During the week of August 13-20, the Wilderness Camp took place in Šumava National Park. As part of the campaign “Game on - Don't let the climate change end the game!”, a total of 60 climate ambassadors from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Germany met here to learn about the peatland ecosystem, carry out renaturation measures and discuss climate protection and climate justice.

The camp started with an adventurous exploration tour through the protected areas of the Šumava National Park. Our way led us through waist-high grass, muddy wetlands a natural mountain spruce forest with countless mosses, and also a river had to be crossed. Along the way, we were educated by expert Lukáš Linhart (Life for Mires project) about the peculiarity of the bogs and learned a lot about their condition and history.

In the past, the peatlands were drained with the help of drainage ditches in order to make the land suitable for agriculture and to extract the peat industrially, which led to a loss of biodiversity and released CO2. The peatland forest was also drained so that the trees could grow faster and the wood could be used.

Since the establishment of the Šumava National Park in 1991, raised bogs and bog forests have been protected and renaturalization measures are being carried out to re-wet the bog and restore the natural water balance.

Peatlands play an important role in climate protection

The benefits of an intact peatland are not only the protection of biodiversity, but also a better microclimate and protection against flooding. In addition, the typical vegetation is able to store water and thus survive longer periods of drought. Not to forget, peatlands play an important role in climate protection, as they are able to bind large amounts of CO2 in the soil.

Walking through the area, we were able to notice the differences between the drained and the already renaturalized areas.

With this knowledge and the ideal condition in mind, we were able to dedicate ourselves to our most important task during the camp, become active ourselves and carry out renaturation measures in the moor. This meant building wooden dams to block the old drainage channels and filling the channels in the bog forest with soil, logs and branches to keep the water in the landscape and ensure that the water table would rise in the long term. This required carrying wooden slats to the site, digging in the mud, and hammering the slats into the ground. It was good that we had our rubber boots with us and that there were so many motivated helpers for this strenuous work.

The predators are missing

The program was rounded off by many informative lectures on flora and fauna, but also on politics, and a workshop on communication and climate justice. And of course we had time for a lively exchange about what we had learned, about nature and climate protection. Besides the new knowledge and experiences, it was very nice to be part of an international community working for the same goal.

For example, one topic was bark beetle infestation, on which there was a big debate between conservationists and conservative foresters in the Czech Republic. In the end, the conservationists were able to prevail in many areas, preventing clear-cutting. Now one can observe how nature regenerates and a new forest grows, while in other areas after clear-cutting the growth of a new forest takes time.

Another point of discussion was the absence of predators and how it affects the forest. Despite the reintroduction of lynx and wolves in the region, the population of deer and elk is too high, so they harm the forest by eating away young saplings, preventing forest regeneration.

Peat-free potting soil? Protects the moors

In the course of the week, it became very clear what a complex ecosystem the raised bogs are, what a great influence man has had on the area through its use over a long period of time and what damage has been done by draining it, and at the same time how important the protection of this natural area is for the protection of species and the climate.

In the Wilderness Camp we have contributed with our work a small part to restore the original landscape. But it is much more important to make sure that the still intact moors are not destroyed in the first place. Everyone can do something to prevent this environmental destruction. The first step can be taken by choosing peat-free potting soil for the next planting project.