Oder Delta | Rewilding Europe

Wild hub on a green crossroads

Solvin Zankl / Rewilding Europe

Wild hub on a green crossroads

Solvin Zankl / Rewilding Europe

Wild hub on a green crossroads

Solvin Zankl / Rewilding Europe

Wild hub on a green crossroads

Staffan Widstrand / Rewilding Europe

Wild hub on a green crossroads

Solvin Zankl / Rewilding Europe

Wild hub on a green crossroads

The Oder Delta, spreading between the border of Poland and Germany, is a unique region with a rich mosaic of terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems.

Its strategic location on one of the ecological crossroads in Europe makes it one of the most exciting wild areas in north-central Europe. The vast natural areas are mainly taken care of by nature itself and wildlife has begun to thrive in more natural densities. The region stretches over more than 470,000 hectares, of which nearly 70,000 hectares are the open waters of the lagoon.

The Oder Delta is an important stop-over site for migrating water birds using the East Atlantic Flyway. Rewetting of wet pastures in Germany and the abandonment of peat-cutting in Poland has allowed a dramatic comeback of wildlife, most spectacularly for white-tailed eagles that now have the highest breeding density in Europe as well as common crane, otter, beaver, salmon, sea-trout and many other species.

Not far from Berlin and the Baltic coast resorts, this wild landscape can create new sources of income and pride for the local people. Sustainable development combined with rewilding activities can secure these wild treasures of the Oder Delta so that they can serve as new economic opportunities for local people.

Rewilding vision

For each rewilding landscape we developed an inspiring vision that shows our ambition for the next ten years. Together with our local partners we work to make this vision a reality.

The Oder Delta area is located on the Baltic coast on the Polis-German border. It is composed of a rich mosaic of large wild terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, strategically located on one of the ecological crossroads in Europe. The Oder Delta is a region where the return of nature creates new sources of income and pride. Seven particular iconic species have been chosen as the 'Oder Delta Big Seven': white-tailed eagle, European bison, beaver, elk, wolf, Atlantic sturgeon and grey seal.
As the landscape becomes wilder, wildlife becomes more visible and is allowed to play its key ecological roles in the Oder Delta. The flooding of former polders along the German Peene River has created exciting stretches of new nature with rich birdlife, otters and beavers, even on the outskirts of towns like Anklam. Both Germany and Poland have recognised the immense value of the area and set aside two-thirds of all land and water for nature conservation and rewilding purpose.
Biodiversity has increased with good populations of wolf, beaver, otter, red deer, grey seal, salmon, sturgeon and many other native fish species. The population of harbour porpoise in the Pomeranian Bay is increasing again. Significant and growing herds of European bison and elk are expanding their range in Poland and are on the verge of a major comeback into Germany. White-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, osprey, white stork, black stork, eagle owl, Eurasian crane, aquatic warbler, whiskered tern, white-winged tern, black-winged stilt, great snipe, three harrier species and many other birds have stable populations in the Oder Delta region.
From all over Europe and from the cultural centres of Berlin and Szczecin guests visit the Oder Delta to see the incredible wildlife spectacle. Especially the Big Seven attract people during every month of the year. During winter when the holiday beaches are abandoned, people track wolves, watch small groups of elk feeding on willows in the snow-covered fields. People enjoy watching how white-tailed eagles gather to hunt ducks around the remaining open waters of a mainly ice-covered lagoon. After many years of absence grey seals once again deliver their white-coated pups on small islets in the Pomeranian Bay. In October-November guests can travel to the smaller rivers and streams to experience how salmon, sea trout and sturgeon return to their spawning grounds.
Increasing tourism means more money for the local economy supporting enterprises. Hunting associations have adopted new and less disturbing hunting methods and guide wildlife watching tours. Areas with no-take zones have been created and have become sanctuaries for wildlife. Fishermen have voluntarily reduced or seasonally stopped fishing in the most important spawning and migration areas in the lagoon, increasing fish numbers. Local people living around the lagoon have opened new B&B's, small hotels and restaurants serving fish specialities from the delta and the Pomeranian Bay together with vegetables from the gardens and fields, berries and mushrooms from the forests, and meat from free ranging cattle and game. The Oder Delta has become a symbol for 'life quality' – both for people and nature.

What are we doing here?

Restoring freshwater and coastal ecosystems

The team is working to restore and better connect a variety of ecosystems in and around the Stettin Lagoon, particularly in the cross-border Ueckermünder Heath area and along the Ina and Gowienica rivers. In collaboration with local partners, sections of these rivers and their banks are being restored, floodplains reconnected, and obstacles removed to enhance fish migration. The overall goal is to restore natural water flow, enhance biodiversity, and boost the overall health and resilience of the natural landscape. Coastal areas on islands in Western Pomerania are also being restored to help shorebirds breed.

In collaboration with local partner TPRIiG, spawning gravels are being restored on the Ina. This, together with anti-poaching measures, should enable the return of migratory fish such as salmon and sea trout.

Peatlands are being mapped and restored in the Ueckermünder Heath and Trzebiez area, while preparations are being made to purchase and restore a section of the Uecker River. Pilot restoration sites have also been identified on other creeks and rivers.

Supporting wildlife comeback

Grey seals have returned in numbers to the small Baltic islands of Ruden and Greifswalder Oie and nearby Pomeranian Bay, while Eurasian lynx have been repeatedly observed on the Polish side of the delta. The Rewilding Oder Delta team is supporting the monitoring and comeback of these iconic species and conducting related community outreach efforts.

Polish elk are also recolonising the Oder Delta in growing numbers and are now expanding their range across the Oder. The team is supporting the return of the elk to Germany by readying local communities along the Polish-German border for the presence of one of Europe’s largest herbivores. The population of European bison, another large herbivore, is also growing east of the delta, supported by Rewilding Oder Delta and local partners. The team are working with experts from Polish NGO Zachodniopomorskie Towarzystwo Przyrodnicze (ZTP) to prepare the ground for a possible future westbound expansion.

Having been involved in the GrazeLIFE initiative, the Rewilding Oder Delta team is also exploring ways to increase natural grazing in the Oder Delta – this can enhance biodiversity and deliver a wide range of other benefits.

Supporting nature-based economies

With the Oder Delta establishing a reputation as a top wildlife watching destination, the local team is working hard to develop nature-based tourism. An evolving network of local nature guides and nature-based enterprises is creating jobs and enhancing the visitor experience, complemented by the development of wildlife watching hides and lodging. This will allow local landowners, entrepreneurs and residents to benefit from rewilding efforts and wildlife comeback. Various Oder Delta-based experiences will soon be offered through Rewilding Europe Travel.

Rewilding Oder Delta partner DUH is participating in the Wildlife Economies (WLE) initiative, which is working to build support for nature-based economies – including those in the Oder Delta – through improved policy.

Scaling up rewilding

How can rewilding enhance nature and the benefits it provides, as well as generate stakeholder support? By answering these questions, the three-year REWILD_DE study – which is focused on the Oder Delta – could lead to the scaling up of rewilding across Germany. The Rewilding Oder Delta team are participating, together with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) / Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), and the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE).

“Oder Delta is a wild jigsaw of habitats”

Suleika Suntken

Suleika Suntken
Enterprise Officer at Rewilding Oder Delta

How would you characterise your rewilding landscape?

The Oder Delta is a wild and complex jigsaw of habitats that includes naturally flowing rivers, heathlands, deltas, marshes, vast reed beds, alluvial and riparian forests, wild grasslands, bogs, coastal dunes, sand beaches and the open sea. Here you can find animals such as beaver, bison, wolf, elk, grey seal and sturgeon. Together with the white-tailed eagle – which has its top European breeding hotspot here in the delta – these are our so-called “Big Seven”. The delta is very important for bird migration as part of the East Atlantic Flyway.

What have the major achievements been in your rewilding landscape to date?

After several years of working within a collaborative network of NGOs and some very engaged tourism organisations, the independent Rewilding Oder Delta association was formed in 2019. In March 2021, we were thrilled to receive a really prestigious award from the German Postcode Lottery, which was fantastic recognition of our work. Land owners and users are becoming interested in our initiative too, with cooperation strengthening. Nature tourism in the delta is developing and we’re working hard to support small and medium-sized nature-based enterprises.

What would you like to see achieved in your rewilding landscape in the next five years?

I hope to see a strong network of partners working together to realise our overall vision. I hope that nature-based tourism, involving a wide range of local guides and nature tourism operators, attracts an increasing number of visitors – this will encourage landowners to support further wildlife comeback and enable more and more local people to make a living from wild nature. And I hope that local stakeholders will feel a new and growing sense of pride in their rich and exciting natural heritage.

Stories from the landscape

New Oder Delta rewilding centre to help scale up transboundary rewilding efforts

June 22, 2023

Our main achievements

Interviews and meetings with local German and Polish farmers on opportunities to integrate natural grazing techniques in livestock farming were concluded in 2021; the results were integrated in recommendations to politicians and practitioners (the GrazeLIFE Practitioner's guide).
River restoration projects started on the Polish side within the Ina and Gowienica river valleys in 2020, and first rewetting activities to close artificial ditches were finalised in former alluvial forests.
Together with partner NGOs we have purchased a section of the Uecker River, together with valuable river banks.
Supported by the European Wildlife Comeback Fund, two juvenile Eurasian lynx were released in Western Pomerania, just east of the Oder Delta rewilding landscape, in 2023. The release will enhance the genetic diversity of the existing lynx population in the area, which was reintroduced from 2019 onwards.
A growing number of free-roaming bison are migrating to the Oder Delta landscape from the east (Poland). Bison herds are constantly monitored by partners from Zachodniopomorskie Towarzystwo Przyrodnicze (ZTP), and east-west movements and interactions with infrastructure (traffic, highways) and barriers (ASF fence) are being followed up.
The white-tailed eagle population (highest breeding density in the EU) has remained stable, various raptor populations have risen, and increases in beaver and otter populations have been recorded. Wolf and lynx reproduce in the area, grey seal numbers are increasing along the Baltic coast, and the elk population from Poland is starting to spread westward.
Elk population data from Poland and Eastern Germany has been assembled and summarised, showing that the population in western Poland has doubled from about 400 animals in 2016 to 800 in 2020. The team is preparing for the return of the Elk.
Wind farm construction was successfully blocked in 2013/14 in key parts of the region to prevent negative impact on both landscapes and birds such as eagles, cranes and storks.
Three projects funded by the Krombacher Brewery Species Conservation Project were finalised in 2019. The first focused on sustainable fishing in both the Polish and German parts of the Delta, the second protected and enhanced breeding and feeding habitat of the lesser spotted eagle, and the third further supported restoration activities and habitat for grey seals and waterbirds in and around the Stettin Lagoon, a Natura 2000 site and Important Bird Area.

Sustainable nature-based tourism on the Peene River and Anklamer Stadtbruch has been established with solar boats and wildlife watching tours. The Oder Delta is actively promoted through Rewilding Europe Travel.
In 2016, the LEADER "Digital destination and local guides" initiative began supporting local nature-based tourism. In early 2018 a guiding handbook was published, financed by the European Union's LEADER programme, with Rewilding Europe providing co-funding.
Starting in 2018, the South Baltic Interreg "Nature Guide Network" initiative connected nature guides from Lithuania, Poland and Germany, developed best practices for guides, and promoted their tours to visitors via a common platform.
In 2019, the Interreg Europe "Wildlife Economy" initiative kicked off with participation of DUH and partners from four regions in Europe, highlighting nature-based enterprises and initiatives in the Oder Delta region.

In 2017, a group of Oder Delta partners (with the support of Rewilding Europe) started their fight against Poland's potentially disastrous inland waterways program. The international Save the Oder! coalition continues to oppose the channelisation of Oder River.
In 2021, we started to foster the German-Polish exchange of regional stakeholders from nature conservation, agriculture, forestry and science through a conference and a joint field trip.
The Oder Delta rewilding landscape continues to be widely promoted in national and international TV, radio, podcast and written media.
Together with partner DUH and local education centres, a campaign on fish species in the Oder Delta and adjacent tributaries has been kicked off with an A2 colour map.
In 2021, we launched Rewilding Oder Delta's trilingual website.

A fully fledged and functional NGO Rewilding Oder Delta was officially created in 2019, with a team of about 10 part and full-time employees in place by 2021.
In 2021, the Rewilding Oder Delta team received a 1 million euro grant from the German Postcode Lottery. The funding will be used to support rewilding measures in the cross-border Ueckermünder Heath, with a focus on restoring and reconnecting rivers.
In 2021, the three-year research REWILD_DE imitative saw Rewilding Oder Delta - in collaboration with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) / Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) - begin exploring rewilding's significant potential for restoring biodiversity and enabling the development of nature-based economies.
In 2018, the 1,460-hectare Anklamer Stadtbruch wilderness area was bought by partner the NABU Foundation, allowing the long-term conservation of this unique wetland. The rewetting of the nearby 440-hectare Bargischow Polderby conservation authorities and different NGOs in 2019 completed the connection between the Anklamer Stadtbruch and other reflooded areas in the Peene Valley.

Image gallery

Deserted house, Ahlbeck, Germany

Reed beds delta lands near Swinousczje, Poland

Canoe on the Peene river, Anklam, Germany

Nature tourism

Hotel in Stolpe at the Peene river, Germany

Peene river and flooded lands near Anklamer Stadtbruch, Germany

Peene river and flooded lands near Anklamer Stadtbruch, Peene river, Anklam, Germany

Delta lands near Swinousczje, Poland

Wild konik horses in the Oder Delta reserve

Fishermen on the Polish side of the Stettiner Haff lagoon, Stepnica, Poland

Fishing

Common starling

Results from beavers eating

Beaver

Red-backed shrike

Beaver in the Peene valley, Germany

Fisherman on the German side of the Stettiner Haff lagoon, Altwarp, Germany

Altwarper dune, meadow salsify, showy goat's-beard, meadow goat's-beard, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon

Whiskered tern

Peene river and flooded lands near Anklamer Stadtbruch, Germany

White stork

Konik horses in the Oder Delta Nature Park

A simple wildlife watching hide for red deer, near Stepnica, Oder delta, Poland

Road sign alerting drivers about the existence of European bison near the road

European bison in Drawsko Military area, Western Pomerania, Poland

Having been reintroduced in 1980, around 200 bison now populate the province of Western Pomerania in northwest Poland, on the border with Germany.

Grey heron

Mute swans

White tailed sea eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla, from fishing boat, on sea eagle safari tours in the Stettin lagoon, Poland, Oder river delta/Odra river rewilding area, Stettiner Haff, on the border between Germany and Poland

White-tailed eagle seen on safari tour

Beaver safari near Rieth, Germany

Local business in Rieth village, Germany

Bed and Breakfast Henri Scheumann, Öko Bauer

Roosting trees and breeding location for thousands of Great cormorant

Waterfowl, mainly ducks in the Oder Delta

Artist's vision of the Oder Delta rewilding area

Team members

Board members

Stefan Schwill

Frauke Bennett

Piotr Nieznański

Partners

The dedicated entity Rewilding Oder Delta, registered in Germany, is the preferential partner for Rewilding Europe. Both organisations signed a partnership agreement, including a long-term strategy, for rewilding the Oder Delta.

The team works with several local partners, including the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) in Germany, HOP Transnationales Netzwerk Odermündung e.V. (Germany & Poland) and Society of Friends of the Rivers Ina and Gowienica (Poland). A whole range of local partnerships has been established by the three main partners

Contact

Website: rewilding-oder-delta.com

Explore other landscapes

Rewilding vision

What are we doing here?

Restoring freshwater and coastal ecosystems

Supporting wildlife comeback

Supporting nature-based economies

Scaling up rewilding

“Oder Delta is a wild jigsaw of habitats”

Stories from the landscape

Rewilding efforts breathe new life into Oder Delta waterways

Survey reveals positive attitudes towards rewilding in the Oder Delta

Oder Delta rewilding team continue efforts to restore the Ina River

New Oder Delta business network to support nature-based economic growth

Peat power: Rewilding in the Oder Delta

New Oder Delta rewilding centre to help scale up transboundary rewilding efforts

Our main achievements

Image gallery

Team members

Ulrich Stöcker

Peter Torkler

Małgorzata Marek

Suleika Suntken

Magdalena Urlich

Frank Götz-Schlingmann

Jonathan Rauhut

Brit Carlotta Köhler

Wiebke Brenner

Corinna Winkler

Katrin Quiring

Nancy Wolf

Artur Furdyna

Agnieszka Soboń

Ilona Wenderlich

Board members

Stefan Schwill

Frauke Bennett

Piotr Nieznański

Partners

Contact