Nature
Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve covers large portion of the Võrtsjärv Basin, a vast bowl-like lowland area, which following the last Ice Age was inundated by the waters of Lake Big Võrtsjärv. When the lake formed in early Holocene the water level was 4–5 m higher than today. The lake started receding after 7500 BP, when an outflow to the east developed via the Emajõgi Valley.
The nature reserve is largely a wetland, including a complex of five large bogs and floodplains of the large rivers (Emajõgi, Põltsamaa and Pedja). Wetlands cover 82% of the nature reserve's territory. The only types of lakes found in the nature reserve are oxbow lakes and more than 2000 bog pools. Lots of floodplain meadows have traditionally used for haymaking. However, in recent decades the extent of floodplains mowed has greatly decreased, threatening species associated with such valuable semi-natural landscapes. Continuing management of floodplain meadows is one of the main aims of the nature reserve.
Most of the forest in Alam-Pedja are also wet. Alluvial broadleaf and old-growth forests are particularly valuable.
Alam-Pedja is the most important breeding area for Great Snipe in Estonia and the Baltic countries. Greater Spotted Eagle is another threatened bird species breeding in the area.
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Famous quotes containing the word nature:
“Nothing in nature is exhausted in its first use. When a thing has served an end to the uttermost, it is wholly new for an ulterior service. In God, every end is converted into new means.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Our passional nature not only lawfully may, but must, decide an option between propositions, whenever it is a genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on intellectual grounds; for to say, under such circumstances, “Do not decide, but leave the question open,” is itself a passional decision—just like deciding yes or no—and is attended with the same risk of losing the truth.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“The idiot, the Indian, the child and unschooled farmer’s boy, stand nearer to the light by which nature is to be read, than the dissector or the antiquary.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)