Read up on Reed! Southwest Finland Regional Environment Centre
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Edited by Iiro Ikonen and Eija Hagelberg Cover photo: The chattering song of the Great Reed Warbler may be heard in the finest reed bed areas. Photo: Antti Below. Back cover photo: Making a Green Art installation in March 2006, in Halikko, Southwest Finland. Photo: Jarmo Markkanen. Lay out: Ulriikka Lipasti Editors: Iiro Ikonen and Eija Hagelberg Read up on reed! Southwest Finland Regional Environment Centre Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy 2007 The publication is available also on internet www.ymparisto.fi/julkaisut Reed Strategy -project is implementing Interreg IIIA -programme between Southern Finland and Estonia. The publication is sup- ported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Turku 2007 ISBN 978-952-11-2780-9 Southwest Finland Regional Environment Centre ISBN 978-952-11-2781-6 (PDF) 2 3 Contents Part I: Reed as It is 5 Iiro Ikonen: Welcome to the Reed Coast!.............................................................................................. 7 Elle Roosaluste: The Reed itself.................................................................................................................. 8 Timo Pitkänen, Mats Meriste, Tambet Kikas & Ülo Kask: Reed resource mapping in Finland and Estonia.................................................................. 11 Natalia Räikkönen: Reed is not uniform – Classification of reed beds and reed biomass and quality mapping............................................................................................................................ 16 Kaja Lotman: Matsalu reed beds – development and use......................................................................... 23 Part II: Pure Reed 29 Part I Arto Huhta: To cut or not to cut? – The relationship between Common Reed, mowing and water quality...................................................................................................................... 30 Reed as It is Part III: Voices in the Reed Bed 39 Antti Below & Markku Mikkola-Roos: Reed bed birds................................................................................................................... 40 Ilpo Huolman, Marjo Priha: Back to the meadow – Restoration of coastal meadows...................................................... 46 Börje Ekstam: Reed bed biodiversity......................................................................................................... 54 Part IV: Touch and Thatch 61 Jorma Häkkinen: Traditional use of reed....................................................................................................... 62 Rauli Lautkankare: Reed construction in the Baltic Sea region......................................................................... 73 Andres Madalik: The fire safety of reed in construction................................................................................ 81 Outi Tuomela: Flexible reed – The use of reed in handicrafts, art objects and fine art............................... 85 Part V: Burning to Know 93 Eija Hagelberg and Sami Lyytinen: Turning reed into bioenergy – The long and winding road from beach to the boiler......... 94 Ülo Kask, Livia Kask & Aadu Paist: Reed as energy resource in Estonia..................................................................................... 102 Part VI: Gathering in Reed 115 Iiro Ikonen, Juha Kääriä, Esko Gustafsson &Ülo Kask: Reed strategy in Finland and Estonia – an interdisciplinary approach................................ 116 Glossary of birds and plants 120 4 5 Reed as It is Reed as It is Welcome to the Reed Coast! Reed is the main character in Estonian and Southern Finn- The balance between the preservation, utilisation and man- ish coastal areas both onshore and offshore. The species is agement of coastal areas is a fundamental question and is one known the world over. Reed has gradually encroached upon that is related to the creation of strategy pilots in Finland and our coastline and its expansion has been accelerated by human Estonia. We shall see an example of a strategy map of the town activities: eutrophication, climate change and the cessation of of Salo in the chapter Gathering in Reed. coastal meadow management. Our Finnish-Estonian “reed team” felt that this multi- and The characteristics of reed and reed beds and their signifi- interdisciplinary project fits well in the Interreg IIIA pro- cance for water quality are described in the first and second gramme frame. This kind of approach was important because chapters of this book: Reed as it is and Pure Reed. specialists tend to discuss matters in circles of their own and Reed can be seen as an invasive problem species. We can in this case it was especially fruitful to have input from experts lose our familiar landscape and our recreation areas because in other fields. In this way, information and knowledge was the coastline has become overgrown. Reed beds host several shared and compiled in numerous meetings. The network cre- species but at the same time, the amount of coastal meadow ated by this project is of vital importance to its success. and the species that live on it have drastically declined. The There are regionally tailored solutions to the question of third chapter, Voices in the Reed Bed describes the biodiversity how to make a profit from reed while still honouring other of reed beds and coastal meadows. A glossary including bird values such as biodiversity, recreation and water purity. Sus- and vascular plant names in Estonian, Finnish and Swedish tainable and ecologically sound solutions such as reed con- can be found on the last pages. struction will certainly take deeper root in the future. After a Reed beds can also be seen as a possible source of income. long working day it is heavenly to rest in a peaceful thatched Reed can be used as bioenergy and as construction material. house and to blend in with the harmony of nature. The proj- The Interreg IIIA project “Reed Strategy in Finland and Esto- ect has formed the basis for several new approaches and proj- nia” has developed and tested some solutions suitable for our ects in the Baltic Sea Region. coastal areas. The chapter Touch and Thatch describes the his- The winds of change are blowing. tory of reed and its use in art and handicrafts and thatching (roofing). Burning to Know reveals the characteristics of reed Project Coordinator and the possibilities of utilising reed for bioenergy. Iiro Ikonen 26 July 2007 Reed harvesting in focus in Halikonlahti Bay, Halikko. March 2006. Photo Eija Hagelberg. 6 7 Reed as It is Reed as It is largely controlled by a high content of phosphorus, potassium and calcium ions in the soil. The Common Reed is able to grow in a very wide array of habitats: fens, shallow lakes, salt The Reed itself - Phragmites australis marshes, open aquatic communities. In classifying plant com- (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.: taxonomy, morphology, biology, ecology, problems munities, the following community types are most frequently mentioned: Parvocaricetum, Magnocaricetum, Molinietum, Halo-Phragmitetum australis community, Phragmites-Schoeno- Elle Roosaluste Ph.D., Institute of Botany and Ecology of Tartu University plectus-Typha latifolia community, Phragmites-Schoenoplectus community (Haslam 1972). In recent decades, the Common Reed has become a serious conservation problem because it has spread into ecologically Morphologically the Common Reed (Phragmites australis) is a valuable habitats and as a result of being a strong competitor, perennial hydrophyte-geophyte with usually very high shoots it has eliminated most other species. This phenomenon has (up to 4 m, seldom even 7 m). The height of the shoots de- pends on air and water temperature, humidity, the content of nutrients and management. The Common Reed usually The Common Reed, in latin Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. forms dense stands and approximately 200 shoots of 1 m² can ex Steud. (previously also Phragmites communis Trin. and be found, which leaves are helomorphic, 1-3 cm, seldom 5 cm Arundo phragmites L.), belongs taxonomically to the family wide. These plants have an extensive creeping rhizome system Poaceae (R.Br.) Barnhart. The genus Phragmites comprises (rhizomes 1-3 cm thick) + dense fibrous roots and vesicular- nowadays 7 species : arbuscular mycorrhiza is a characteristic feature of its roots. 1) Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., which is divided The florescence is a dense panicle up to 30 cm (sometimes into three subspecies: 50 cm) long. The duration of flowering lasts up to 3 months. a) Phragmites australis ssp. Australis, growing in the temper- Phragmites australis is crosspollinated by wind, with the ate regions of both hemispheres; weight of seeds comprising 0,1 g, which are not only dispersed b) Phragmites australis ssp. altissimus (Benth.) Clayton (the plant is taller and has a larger panicle than ssp. australis), by wind, but also by birds, water and humans. The seedbank growing in the Mediterranean area, in the Middle East, North is short-aged, transient (less than 1 year). Reproduction by Africa; seeds, however, is poor and the reed grows mainly vegetatively c) Phragmites australis ssp. americanus Saltonstall, P.M. Pe- by rhizomes (Haslam 1972). On the other hand seeds were Common Reed grows fast: on 19th June 2006, which was a mowing day terson & Soreng, growing in North America dispersed by humans in the IJsselmeer area in Netherlands in in Halikko, Southwest Finland, this reed was already two metres high. 2) Phragmites vallatoria (Plunk. ex L.) Veldk [previously P.