Fieldtrip: Moor bog ''Cena'' trail
Nature reserve, introduction to bog dynamics and peat soil developement, renaturalisation and influencing factors; hydrological monitoring and restoration experiments next to the peat extraction site.
Cena Moor is situated in the Tirelis plain of the Central Latvia Lowland. It combines two opposite types of land use - industrial peat mining and a nature reserve. This unique area, which is very close to the capital, is an excellent place to get to know one of the most beautiful marshes in Latvia with a nice walk. In 1990s a decision was made to combine the economic territory and the territory designated for nature protection into one.
Peat mining continued in the affected part, which started before the 2nd World War but 2133 hectares of bog were set aside for nature protection (including Skaista lake - an area of 18.5 ha).
This setting is a perfect research area for degraded petland restoration. Dams were built on drainage ditches in the swamp to reduce the effect of draining, additional hydrological monitoring is carried out here - groundwater level measuring wells have been installed (both in the intact areas of the bog and in the degraded areas).
Cena Moorland has a 5 km long footpath trail and in the middle of it, there is a viewing tower that allows to see the moorland from above. Today, when you walk on the trail, you can see a part of the two worlds, because the Cena moor boardwalk, like the bog itself, has two sides. The beginning of the bog footbridge leads through the peat fields of Cena moor. In the second part of the trail, footbridges move in a circle through the almost untouched part of the bog, introducing the riches of the high bog as well as educating people.