Location: west of Neudorf in Sehmatal Valley, in the Ore Mountain region at an elevation of 810m to 825m above sea level

SAC area: not an SAC area

SPA area: Not a bird sanctuary

Brief description:
The Siebensäure moor is a remnant of a high moor near Neudorf. Available information indicates that the moor originally covered between 15 and 20 ha. Peat harvesting and drainage over the course of the past century left just 3 ha of peat 0.8 m deep. Parts of the moor area have been protected as natural monument lands (FND) since 1982.

Implementation of measures:
Measures were taken to restore balance to the moor as early as 2001 through the construction of 40 dams in the drainage ditches of the moor. The technology used at the time was somewhat ineffective and many of the dams had problems. Only a few of the dams are still efficiently holding back the water.
Plans are therefore in progress to perform additional, extensive measures to improve the hydrological conditions of the Siebensäure moor in order to make up for and replace the previous measures for a construction project of Vattenfall Europe Generation AG in the Ore Mountains. Over 200 individual measures, including filling, dam building, and diversion ditches, will serve to optimize water retention in the moor. This will restore the living conditions necessary for peat moss, cottongrasses, and other species native to the moor to live and allow the moor to take up its natural functions once more.

A corduroy road has run along the edge of the Siebensäure high moor for many years now, offering visitors insight into the moor area. The corduroy dam was closed in 2016 for safety reasons.
In coordination with the Staatsbetrieb Sachsenforst (Statutory Public Body for Forestry in Saxony) and the Forstbezirk Neudorf (Forest District of Neudorf), the corduroy dam has been replaced by a boardwalk made of oak timber. This leaves the natural flow of water in the moor untouched and also keeps visitors’ feet dry.

At the same time, the content of information boards along the moor path was also updated. One board and two action elements provide visitors with information on the Siebensäure moor and moors in general. This information is also available to visitors in English and Czech.
Renovation of the Siebensäure moor trail was funded by European and Saxon funds through the “Natürliches Erbe (Natural Heritage)” directive and cofinanced by the grant program EPLR.