Reintroducing moose to Lille Vildmose
Rewilding the largest remaining raised bog in Northern Europe
In Lille Vildmose moose and red deer have been introduced to help prevent the overgrowing of the raised bog. The moose and red deer should hopefully help the raised bog to restore itself after many years of sphagnum extraction and farming.
The Aalborg municipality, Aage V. Jensens Nature Foundation and Danish Nature Agency are currently overseeing a large rewilding project in Lille Vildmose in northern Denmark. “Lille Vildmose”, meaning “little wild bog on the heath”, is the largest remaining raised bog in Northern Europe and Denmark’s most extensive protected region.
The aim of the project is to rehabilitate the raised bog here to its natural state and boost local biodiversity by restoring natural hydrology and reintroducing moose and red deer. Until 2007, before the project began, the bog had been drained and the site used for sphagnum extraction and agriculture.
While restoration of the bog is a slow process (it will take centuries before it is brought back into natural balance), various activities carried out now can create favourable conditions for the natural restoration process to take effect.
In November 2015, after being absent from Denmark for millennia, five moose calves arrived in Lille Vildmose. These have now successfully bred and two more calves have been added to the herd. The moose were reintroduced to help maintain the bog, in conjunction with the area’s red deer. As natural tree trimmers, the effect of the moose on the bog’s birch trees is already evident.
- The overgrowing of the natural open landscape has been slowed
- The hydrology within the area ha
-The effect on the trees from the large herbivores has begun to show.
In Lille Vildmose moose and red deer have been introduced to help prevent the overgrowing of the raised bog. The moose and red deer should hopefully help the raised bog to restore itself after many years of sphagnum extraction and farming.
The Aalborg municipality, Aage V. Jensens Nature Foundation and Danish Nature Agency are currently overseeing a large rewilding project in Lille Vildmose in northern Denmark. “Lille Vildmose”, meaning “little wild bog on the heath”, is the largest remaining raised bog in Northern Europe and Denmark’s most extensive protected region.
The aim of the project is to rehabilitate the raised bog here to its natural state and boost local biodiversity by restoring natural hydrology and reintroducing moose and red deer. Until 2007, before the project began, the bog had been drained and the site used for sphagnum extraction and agriculture.
While restoration of the bog is a slow process (it will take centuries before it is brought back into natural balance), various activities carried out now can create favourable conditions for the natural restoration process to take effect.
In November 2015, after being absent from Denmark for millennia, five moose calves arrived in Lille Vildmose. These have now successfully bred and two more calves have been added to the herd. The moose were reintroduced to help maintain the bog, in conjunction with the area’s red deer. As natural tree trimmers, the effect of the moose on the bog’s birch trees is already evident.
- The overgrowing of the natural open landscape has been slowed
- The hydrology within the area ha
-The effect on the trees from the large herbivores has begun to show.