Background Covering some 4 000 ha, the project is located in the Rhine wetlands of Baden-Württemberg, specifically the Natura 2000 SCI between Wintersdorf and Karlsruhe, as well as two Rhineland SPAs located in Elchesheim-Karlsruhe and between two Rhine tributaries, located at the mouth of the river Rench and river Murg. The majority of the project area (97%) is also part of the trans-national RAMSAR Upper Rhine site, the "Oberrhein / Rhin supérieur”. The area is of outstanding significance for the conservation and development of European floodplain habitats and species. Despite the significant numbers of habitats and species found there, this valuable area is being successively degraded by the cessation of the flood dynamics and changes to the processes of the river system, caused by earlier extensive hydro-engineering measures in the floodplains, as well as intensive farming. Such changes have had a detrimental effect on the characteristic landscape and in the development of alluvial habitats and plant communities, with a loss of endemic flora and fauna. Objectives The project is targeting a substantial improvement of wetland ecosystems along a section of the river Rhine (west of Rastatt). As one of the most important ecological corridors in Central Europe, the area plays an important role in goals of a coherent Natura 2000 network: the project should substantially aid the restoration of many typical wetland habitats and also help to improve the conservation status of several plant and animal species listed in the Habitats Directive. It should also support the goals of the European Water Framework Directive. Specific project goals are to: Restore areas of wetlands and floodplains along a section of the Rhine; and to re-naturalise a heavily modified section of the river Murg; Restore the river banks and improve the river dynamics of sections of the Rhine. These works should benefit breeding/ rest areas for important birds species listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive (e.g. common tern), for migratory bird species (e.g. common sandpiper or little ringed plover) and provide suitable spawning and rearing habitats for numerous fish species listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive (e.g. the sea lamprey); Improve the conservation status of standing waters along the Rhine, classified as natural eutrophic lakes as an important habitat for fish species listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive (e.g. spined loach, bitterling); Restore the Annex I habitat, “water courses of plain to montane levels with aquatic vegetation”, along the Ried canal and in Hofwaldschlut; Restore and re-establish the species-rich meadows habitat that support a number of rare species, e.g., the dusky large blue butterfly (Maculinea nausithous); Improve existing ditches as habitats for the species listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive (e.g. weather loach or southern damselfly), as sites of hygrophilous tall herb fringe communities of plains and of the montane to alpine levels and to contribute to the coherence of the network within Natura 2000 sites; and Raise public awareness of nature conservation issues in general and of the Natura 2000 network in particular. Expected results • The restoration of wetland habitat on an area of more than 50 ha along the river Murg with priority alluvial forest habitats (91E0* and 91F0), stitchwort/oak/hornbeam forest (9160), muddy river banks (3270) and hygrophilous tall herb fringe communities of plains and of the montane to alpine levels (6430); • The development and restoration of gravel and sand banks and river islands over a 1 km section of the Rhine, including an improvement of the natural river dynamics and associated wildlife and improvements to the breeding habitats for bird species. This will be achieved mainly by lowering the high river banks and by partial exchange of riverbed substrates; • The long-term conservation of the natural eutrophic lake habitat (3150) over approximately 6 ha; • The restoration of habitat (3260) “water courses of plain to montane levels with aquatic vegetation” in one oxbow of the river Murg and by the restoration of a 2.8 km stretch of river; and • The restoration of some 8.9 ha of lowland hay meadows (6510) and some 3.9 ha of Molinia meadows (6410) using shrub cutting, ploughing and establishment of new grasslands by application of a seed-rich hay gained from adjacent donor areas.