Background The Medebacher Bucht (east of the Rothaar ranges, Sauerland) is an area of high value for nature conservation in Europe. Due to its geographically isolated location it was not affected by earlier attempts at uniformity by means of land consolidation procedures. Many rare, nutrient-poor, small-scale habitats have survived within this traditional semi-natural landscape of hedge-rimmed meadows and pastures, field and road verges rich in wild plants, gorse-covered ridges and meandering streams in the valleys. The various wet and sub-montane grassland habitats found here and listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, have led to its designation as a Site of Community Importance (SCI) within the Natura 2000 network; while the birdlife supported by the structural diversity of the area, particularly the shrikes Lanius collurio and Lanius excubitor, justify its Natura 2000 Special Protection Area (SPA) status. Nevertheless, the district faces challenges. Wherever farming is being abandoned, the land has fallen prey to succession, or has been planted with fast-growing and economically important conifers e.g. Norway spruce (Picea abies). Several streams have been embanked with stone blocks, while weirs built across them stop important Habitats Directive Annex II-listed fish species from migrating. Objectives The project’s overall aim was to reverse negative ecological developments such as the land abandonment, afforestation and river regulation that are threatening the high nature value of the Medebacher Bucht district. The threats and measures to address them were intensively discussed beforehand with the local farming community, and the sections where restoration measures were planned had already been mutually agreed. The project focused on two main areas: 1. The “Annex I grasslands”: This part of the project would involve the purchase of land and the clearing of overgrowth or planted conifers from it, sowing it with material from grasslands in good condition, in order to restore 70 ha of these habitats. Once ready, the areas would be fenced off and grazed or mown. The project would purchase a mowing machine specially adapted for conservation-oriented management. The mowing machine would not only be used for these sections, but also made available to any farmers who wanted it for their own land (thereby hopefully assisting low-intensity part-time farming to continue). 2. The “Annex II fish/river habitats”: Under this aspect of the project, actions would target the removal of weirs and embankments, which had been forcing streams into unnatural corsets, in order to restore the natural stream dynamics and allow spawning migration of fish. Overarching these measures, the project would carry out an extensive information and public relations campaign, aimed both at the local community and stakeholders, as well as the many visitors from the nearby urban areas. Note, Natura 2000 was controversial here, so it was crucial to improve public relations and knowledge on conservation issues. Results The main successes and results can be summarised as follows: Land purchase This was very successful, mainly due to the progress in the final year of the project. Instead of the expected purchase of 95 ha of land a total of 104 ha were bought. The increase was possible because more owners of spruce plantations were willing to sell their land after a hurricane destroyed many of their plantations. Removal of spruce plantations and establishment of heather vegetation A total of 47 ha of spruce plantations were cut. The largest open sites were created at the “Hilmesberg” site. Restoration measures were then carried out on these open sites to create mountain heathland vegetation. Before the start of the project, there was only limited experience available concerning the development of this vegetation type. Therefore, the project team had to develop and test new methods to initiate the establishment of heathland vegetation. The impacts of the different methods were monitored and important lessons learnt. The ecological monitoring has revealed that this initiation of heathland vegetation has been successful. This action is of high demonstration value and the project beneficiary has begun to disseminate these positive early results. Development of extensive grassland schemes A total of 49 ha of extensive grasslands were developed through the transformation of intensive grassland into traditional grassland schemes. The project tested various methods of establishing species-rich grasslands, such as ploughing the intensively-used grasslands and collecting hay from meadows with target vegetation and distributing it on the treated sites. The results were scientifically monitored and provide useful information for other similar problems. Grassland innovations: (1) For the management of grassland resources – the project introduced the “Heugrassaat” approach (sowing autochthonous seeds from neighbouring extensive grasslands and by using the cut grass directly without drying). The aim is to increase the species diversity of species-low grassland by bringing in seeds of target species, which still occur on neighbouring sites. (2) Special mowing equipment – an "exctractigator" from Canada) was used to remove shrubs efficiently without the need for heavy machinery. This proved especially useful for sites that are difficult to access. River restoration through the removal of migration barriers Altogether 74 migration barriers were removed to allow fish migration on the Orke, Gelänge and Nuhne rivers. This was considerably more than originally planned as additional migration barriers were identified during the preparation of this measure. The project successfully restored the ecological connectivity along a river stretch of 24 km on the three rivers. This serves as a best practice example for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive at a small-size river in a rural area. Remarkably, shortly after the removal of the migration barriers several cases of successful fish migration (e.g. of Cottus gobio) were already observed. Public relations The project carried out several PR activities that proved both innovative and effective in communicating its aims and results. These included the establishment of various nature trails that were opened with large PR/ publicity events. Events were also carried out with local farmers in order to demonstrate the use of the special machinery for conservation-friendly mowing techniques. A large multimedia-exhibition was also developed to present the main habitats and target species of the project, and to illustrate the project’s relevance within the Natura 2000 network. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report(see "Read more" section).