Municipality Allows Pärnu County Bog Rewetting Work to Resume

Saarde municipality in Pärnu County has allowed the Kikepera bog restoration to resume after a five-month dispute over whether the work constitutes construction. In January, the municipality halted the project, arguing that closing drainage ditches and building dams required a building permit. Now, it has reached the opposite conclusion: the activities are not construction under the Building Code, and no permit is needed.

„We do not have a legal basis to continue this administrative procedure. We concluded that the activity does not fall under the Building Code. A municipality can conduct supervision only under the Building Code, not under the Land Improvement Act,” said Saarde Municipal Mayor Urmas Aava.

The Estonian Fund for Nature has consistently argued that bog restoration is land improvement work that does not require a building permit. „Reading the municipality's reasoning, they reached the same conclusion we presented — that these activities take place within a land improvement system, are regulated by the Land Improvement Act and are coordinated by the Land and Space Board. This has been the practice for all restoration work across Estonia,” said Jüri-Ött Salm, project co-lead at the Estonian Fund for Nature.

To date, over 23,000 hectares of bogs and wetland forests have been restored in Estonia. The Ministry of Climate said nearly one-third of Estonia's forest land — around 750,000 hectares — has been drained over time. So far, water regime restoration has been carried out on about 0.5 percent of this drained land, with plans for another 1.5 percent.

The municipality's decision means the fund can resume work after the nesting-season pause ends in August. However, because a local entrepreneur has taken the Kikepera restoration to court, work cannot be carried out in a small area near the complainant's property.

Salm said the delay means the planned 140 kilometers of ditches and 1,400 dams across roughly 3,100 hectares will not be completed on time, and part of the €600,000 in EU funding may be lost. „Our project officially runs until the end of November. We estimate that by then we will complete about half of the planned work. We have held talks with the funder about using the money later. There is no decision yet,” Salm said. He added that if the project period is not extended, the State Forest Management Center (RMK) will have to find the funds to finish the work. Court proceedings over the legality of the Kikepera restoration continue.