Database

Maintain ditches

Habitat	Function	Type of work
Water bodies	Living environment, Nutrient cycle	Water bodies management

Climate models indicate increased precipitation in Estonia, making it necessary to establish and maintain a high-quality drainage system to adapt to climate change. Draining wet grasslands ensures their productivity while also creating water-related habitats.

Description of the action

Maintain ditches, ensuring a balance between open and tall vegetation on the banks. For example, leave trees on the northern side of a pond but partially remove them on the southern side to create sunlit areas. When maintaining ditches, remove invasive aquatic plants, reeds, and cattails.

Why?

Drainage networks perform vital functions in soil management and help create favorable soil conditions. Ditches support many animals, plants, and insects. The best ditches have gentle slopes and stepped edges with natural vegetation. Vegetation along ditch banks should be managed every 2-5 years, preferably in autumn and winter. Some aquatic plants can quickly outcompete others, so controlling plant growth and species diversity is necessary to maintain a diverse pond ecosystem.