Background The project focused on the middle section of the river Gauja in Latvia close to the Estonian border. The total project area (Ziemelgauja) consisted of more than 140km of extensive river valley and about 19 000 hectares of outstanding importance for a wide range of species and habitats. Due to the light sedimentary rocks, many bends have formed in the river as well as oxbow lakes and meandering floodplains. In this area, 17 habitats (seven priority) listed in the Habitats Directive can be found, including grasslands, wooded meadows, western taiga, Tilio acerion forests, alluvial forests, bog woodland. The area is equally important for a large number of species (at least 45 listed in Birds and Habitats Directives), such as the corncrake (Crex crex) (250-350 pairs) and the rare hermit beetle (Osmoderma eremita). Due to particular geomorphologic circumstances, water flow and regular floods, natural succession is still taking place in some parts of the riverbanks. Forests and meadows -- more than a half of them semi-natural – are characterised by very high biological diversity. The old protection regimes of the previous century have played an important role in ensuring this diversity, but today only 6% of the project area is protected. Moreover, during the last decades the natural habitats and species have become increasingly threatened by a lack of management (which has led to the dramatic overgrowth of the floodplain meadows) and by intensive forest cutting, particularly on private lands. Objectives The aim of the project was to assign the most appropriate national protection status to the project area and create the basis for including the site in the Natura 2000 network. In order to achieve this result, a complete survey of the area’s conservation values would be carried out. Based on inventory results, management and zoning plan would be produced for the whole territory in close collaboration with the key stakeholders. Draft regulations would be prepared for the assignation of legal protection status to the area and a management body would be set up to secure its long-term administration and control. Practical on-site actions would include the restoration and active management of around 350ha of grasslands for the corncrake and the management and restoration of around 300ha of priority forests. In addition, micro-reserves would be set up for forests of particularly high conservation value; inter alia through the payment of compensation to private landowners. In order to raise awareness and gain the support of local communities, the outcomes of the project would be publicised through the production of information booklets, seminars and videos. Results The main achievement of the project was the drawing up of the management plan and the new individual regulations on the protection and use of the project area. These documents created the basis for the sustainable long-term management and conservation of this site, thus ensuring favourable conservation status for the habitats and species of EU importance. More than 300ha of grassland habitats – including such priority habitat types as species-rich Nardus grasslands on siliceous substrates, Fennoscandian lowland species-rich dry to mesic grasslands and Fennoscandian wooded meadows – have been restored and nearly 500ha were maintained by grazing, mostly using argi-environmental schemes. The project activities have significantly facilitated the elaboration, improvement and use of agri-environmental schemes for the maintenance of biologically valuable grasslands in the project area. As a result of the project, agri-environmental plans have been drawn up for 56 individual farms, which cover around 990ha of agricultural land. This provides new economic benefits for local farmers and also demonstrates long-standing meadow management. Agri-environmental schemes included in the new Rural Development Plan for Latvia for the time period of 2007-13 will be the main financial tool for the maintenance of grassland habitats. Also within the scope of the project, around 380ha of forest habitats – including the priority forest habitat, Western taiga, the forest stands with old oaks (as a habitat for Osmoderma eremita) and Tetrao urogallus lek sites – have been successfully managed/restored. Additionally, the project ensured the establishment of 84 micro-reserves with a total area of around 240ha necessary for the effective strict protection of forest habitats in the project area. The first monitoring results showed that such management actions have been effective. Project dissemination activities markedly raised general public awareness of the importance of the conservation of the areas and its unique value, as well as the profile of the Natura2000 network and available compensation schemes. The project played an important role in demonstrating nature-friendly habitat management. Such raised awareness is crucial for the further sustainability and After-LIFE continuation of the project objectives. The NEEMO external monitoring team carried out ex-post follow-up visits in May and June 2016, eight years after the project closed, and found that management activities were continuing in the project areas through EU Rural Development Programme agri-environmental funding schemes established by the project. Grazing and mowing is still ongoing in 99% of the project’s pilot areas, and also in other territories covering in total 67% of the target grasslands within the Natura 2000 network site. These activities are crucial for maintaining several Habitats Directive Annex 1 habitats in the protected landscape area of "Ziemelgauja" (Northern Gauja). The ex-post noted that the creation of the Rural Partnership for this area has contributed to a greater sense of local ownership. All the equipment purchased within the project for the Information centre was passed to the Rural Partnership, to support the further management of the area. The project’s agri-environmental schemes for the maintenance of the target grasslands has provided new economic benefits for local farmers, such as ecotourism, and also demonstrated to a wider public how meadow management can be done successfully and continuously. Its success has encouraged other farmers in the region to apply for the agri-environmental payments. The farmers contacted confirmed that the agri-environmental plans developed within the project were important for raising farmers' awareness about the value of nature on their land and in helping them to plan their actions. An analysis of species' diversity and changes in the environmental conditions done in 2015 showed that in all the assessed areas, the grassland renewal is being successful, with regeneration processes clearly evident. All involved parties agreed that the project still has a considerable impact on the project area. The most tangible impact is for farmers, who are still maintaining the herds grown from the animals given by the project and still continuing management of the biologically-valuable grasslands; which according to the farmers and project management, would not have been done to the current extent without the LIFE project. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Conservation Plan (see "Read more" section).