase public awareness of the natural and cultural heritage of wooded meadows and their protection and management.
You can find a more detailed list of activities below.
In the course of the project, it is planned to restore overgrown wooded meadow areas on a total of 700 hectares - 500 ha in Estonia and 200 ha in Latvia. Restoration of wooded meadows usually lasts 1–3 years, and the restoration must be carried out in such a way that it is possible to mow in the future. Restoration activities include the removal of shrubs, the reduction of the connectivity of the tree and shrub layers, and milling.
In addition to restoration, it is necessary to install culverts or fill roads in gravel in some project areas to gain access to the area.
After restoration, it is essential to maintain the wooded meadows every year - to mow them and remove the mown grass from them - consistent and long-term maintenance is key to the recovery of habitats and the conservation of species.
Awareness raising is also one of the main goals of the project. It is planned to organize information seminars, study days, and work campaigns on wooded meadows and to introduce the project activities and events also through social media. Demonstration days of restoration and maintenance equipment are planned. Also, given the practice of restoring wooded meadows, also the current management guidelines must be updated.
The aim of the project is to carry out various works to improve the habitats of rare species of wooded meadows in the project areas, including:
- beetle nest boxes;
- bat nest boxes;
- sowing seeds to speed up restoration.
The involvement of landowners, maintainers, and restorers in project activities are very important. For this purpose, round tables and events introducing the project to local communities, a trip to the project areas, and thanksgiving events for the maintenance of the wooded meadows have been planned during the project.
Demonstration days of restoration and maintenance equipment are planned. Also, given the practice of restoring wooded meadows, it is planned to update the current management guidelines.
It is planned to collect the heritage related to the management of wooded meadows and create a nature education outdoor exhibition, and publish a book on the cultural heritage of wooded meadows.
The project will carry out regular monitoring of the project's effects on wildlife and the socio-economic situation.
Estonian and Latvian project areas
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Areas with high restoration potential have been selected in cooperation with experts.
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There are a total of 33 project areas in Estonia and Latvia, of which 25 Estonian project areas are located in Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Pärnu County, Lääne County, Lääne-Viru County, Rapla County, Tartu County and Valga County. Project activities are planned on private land.
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The Environmental Board will contact the landowners remaining in the planned restoration areas to find out their readiness to participate in the project.
County |
Project area |
Protected natural objects covered |
| Lääne-Virumaa | Haavakannu Lasila Lahemaa |
Haavakannu Nature Reserve Lasila Nature Reserve Lahemaa National Park |
| Tartumaa | Palupõhja | Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve |
| Valgamaa | Koiva | Koiva-Mustjõe Landscape Conservation Area |
| Pärnumaa | Kihnu Tõhela Ahaste Nedrema Ridase |
Kihnu Limited Conservation Area Nätsi-Võlla Nature Reserve Nätsi-Võlla ja Lavassaare Nature Reserve Nedrema Nature Reserve Karuse-Linnuse Limited Conservation Area |
| Läänemaa | Jõõdre Ubasalu |
Ehmja-Turvalepa Limited Conservation Area Marimetsa-Õmma Limited Conservation Area |
| Raplamaa | Sipa Valgu |
Angasilla, Paeküla, Rangu, Maidla-Iganõmme Limited Conservation Areas, Iganõmme Landscape Conservation Areas, Sulu and Paisumaa Limited Conservation Areas |
| Hiiumaa | Lauka Hellamaa Kassari |
Kõrgessaare-Mudaste and Pihla-Kurisu Limited Conservation Areas Käina lahe-Kassari Landscape Conservation Area Pühalepa, Kuri-Hellamaa ja Luhastu Limited Conservation Area |
| Saaremaa | Liigalaskma Saaremetsa Võrsna Kaarma Muratsi Abruka Mullutu Sõrve |
Tumala and Liigalaskma-Orinõmme Limited Conservation Areas Kingli and Saaremetsa Limited Conservation Areas Võrsna Limited Conservation Area Kaarma Limited Conservation Area Kasti lahe Limited Conservation Area Abruka Limited Conservation Area Mullutu-Loode Limited Conservation Area Ranna, Kaugatoma-Lõu and Lindmetsa Limited Conservation Areas |
Explore the project areas and areas with high restoration potential online in an interactive heritage mapping map application.
11.03.2025
On Wednesday, 26 February, within the framework of the WoodMeadoLIFE project, study day „Veteranization of trees on wooded meadows“ took place on the Jaagu-Matsi wooded meadow in Western Estonia. The training was conducted by the Estonian Arboricultural Society. A total of 20 people participated in the event.
The first half of the day was dedicated to the theoretical part. After listening to the presentations the training continued with practical work. Younger trees without habitat characteristics that would otherwise removed during the restoration work, were selected for the veteranisation work. The methods imitated nest cavities, woodpecker holes, animal scratch marks and lightning strikes. At the end of the day, four teams designed 10 trees, most of which were oaks. In the future, the work will be monitored to find out which species in Estonia benefit from such trees.
26.02.2025
On Tuesday, 25 February, a training on the restoration of wooded meadows took place in Lääne-Viru County within the framework under the WoodMeadowLIFE project. The first half of the day was spent observing the presentations and discussing restoration techniques suitable for wooded meadows. In the afternoon, the participants of the training, led by the local restoration work organiser Ülo Toome, moved to the Haavakannu wooded meadow, where they looked at the ongoing restoration works - removing trees with a guillotine and harvester, and drilling and milling stumps. A total of ten people participated in the training, most of them landowners or organisers of restoration work.
The training was carried out by the Estonian Seminatural Community Conservation Association (PKÜ) and it was co-financed by the European Union's LIFE programme.
17.01.2025
In the course of the project, it is planned to restore overgrown wooded meadow areas on a total of 700 hectares - 500 ha in Estonia and 200 ha in Latvia. With the support of the project, 74 hectares of wooded meadows have been returned to our landscape by the 2025, in addition to which another 70 hecatres are being restored. Latvians have carried out restoration work on 55 hectares, in addition to 11 hectares.
In 2025, the restoration of wooded meadows in Estonia will continue through dynamic procurement, which differs from the previous public procurement, in that only partners who have previously registered for the procurement can participate in the procurement.
You can register for the procurement on the website of the Public Procurement Register https://tinyurl.com/558dps2e
The prerequisite for the tender is to familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of the on-site procurement area, where the boundaries of the restoration area, storage sites and the export routes are explained and reviewed in more detail.
This year's first days of exploring the wooded meadow restoration areas, took place from 6 to 9 January in Saare, Hiiu, Lääne, Pärnu and Lääne-Viru counties, where restorations are planned on nearly 60 hectares.
We invite everyone to celebrate Seminatural Grassland Day!
Now is the time when the our ancestors gathered plants, made a fire and prepared for the fast hay season. This is also the time when Estonian meadows are in their most beautiful and flowering . It is for these reasons that we are celebrating Seminatural Grasslands Day for the third time - to value and evaluate the importance of Estonia's most bio-rich communities in preserving the diversity of Estonian nature as well as Estonian cultural history and identity.
In the afternoon, you can try your hand at mowing with a scythe, as our ancestors did. The beauty of the wooded meadow can be enjoyed on a short ride with horses.
July 11, at 16:00 - 19:00
Place: Juurimaa stable, Raplamaa
- Gathering and greeting
- Nature and lore of heritage meadows
- Teaching and practice of mowing with a scythe - under the guidance of Priit Kuke
- Horseback riding on wooded meadows - guided by Juurimaa stable
WoodMeadowLIFE project together with partners hosted in Pärnu County international conference about wooded meadows.Toghether 80 guests from Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, England and Estonia.
Estonia was the best place for the meeting, as almost half - 42% - of the Fennoscandian wood meadows /6530*) of the boreal region are located here. With the conference, we also celebrated the theme year of wooden meadows in Estonia, and this was also the best time to see and show our meadows blooming. Over the three days, we shared our experiences of restoring and maintaining wooded meadows, visited Estonia's most famous wooded meadows - Nedrema and Laelatu, and heard about the condition of wooded meadows in our neighboring countries and further.
All presentations are available on the conference website - Conference "Keeping wooded meadows - Nordic-Baltic practices" | Keskkonnaamet
On European Day of Parks we met in Saaremaa to explore the wooded meadows of Viidumäe. The theme this year was preserving the heritage - builiding on our roots. Since wooded meadows are very important carriers of heritage, being part of the traditional landscape of Estonia and the cultural history of the people, WoodMeadowLIFE project also invited people to get to know the history and tradition of wooded meadows in one of the unique regions of Estonia. Local biologist Triin Reitalu and her mother Mari Reitalu shared stories and reminiscences about history, changes in the maintenance of the wooded meadow over time and species richness.
04.04.2023 the representatives of the Environmental Board and the Private Forestry Association and various forest cooperatives met at the restored wood meadow of the Nedrema nature reserve. Since many forest owners also have overgrown wood meadow areas, we introduced the content and possibilities of the WoodMeadowLIFE project.
The range of topics discussed in the case of wooded meadows was really wide - the role of landowners as the owner of the wooded meadow and participating in the project, the values of the wooded meadow, the structure of the stand, grazing vs. mowing, practical restoration techniques, support systems and amounts, problems regarding selling the wood.
WoodMeadowLIFE kickoff-meeting 17.03.2022
On March 17 of 2022, the opening meeting of WoodMeadowLIFE took place in Pärnu County, setting cooperation goals for the next five years. At the opening meeting, the project partners introduced the activities of both Estonia and Latvia in the coming years. Representatives of caregivers' authorities also attended. The cooperation provided answers to a number of practical questions and inspiration for the future.
Project information day 09.05.2022
On May 9th, a project information day was held at the Penijõgi office of the Environmental Board in Pärnu County, where we introduced the activities, content and conditions of the WoodMeadowLIFE project. We also shared information on how to join the project.
Project steering group meeting 24.05.2022
On May 24th, a meeting of the WoodMeadowLIFE steering group was held in Laelatu, where project manager Heidi Öövel gave the members an overview of the project activities and situation. The project experts also introduced the species values of the Laelatu wooded meadow to the Latvian partners.
Meeting of project experts 25.05.2022
On May 25th, meadow and forest experts from the project gathered to discuss the possibilities of restoring wooded meadows. The most important keywords were values, cooperation and landowners. In other words, it is important that valuable species of both forest and meadow communities are preserved when planning restorations on old overgrown wooded meadows. This requires experts to work with each other as well as with the landowner, who will carry out the recommended activities and later maintain the site.
Concert-picnic in Nedrema 28.05.2022
On May 28, the Nedrema Nature Reserve celebrated its 30th anniversary. The WoodMeadowLIFE project organized a concert picnic. We reflected on and talked about the tradition of wooded meadows, what role wooded meadows used to play in the life of peasants and how things are now. Rändaja performed.
Life bridging to Gap final seminar in Sweden 31.05-02.06.2022
Life bridging to Gap final seminar in Sweden
Celebration of semi-natural grasslands day 02.07.2022
Celebration of semi-natural grasslands day
Training of wooded meadow restoration 23.07.2022
Training of wooded meadow restoration in Saaremaa.
Project information day in Kihnu 15.09.2022
On 15.09.2022, the information day of the WoodMeadowLIFE project tokk place in Kihnu. We gave an overview of the wooded meadow restoration project, its purpose and activities, also answered the questions of locals and landowners.
Wooded meadows training in Muhu, 22.11.2022
22.11.2022 WoodMeadowLIFE restoration training was carried out in Muhu. The training had two parts - theoretical and practical. The more theoretical part about the ecology, history and values of the wooded meadowof was introduced by Jaak-Albert Metsoja. The second half of the training was spent outside and participants got to know the ongoing restoration of the LIFE connecting meadows in the project area of Muhu. At the wooded meadow being restored by Muhu Varahaldus, Erkki Noor introduced the area and also talked about the landowner's wishes regarding the restoration.
Results
Guidance for managers
Last updated: 08.04.2026
