Aarhus - Hede Enge
In the lower part of the major water system of Egå north of Aarhus it is possible to create a 180 ha new nature area as an extension to the east of the existing Egå Engsø. Egå Engsø is an artificial lake and wetland site created in 2006. Engsø means 'meadow lake' and Egå means 'oak stream', referring to the stream that drains the lake through and into the Bay of Aarhus. Egå Engsø is one of the most popular nature attractions in Aarhus with more than 100.000 visitors each year. The area's popularity relies on both its proximity to people’s homes in Lystrup and Aarhus, and on the beautifully reshaped landscape, the excellent trails for hiking and dog walking, and the rich animal life that inhabit the area, especially birds that flock to the lake by the thousands each year. It is a spectacular site for bird watching that offers daily visits of the majestic Sea Eagle that nests in a nearby forest.
The pilot area that is included in Hede Enge is mostly farmland traversed with heavily regulated streams and ditches, which has lowered the water table and removed much of the area’s nature, but also allowed for extensive use of the farmland. We wish to explore the possibilities to reverse this and re-introduce natural processes in the area and restore river habitats, new wetlands, dry heath land and meadows. Egå Engsø has been a successful nature restoration project, and with the Hede Enge project, the nature content and the hiking trails can expand to the east in a way that doubles the total size and greatly boosts the attractional value for both wildlife and humans. Farmland will be converted to nature using best knowledge and practice in methods for restoration of species-rich dry and wet grasslands, small lakes, streams and wetlands etc.
Aarhus Municipality owns 70 ha or about 38 % of the area and this will be the core of the project. The rest of the area is owned by private landowners, and this means that it is essential to get the private landowners in the area to voluntarily commit to the project.
Interventions
The project has promising potential to develop the landscape and create new wet and dry habitats for many organisms while at the same time further developing the values for recreational use and climate adaptation. The name Hede Enge means “Heath Meadow” and refers to old local maps that show that before the time of cultivation and draining of the area there was heath vegetation on dry and sandy soils in the area.
The European dry heath as a vegetation type (EU Habitats Directive, Annex I habitat code 4030) with the dominating species Calluna vulgaris and Empetrum nigrum is typically found on freely-draining, acidic to circumneutral soils with generally low nutrient content. Dry heath is therefore relatively rare in East Jutland where clayey soil types rich in nutrients are most common. There is only one other location of dry heath left in the Municipality of Aarhus but there is a potential in Hede Enge to recreate dry heath vegetation by harvesting material from donor areas and sowing the project area with the harvested material.
The Hede Enge area is in general robust and can also function as a buffer to Egå Engsø. There are low lying areas in Hede Enge that can be inundated in wet seasons of the year where the dike holding Egå Engsø may otherwise be threatened by high water levels in the lake. In this way Hede Enge can help to hold back water that could otherwise flood housing and infrastructure downstream.
Objectives & Expected Impact
The farmland has been cultivated for many years and holds therefore only a minimum of species in natural habitats. The potential for nature restoration is quite good as the existing nearby nature areas provide sources of colonisation of plant and animal species, and the establishment of novel habitats can be sped up by aided dispersal of plant seeds as well as restoration of small lakes, wetlands and streams.
We wish to protect and expand areas with high biodiversity (e.g., remnants of different habitats in the open landscape) and maintain or re-establish biological connectivity. In the project area of Hede Enge we want to create and develop ecological features that increase structural diversity and provide multiple habitats (e.g. dead and hollow trees, bushes, rocks, small ponds and open streams) and support natural processes supporting species interactions, with special emphasis on large herbivores, pollinators and birds.
There is available data from monitoring of nationally protected habitats within the area, supplemented by public accessible databases (Naturbasen, Miljøportalen, INaturalist and more); mostly bird species but also other organisms have been recorded so far.