224 | CHAPtER 14 | 225225 HEiNRiCH PEgEL FARmiNg FOR NAtuRE iN tHE FEHNtjER TiEF A CONtRiButiON tO tHE SuStAiNABLE DEvELOPmENt OF AN EASt FRiSiAN CuLtuRAL LANDSCAPE The lowland of the river Fehntjer Tief is a fenland landscape between the Geest and the marsh, on the German North Sea coast of East Frisia. Over time, an ever-changing interaction between people and an often inimical environment has created a cultural landscape of grasslands, characterised by farming. Drainage and cultivation have significantly changed this landscape. In earlier times, the lowland could remain under water for weeks in winter and the high groundwater level frequently prevented farming of the pastures and meadows. Today, an efficient drainage system guarantees highly intensive agricultural use. This has brought to the villages a much-needed improvement in living conditions, but on the other hand it has caused a decline in the character and variety of the landscape and its species. Finally, the people who live here have lost a part of their local identity and quality of life. Alongside farming, characteristic plant and bird communities developed in the wet grassland. However, they are now under threat because of increased intensification and, conversely, in part by agricultural abandonment as well. With the natural assets it still retains today, the Fehntjer Tief today represents an exceptional and important ecological area of Europe, and is therefore part of the European nature protection scheme NATURA 2000. The conservation authorities in Lower Saxony and the Aurich and Leer district councils are working with farmers to preserve the lowland as a grassland cultural landscape, which will have long-term importance for nature conservation. A constructive dialogue has arisen between all interest groups to achieve this. In consequence, conservation areas have been designated and various projects and programmes to develop the area have been supported financially by the European Union, and national and local government. The particular ecological value of this landscape can only be preserved by sustainable land use. The central question is this: is it possible to manage the moorland, water, pastures, and meadows in a way that simultaneously protects the welfare of the farmers and that of the birds and plants of the wetlands? .