Before its cultivation in the mid-19th Century the Bourtanger Moor, covering an area of 1,200 km², was one of the largest continuous raised bogs in Central Europe. Something eerie and threatening seemed to emanate from it. However, this view of the moor as a vast natural landscape hostile to human life has changed.

Thanks to human settlement, peat extraction and subsequent agricultural use the region today is characterised by a mosaic of different areas. These range from unspoiled and renatured raised bog areas with flora and fauna worth protecting through to cultivated valuable landscapes heavily affected by human activity. Large farming businesses equipped with the latest agricultural machinery are an important economic factor. Between extensively used pasture land and woods bloom vibrant towns and communities.

The character of the moor is, however, evident throughout the Nature Park. The vastness of the landscape, the strung-out settlements and canals that are so typical of the moor are especially noticeable. And slowly they are being restored, the wide moorland landscapes.

The moor is, geologically speaking, a very young kind of landscape.

When at the end of the Ice Age the glaciers in North-Western Germany melted, the water collected in hollows. Sediments built up in the water, reeds and rushes of various kinds took root. Gradually plant remains settled at the bottom of the meltwater lakes but were only partly decomposed. Peat began to form and the low bog was created. Subsequently the peat layer grew, preventing the plants from coming into contact with the nutrient-rich ground water. In this acidic, nutrient-poor environment only peat mosses, which play the leading role in the making of raised bog, could establish themselves. While the peat moss grows, the vegetation further down dies and sinks to the bottom. Every year on average 1 mm of peat forms. Formation of the raised bogs in Bourtanger Moor took thousands of years in several stages.

Peat has been used as a fuel for thousands of years

Once it was cut by hand in open pits, known as "pütts". Because of its high energy density only black peat was used for fuel, while white peat was used for stable litter, because it readily absorbs water and odours. Over time, through drainage and peat extraction more and more rare plants and animals lost their habitats.
Now peat is extracted industrially and processed to make garden soil and other products. However, Central Europe's peat stocks are nearly exhausted: today there are large peat deposits only in Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic States.

Large areas of Bourtanger Moor have a high nature conservancy value.

In spite of peat extraction and subsequent agricultural use wide areas of Bourtanger Moor have a high nature conservancy value. Nature conservancy authorities, the National Moorland Management Authority and the Netherlands National Forestry Office (Staatsbosheer) are working intensively to revive former moorland areas after peat removal. Since the 1970s many areas have therefore been rewetted and considerable successes achieved. Drainage ditches are being filled in and wetting polders and embankments put in place. However, what has taken thousands of years to form and decades to break down cannot be recreated in a very short time. And yet the landscape is undergoing a change: the raised bog with its typical plant and animal species, such as cotton grass, is gradually returning to Bourtanger Moor.

Use of the moors for agricultural purposes was for a long time possible only after all of the peat had been extracted.

Apart from moorland drain-and-burn cultivation, for a long time use of the moors for agricultural purposes was possible only after all of the the peat had been extracted. However, particularly after development of sand-mix cultivation it was possible for larger productive areas of land to be made available for agriculture. Also the invention of fertiliser and new technical achievements improved conditions for farmers in the moor considerably. Today large swathes of the Bourtanger Moor - Bargerveen Nature Park are characterised by modern, intensive farming. The businesses established here produce for supraregional markets to an international standard.

The first evidence of mineral oil extraction in the Moor Nature Park dates from the mid-19th Century.

Altogether eleven mineral oil deposits were discovered, making this region one of Germany's largest mineral oil fields. Today mineral oil is still extracted with the help of "nodding donkeys".

When renewable energies are used, no additional carbon dioxide is emitted and no limited resources consumed. Rather, energy is obtained from natural processes. In the Nature Park area renewable energies are used in many different ways. Nature is being used as the energy source of the future.

Sunshine and wind are unlimited and free. Through the development of photovoltaic systems and modern windpower generating systems their use for electric power generation is possible today. Biomass is a result of photosynthesis and so an indirect form of solar energy. When wood, straw and rapeseed oil are burnt, the same amount of carbon dioxide is released as the regrowing raw materials have consumed during growth (i.e. they are CO₂ neutral).

The array of natural colours, which is like a mosaic, is breathtaking.

The array of natural colours formed by the various areas of the landscape – sand and heath, moor and peat, fields and pastures – like a mosaic is breathtaking. Depending on the time of year, the moor shines in the most varied colours. Adding to this spectacle of nature is the typical moor plantlife: known far and wide for its beauty is the fruiting cotton grass swaying all across the moorscape like a cream-coloured sea. It is quite different from the deep purple heather that lightens up the rather sparse heathland with dabs of colour. The list of rare plant species that are at home on the moor is long: it includes beak sedge and purple moor grass, bell heather and sundew – and, of course, the peat mosses. Cranberries can be found in the International Nature Park, as well as the lesser butterfly orchid and adder's tongue. Connoisseurs and lovers of native flora will make one new discovery after another in the Bourtanger Moor and very especially in the Bargerveen Natura 2000 area.

Unusual species of animals can also be found on the moor. Rare genera and species – some of them threatened with extinction – have returned here after being forced to retreat by cultivation. Now many of them are back again. 280 species of birds alone have been counted by ornithologists in the moor, amongst them many rare ones: the bluethroat, for example, the golden plover and in large numbers the red-backed shrike. It is no surprise that swans, geese, ducks and wading birds make a stopover here on their long journeys, nor that birds of prey such as the hen harrier, the fish eagle and the red kite put in a guest appearance. Their presence is not least owing to other kinds of creatures in the moor: European tree frogs and viviparous lizards, likewise common adders, live here. A lovely sight to see are the roughly 40 species of dragonfly and 30 diurnal butterflies that have been counted in the Nature Park. Amongst these the grizzled skipper and the small pearl-bordered fritillary are especially worth seeing. Particularly in the Netherlands Bargerveen Nature Reserve nature-lovers can make exceptional discoveries along 30 kilometers of walking trails. Because of the special value of its flora and fauna the Bargerveen was named a special nature reserve under the European bird protection directive and declared an important wetland area. The 30-hectare outdoor area of the Emsland Moor Museum in Geeste – Groß-Hesepe also offers opportunities for interesting nature observations.