Background The National Park Drents-Friese Wold & Leggelderveld (DFW & LV) is one of the largest nature reserves in the Netherlands, with a surface area of over 7 000 ha. It is home to woods, stream valley grasslands, wet heathland, fens, heather and shifting sands. The diversity of habitats within the DFW & LV is rare in the Netherlands, and Europe as a whole. However, the continued existence and further development of the wet habitats, including those listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, is threatened by desiccation, acidification and eutrophication. These threats are to a large extent caused by drainage in a former agricultural enclave situated in the heart of the Drents-Friese Wold, near the original source area of the Vledder Aa stream. Other threats to habitats arise from evaporation caused by woodlands, groundwater abstraction and the construction of ditches and gullies. Objectives The aim of the LIFE project is to raise groundwater levels, in order to restore wetland habitat types in the DFW & LV Natura 2000 site. The project is part of a total package of restoration measures aimed at combating desiccation, acidification and eutrophication over the entire site. The main objectives of the project are to: Purchase the last remaining land section in Oude Willem that is still being used for agriculture in order to stop drainage; Develop the former agricultural enclave in Oude Willem into a nature reserve, which will protect the source area of the Vledder Aa; Improve water management to enable habitat types to better resist the effects of atmospheric deposition; and Develop former agricultural land in Leggelderveld, Doldersummerveld and De Nul into a nature reserve. Expected results: Improved hydrological system on a regional and local scale, having a beneficial effect on around 1 750 ha of nature reserve, by transforming woodland, filling in ditches, and increasing the nature reserve area by around 360 ha at the expense of agricultural grassland; Improved quality of many habitat types, including species-rich grassland, active raised bogs, dry sand heaths, natural dystrophic lakes and ponds, and wet heaths, on a collective surface area of over 100 ha; Increased area covered by protected habitat types by around 90 ha within 15 years after the end of the project, including 63.5 ha of wet heaths, 1.5 ha of raised bogs and 7.5 ha of species-rich Nardus grassland; More than 50 ponds and raised bogs benefiting listed habitat types and species, including the little grebe; An additional 325 ha of habitat for the whinchat (Saxicola rubetra), red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) and stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) and other protected species at Oude Willem, with bird species also benefitting from the transformation of former agricultural land in the Doldersummerveld, Wapservelden and Leggelderveld; and Essential protection for many species listed in the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive, including the northern crested newt (Triturus cristatus) and floating water-plantain (Luronium natans).