Palšu Mire is one of five specially protected nature areas where JSC “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) will carry out mire ecosystem restoration work and install significant tourism infrastructure as part of a project co-financed by the European Union. To acquaint the parties involved with the planned works and the environmental goals to be achieved, another stakeholder information seminar was held at Palšu Mire at the end of June, one of a series LVM is organising this year in all of its work areas.

In order to reduce the impact of historical economic activity and improve the quality of degraded mire habitats, LVM will begin the first works as early as this autumn to restore the mire's hydrological regime and diversify habitat structures. The planned works involve damming drainage ditches and removing or diversifying the tree cover – mainly pines – because an unsuitable, overly dense tree stand in a mire reduces the amount of water it needs to function normally, increasing water evaporation through the trees, and also alters the mire landscape for the worse. The works at Palšu Mire will cover more than 50 hectares and will have a positive effect on an area of at least 350 hectares.

Environmental experts have assessed that the planned works will also provide better living conditions for the specially protected moss species recorded in the area: Heller's notchwort and naked flapwort, both of which need a sufficiently moist environment.

In addition to the mire ecosystem restoration works at Palšu Mire, LVM will build a boardwalk more than 2.5 km long with a viewing tower approximately 6 metres high, as well as a viewing platform for observing the mire environment. The tourist trail will also feature several information stands where visitors can learn about the mire ecosystem and its characteristic plants and animals, and gain an understanding of the mire ecosystem restoration work carried out. In creating the tourism infrastructure, particular attention will be paid to making the trail accessible to all groups in society, in terms of both physical access and access to information. The tourism infrastructure is planned to be built after the mire restoration work is completed, by 2029.

Nature tourism expert Māris Olte, who has been running educational excursions at Palšu Mire for several years, notes that the planned trail will attract more tourists and offer walkers much broader opportunities to learn about this unique mire environment in nature. Given that there are relatively few nature trails in the Ērgļi area, the new walking and educational route at Palšu Mire will be a particularly important tourist attraction.

The stakeholder information event was attended by representatives of the Nature Conservation Agency, the State Environmental Service, peat producers and LVM, as well as local residents (video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jycUIFXEVec&t=2s)

Part of Palšu Mire has been drained, as several ditches were dug here in the 1960s for peat extraction purposes. Although the digging of the ditches has had little effect on Palšu Mire as an ecosystem, and many of the ditches within the mire have already partly overgrown, run-off can nevertheless be observed in them throughout the year, even during relatively prolonged dry spells in the summer months.

If work to improve the hydrological regime is not carried out, environmental experts predict that in the long term the mire will gradually dry out and become overgrown with Scots pine, slowly losing its open mire landscape. The mire is classed as a classic raised, or oligotrophic, bog, whose water reserves are replenished solely by atmospheric precipitation.

Project No. 6.1.1.7/1/24/I/001 “Restoration of mire ecosystems in specially protected nature areas” is being implemented under specific support objective 6.1.1. of the EU cohesion policy programme for 2021–2027, “Mitigating the economic, social and environmental consequences of the transition to climate neutrality in the most affected regions”. The project's total funding is 7 058 824 euros, including 6 000 000 euros of Just Transition Fund funding and 1 058 824 euros of national budget co-financing.

During the project, protected mire habitats will be improved using forestry methods across a total of seven specially protected nature areas, covering at least 1500 ha in total. The lead partner of the project is JSC “Latvijas valsts meži”, and the project partner is the Nature Conservation Agency (DAP), which will carry out mire restoration in the areas it manages – Gauja National Park and Ķemeri National Park.