Background Siikalahti is a five kilometre bay in Lake Simpelejärvi, located in south Karelia right on the Russian border. The development of Siikalahti as a birding lake dates back to the lowering of the water level in Lake Simpelejärvi, carried out in the 1830s and 1940s. Today Siikalahti is considered one of the best water areas for birds in Finland and, internationally, as a valuable wetlands area. Its importance is based on the diverse nesting species (for example, 4-11 breeding pairs of bittern, Botaurus stellaris) and the birdlife during the migration season. Siikalahti is also one of the most important tourist sights in south-east Finland. Typical for Siikalahti are shallow open water areas flanked by dense beds of reeds, horsetail and bulrushes as well as sedge marshes and willow groves. The shallow water areas however were under threat from overgrowth, which the management arrangements before the LIFE project, although shown to be on the right track by monitoring results, were insufficient to counter. Objectives The aim of the project was to slow down overgrowing by increasing the open water area each year. This would be done by excavating new water basins, removing vegetation and trying to achieve a higher summer water level. A new procedure would be tried out for removing bulrushes by freezing. The wet meadows on the banks would be improved by clearing and cutting back the vegetation. In cooperation with local farmers, the project was to experiment with making use of the vegetation removed, for example to produce fertiliser, as well as with using bulrush chips in the local energy plant. The project would also be developing various items of equipment suitable for the management measures and setting up a database of equipment used for restoring water areas for birds. A long-term management and utilisation plan for Siikalahti was to be made in conjunction with local people, organisations, authorities and other interest groups. The plan would be based on models of the restoration and maintenance measures, the history of the wastewater load and the results from previous monitoring and monitoring during the project. Modelling in particular was expected to make a decisive improvement to the prospects for managing Siikalahti. Birdwatching would be promoted and supervised by building a viewing platform and organising guided visits in spring and summer. Results In the 1950s and 60s the water areas near the shorelines of Siikalahti were typically hosting Carex and Typha and shoreline meadows were well developed. Since then, Siikalahti had suffered from years of neglect and problems, and this LIFE project has made a significant impact towards reversing this trend and initiating the recovery of this important bird area. Siikalahti was first designated as an SPA area, but during the project it has been designated as a pSCI (part of Siikalahti, Sammallahti ja Rautalahti pSCI of 682 ha, of which Siikalahti accounts for 465 ha) as well, in the complementary Finnish national list of Natura 2000 areas. The management plan should ensure the longer-term management of the area, but the project duration turned out to be too short to finalise and adopt it. However, the LIFE project did a lot of work towards completing the plan, including discussions with stakeholders over future management options, and managed to involve different stakeholders actively in project actions and preparation of the management plan. The beneficiary continued this work after the project end. The plan was ready by summer 2005. Its implementation started already during the project and is being actively continued afterwards, i.a. through two Interreg projects worth 4.5 million euros. The results of the hydrological modelling indicated that raising water levels in spring is probably the most important action to prevent overgrowing (i.e. bringing back spring flooding). At the same time it indicated that lowering of the banks, at least partially, would be the best restoration option, but this however would cause damage to fields around Siikalahti. These long-term management issues were discussed during the management plan preparation and opinions of local people were heard. All solutions (including keeping the existing approach) and opinions of the working group are explained in the final management plan. The management plan is strongly supporting hunting alien species like American mink and raccoon dog. The municipality of Parikkala (a LIFE project partner) is helping farmers financially to prepare restoration plans for the meadows next to Siikalahti, as a basis for applying for agri-environment support. The area is visited by 10 000 tourists/year. The actions proposed in the management plan will also be supporting nature tourism. The LIFE restoration and management measures yielded good results in the field: improved nesting success for several bird species; a Habitats Directive Annex II plant species, Najas flexilis, was found and the Najas tenuissima population (thousands of individuals) of Siikalahti is thriving. Good cooperation with stakeholders was achieved. Furthermore, the project obtained additional funds to bolster restoration and management actions (transport of removed vegetation mass, increasing open water areas) and visitor infrastructures (bird hide and boardwalks). The LIFE project beneficiary is also involved in the Co-op project LIFE2002 NAT/CP/FIN/000027 Best practices in Finnish Wetlands - networking for improved wetland management. It is a partner in an Interreg IIIB proposal concerning tourism in bird lakes. Networking between this project and other LIFE-Nature projects was active – this was the first project to organise a LIFE platform meeting to share its experiences with other LIFE-Nature projects in Finland.