Linking Research, Policy and Practice for Managing Dynamic Water Resources in a Protected Area

Restoration of wetlands involves the necessity of maintaining the high moisture content of thesites involved. Managing adequate hydrological conditions means supporting successful habitat restoration ofwetland ecosystems. Before the management practices are implemented, the formulation of objectives in thedevelopment of restoration policies is required. It should be based on an understanding of the primarynatural controls of the water regimes. This research focuses on practical approaches to the management ofdynamic water resources in the protected area of the Kampinos National Park in Poland. The area has thestatus of UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve. Valuable wetland ecosystems are present in the area. They hadbeen influenced in the past by agricultural drainage, before the area gained the protection status. Dynamicwater resources in top soil layers are ranked here as one of the highest priority issue due to symptoms ofdrying. In order to avoid and reverse negative trends, restoration policies have been addressed. The basis forthe formulation of water policies was an analysis of surface wetness conditions. Specific question to beanswered is what are particular water demands to support restoration of vegetation, and how high are deficitsof soil water storage appearing in contemporary conditions. The answer to this question was given in theform of wetness criteria which have to be fulfilled by water management practice. These are the minimumtarget values of soil moisture and groundwater level. Simple correlation model was used as a tool for theevaluation of water deficits appearing in dry seasons. The model developed was the water storage decreasefunction which allows an estimation of soil water deficits depending on groundwater level change. Inpractice it can be applied to predict water demands which should be compensated if groundwater levels dropbelow hazard level.