Location: near Rübenau in the Ore Mountain region at an elevation of approximately 727 to 772m above sea level

SAC area: Kriegwald Moors(domestic number: 264)

SPA area: Ore Mountain ridge near Satzung, domestic identification number: 71)

Brief description:
The Hühnerhaide moor area was formed as a marshy slope raised moor and is located on a local watershed. With an estimated moor and regeneration area of about 35 ha, the Hühnerheide is one of the largest moors in the Saxon Ore Mountains. It is organized into three core moor areas and possesses peat layers that reach depths of over 4 m. During the first half of the 19th century, a long ditch system was dug so the moor could then be drained and forested with spruce. The ditches continue to harm the moor to this day. In addition to cottongrasses and peat mosses, other plant species native to the moor such as cranberries, bog bilberries, and crowberries can be found there. After the spruces died out due to the effects of pollution, the area was reforested with murray pines and other pine species. The Hühnerheide is home to endangered animal species such as the common viper and odonates native to the high moor, such as the moorland hawker and alpine emerald. Into the 90s, there was evidence of black grouse.
 
Implementation of measures:
Preparations to revitalize the moor started in 1997 (ditch mapping, hydrogeological survey, recording of flora and fauna). Based on these investigations, forest workers of what was then the Forstamt Olbernhau (Olbernau Forestry Authority) constructed 95 barrage dams in the main drainage ditch in 1999. Many of the log timber dams used only held up against water pressure for a short time. This was followed by the construction of large test dams in 2001 using timber sheet piling and board technologies that have proven effective to this day. In 2005, forest district forestry workers and nature park employees began blocking off the smaller ditches in the eastern core of the moor using 56 timber sheet piling dams. In 2007, another 27 sheet piling dams and one board dam were added. Starting in 2006, measures have also been taken to retain water at the center of the moor’s core. Employees of the “Erzgebirge/Vogtland (Ore Mountain/Vogt County)” nature park constructed a broad section in 2010. As part of this, ten board dams and one sheet piling dam were constructed to retain the water in the middle core of the more.
Further measures, such as the removal of murray pines in the western peat bed by the Staatsbetreib Sachsenforst (Statutory Public Body for Forestry in Saxony) and the construction of two additional dams in the main drainage ditch, followed as part of the international project between Reitzenhain and Kalek funded by the DBU.