February 7th, 2020 in Kõrvemaa
Bogshoes have been used as a means of movement in Estonian marshes for centuries. Bogshoes were used in tourism at the beginning of the 21st century, and Estonia is a unique destination where bogshoe hikes are offered.
According to interviews conducted with companies offering bogshoe tours, there are currently nearly 15,000 visitors in Estonia every year who go to the bogs outside the boardwalks for recreational purposes with bogshoes and in other ways. The majority of such visits take place in protected areas and targeted conservation zones. At the same time, such a load has left traces on the bog soil in some of the more visited areas, which disturb various interest groups, i.e. a problem has arisen with social and, in some cases, ecological load tolerance.
As a result of the above, it is in the interest of companies offering bogshoeing to prepare and implement good practices for moving around with bogshoes in swamps. Nearly 30 bogshoeing entrepreneurs, employees of University of Life Sciences, Environmental Board, Environmental Inspectorateand VisitEstonia have contributed to the compilation of the good practice.
Joining the good practice of bogshoe tourism requires completing the relevant training. The first training is planned for the fall of 2020 (in cooperation with University of Life Sciences, Environmental Board and Environmental Inspectorate). VisitEstonia also receives information about those who join good practice in this way, which displays them accordingly on the their website. At the same time, every entrepreneur who follows good practice in his daily activities can announce this on his website.
More information about the good practice of bogshoe tourism and joining it: Estonian University of Life Sciences, Chair of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism, Marika Kose, phone +372 5656 1373, email: marika.kose@emu.ee
Bogshoeing Good Practice
- The bogshoe hike carries nature education and conservation content, provides explanations about marshes, Estonian nature and cultural heritage.
- When planning a bogshoe hike, I find out in advance the nature conservation values and restrictions in my chosen meadow and plan my hike based on them and coordinate my activity area with Environmental Board.
- I use "clawless" bogshoes to move in the marshes when there is no snow.
- Bogshoeing is not allowed in the protected marshes from St. George's Day to St. John's Day (April 23rd till June 26th), except with the consent of the manager of the protected area.
- When hiking in the swamp with bogshoes, I move from the visitor infrastructure to the swamp in a scattered manner to avoid the formation of distinguishable soil damage around the infrastructure.
- I can assess the traces created when moving in the swamp and choose suitable routes to reduce these traces. If necessary, I use gap years to recover the soil.
- When walking in nature, I keep my footprint to a minimum and for this I prefer to move in small groups.
- After the hikes of the hike organizer who joined the good practice, the bog remains cleaner than before (garbage and other foreign objects are picked up from the bog during the hike).
- Upon joining the good practice participating in the training is relevant.