Brandenburg's former military training places: wilderness for endangered species!

Brandenburg's former military training places: wilderness for endangered species!

The Naturlandschafts Brandenburg Foundation has been committed to wilderness protection in the region since its foundation in 2000. Christoph Schenk, Chairman of the Foundation Council and Managing Director of the Zoological Society of Frankfurt (ZGF), emphasizes the importance of the initiative. The foundation secures former military areas in Brandenburg, which now extend over more than 15,150 hectares. These areas that are spread over four former military training places- Jüterbog, Heidehof, Lieberose and Tangersdorf- have turned into oases for rare animal and plant species. The residents include sea eagles, red deer and the nocturnal goat milker.

In these wilderness areas there is hardly any human intervention, which benefits the natural development of the landscape. Schenk emphasizes that such areas serve as reference areas for understanding natural processes. Therefore, due to the large number of former military training places, Brandenburg is predestined for the development of wilderness. However, these efforts face major challenges: Numerous competing interests must be taken into account in order to ensure wilderness areas.

The wilderness protection strategy in Germany

The foundation not only contributes to conservation measures, but also to fulfill the wilderness goals of the national strategy for biological diversity. Currently, only 0.6 percent of the area in Germany is shown as a wilderness, with the aim of increasing this share to at least two percent by 2020. Schenk notes that large areas for wilderness is a demanding task, since there is always resistance from residents and property owners that fear economic restrictions on new protected areas.

nature is very important for 94 percent of people in Germany, as a nature consciousness study from 2015 shows. The majority of the respondents associate a "wild" nature with untouched landscapes and diverse fauna. Nevertheless, untouched nature in Germany is a rarity. Intensive agriculture, settlements and traffic routes take up almost the entire area, which severely limits ecological space. The biological diversity is very threatened: a third of all kinds is on the red list, mainly by destroying habitats and overuse.

ecological networking and recreational options

In order to ensure the protection of biological diversity, wilderness and protected areas are of central importance. These areas are not only retreats for endangered species, but also important for the development of natural ecosystems. In Germany there are different categories of protected areas, including nature reserves, national parks and biosphere reserves, each tracking different rules and purposes. Wilderness areas are largely unclassed and reserved for natural developments, which underlines their importance in nature conservation.

In the wilderness areas supervised by the foundation, visitors also have hiking trails and guided excursions that make it possible to experience the beauty and variety of this longed -for untouched natural spaces. In this way, nature and species protection combines with the tourism benefit.

Overall, it becomes clear that wilderness protection in Brandenburg is a multi -layered topic that takes into account both ecological and social aspects. The challenges are great, but the chances of securing our natural habitats are also promising.