Renaturation of the Kyll estuary Joint compensation for various infrastructure projects

In the 1950s, the meandering course of the Kyll in the estuary area near Trier was straightened and the banks fortified, the oxbow lakes with alluvial forest were separated from the course and partially filled in or silted up as they were no longer crossed during floods. The areas between the oxbow lakes were used for agriculture.

However, the estuary area of the Kyll offers ideal conditions for renaturation as it is located outside of residential areas. The aim of the 35-hectare renaturation project is to further develop the estuary area following a one-off intervention in the autumn and winter of 2008/2009. This involved connecting the oxbow lakes to the watercourses and making them passable, creating a variety of transitional areas between the watercourse and the land and abandoning agriculture in the entire estuary area to develop riparian forests. The measure enabled the joint implementation of nature conservation and water management compensation obligations from four different infrastructure projects.