Abstract: The Houting (Coregonus oxyrhunchus) is an endangered species of European whitefish, in the Salmonidae family. It lives in salt water but spawns in freshwater (anadromous), and is vulnerable to relatively small habitat disturbances. It was previously distributed throughout the Wadden Sea (the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) but it has declined severely and is now restricted to just a few rivers in Denmark. One of the main impediments to successful reproduction is the presence of even small obstacles in rivers during the spawning migration, as the houting is unable to pass weirs or make use of fish ladders. Furthermore, juvenile houting require large areas of reed beds or flooded meadows, where they forage for several months prior to migrating to the sea. Previous restocking attempts in Denmark have failed, because they were not followed up by habitat restoration. During 2005 – 2013 the Danish Nature Agency with the support of EU’s LIFE fund conducted a € 20 mill. nature restoration project with the overall objective to restore and maintain a favourable conservation status for the houting in four Danish river systems. The presentation will give an overview on the results and lessons learnt during the project.