To promote the restoration of wetlands in Ķemeri National Park and reduce the risk of bog desiccation, the Nature Conservation Agency (hereinafter – the Agency) has commenced nature restoration works – the felling of trees and shrubs in Zaļais purvs.

Zaļais purvs is located in Ķemeri National Park, in the Smārde parish of Engure municipality. By restoring its natural water regime, the negative impact of the drainage system on the bog itself, as well as on the adjacent marshy and swamp forests, will be prevented. The restoration of the natural water level will take place in the vicinity of the fifth quarry of Zaļais purvs – an area where the bog degraded due to peat extraction in the second half of the last century and is unable to regenerate on its own, is becoming overgrown with forest, and where bog-specific plant species, such as sphagnum moss, cranberries, and sundews, have disappeared.

To restore an open bog landscape and reduce the risk of bog desiccation, trees and shrubs will be felled over an area of nearly 280 hectares. This is necessary because trees and shrubs are significant consumers of water, further draining the already degraded bog. In turn, moisture is critically important for the habitat conditions of plant and animal species typical of the bog.