One of the major campaigns of the LIFE Nature project is the preparation of a plan for renaturation of the former water basins on Lake Cerknica. River meanders were straightened in the first half of the previous century with the aim of draining wet meadows.

In the past there were various tendencies to drain flooded or occasionally flooded land. In 1921 the water company Vodna zadruga made sinkholes (so-called ponors) shallower, regulated Stržen and constructed drainage channels. The marshy land was drained through partial regulations of streams Žirovniščica (2000 m), Lipsenjščica (1074 m), Tresenc (1146 m) and Goriški potok (1143 m). Drainage channels were arranged at Lipsenj (758 m), and the Stržen was levelled with the channel at Ključi (534 m).

All this helped ease major floods. Medium and high-level waters started draining faster, the underground water level was lowered and the biodiversity of wet meadows changed.

The goal of the LIFE Nature project is to restore the former meanders that are typical for watercourses in the area of the intermittent Lake Cerknica. This will improve environmental conditions for birds and other species. The project will after all contribute also to raising the awareness of the local and general public about the purpose of watercourse renaturation.

The company Inženiring za vode d.o.o. will prepare project documentation based on the review of the situation in the field and examination of the watercourses prior to regulation. First, geodetic measurements will be made for a wider area of watercourses, along with geological and hydrological research, and habitat type mapping. Project documentation will include approximately 14 km of watercourses. By the end of the project we are going to renaturate two 500-metre sections of streams Goriški Brežiček and Tresenec.