5.6 Tourism and recreation On numerous Estonian bogs (Nigula, Männikjärve, Viru, Kuresoo, Meenikunnu, Laeva, Loosalu, etc.) there are more than 50 wooden paths to ease crossing the bog landscape and ca 30 observation towers (Kimmel, 2009). Informational materials have been published for tourists visiting these bogs. Estonian tourist agencies have included some mire areas in their tourism packages. It can therefore be said that mire tourism is still in a developing stage, considering the perspectives of well-organized tourism and the large mire areas. On the other hand, decrease of breeding sites of waders in the vicinity of wooden paths has been proved (Leivits et al., 2009) and therefore building of new wooden paths has been limited within protected mires. Estonian bogs possess quite important recreational significance and many local people visit bogs especially during their summer holiday. As bogs are distributed all over the country, there has not been any significant negative impact on the bog wildlife by such dispersed visits.
5.7 Gathering of berries and other natural products At the beginning of the 1970s, the inventory of Estonian cranberry resources was made by the staff of the Nigula Nature Reserve. It was concluded that in Estonia there are not less than 70 mires covering about 25,750 ha in total with a cranberry yield of over 50 kg per ha (Ruus, 1973). The potential overall annual production may reach up to at least 5 million tons. The mires with the best cranberry crops are located in eastern and northeastern Estonia, where approximately 70% of the potential resources can be found. Furthermore, two mire systems – Emajõe Suursoo (transitional) mires on ca 6,200 ha and Muraka mire complex on ca 5,000 ha – give about 50% of the annual yield of Estonian cranberries – 1.5 and 1.0 million tons respectively. In certain places, picking of cranberries is one of the extra income sources for local people. According to official data, the state purchases of cranberries during some years of the Soviet period in Estonia were 300–1,300 tons (Table 11).
TABLE 11. State purchases of cranberries during 1963-1975 in Estonia (from Cherkassov et al., 1981). Year
Tons
Year
Tons
1963
315–417
1970
870
1964
1218
1971
1305
1965
315–417
1972
657
1966
315–417
1973
918
1967
315–417
1974
717
1968
570–576
1975
199
1969
570–576
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