Restoration of the Black Marsh of Saint-Coulban
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Summary
Since 1984, the Hunting Federation of Ille-et-Vilaine Department has been rehabilitating a 550-hectare marshland that was heavily developed in the last century. Rehabilitation began with the replacement of corn crops by hay and pasture natural meadows via contractual agreement (with finacing) with the farmers. It continued with the restoration of a peat bog and a reed bed. In addition, due to the highly developed nature of the marsh and its drainage by a highly recalibrated and deepen watercourse, artificial water level management was also put in place to allow winter flooding. The project's objective is to improve the marsh to allow migratory waterbirds halting and to improve some of the marsh functionalities (carbon sequestration by peat and natural water purification). They have been achieved with regard to bird halting, but water level management is not currently optimised and will be reviewed to improve the hydrological functioning of the marsh.
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