Nature conservation - More wilderness planned in the Lower Oder Valley Floodplain National Park
The Lower Oder Valley Floodplain National Park is expanding its wilderness areas to get closer to nature. The area within the park is to be more than doubled for this purpose. A corresponding land readjustment procedure is on the home straight, park manager Dirk Treichel told the German Press Agency. Currently, 22 percent of the national park is wilderness areas that may not be farmed; in future, this will be just over 50 percent. Users such as fishermen and farmers would be given alternative areas outside the national park or financial compensation.
"This is the reward for a very long and intensive effort," says the national park manager. The state of Brandenburg ordered the procedure in 2000 in order to develop the "national park enterprise". Unused areas are crucial for this, emphasizes Treichel. "National parks are open-air laboratories." If these areas are no longer allowed to be mowed or grazed, this has many effects on the flora and fauna. The vegetation changes considerably as a result, he explains.
According to him, the expansion of the"wilderness" also improves the conditions for a number of endangered bird species such as the bittern, whose population has declined sharply due to the drainage of the landscape. The reed warbler, which is already on the red list of endangered species in many federal states, is also finding even better conditions in the new wilderness areas. Geese and cranes would have more space for roosting.
According to Treichel, the expansion of the wilderness areas can also provide insights into climate change - for example, which plants will naturally establish themselves under changing climate conditions or which will disappear. "We can observe what happens without our intervention. Nature decides for us," says Treichel.
The floodplain landscape covers an area of 10,430 hectares and is Brandenburg's only national park; there are 16 in Germany. With its oxbow lakes and regularly flooded floodplains, it is a paradise for water birds as a breeding, resting and wintering site. More than 145 bird species breed in the national park, and in spring and fall thousands of geese, ducks and cranes can be seen migrating through. Over 40 species of fish live in the river, which is still quite natural. This makes the Lower Oder Valley National Park one of the most species-rich habitats in Germany.
According to the head of the national park, various projects are planned to bring the area even closer to nature. For example, in cooperation with the Brandenburg Nature Conservation Fund, old flood channels and oxbow lakes of the Oder are to be reconnected to the river. The project is to be implemented as early as 2024 in order to further improve the living conditions for typical floodplain plant and animal species in the national park.
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- The expansion of the wilderness areas in the Lower Oder Valley Floodplain National Park will increase the area reserved for nature conservation, making up over 50% of the national park, which currently has 22% wilderness areas that cannot be farmed.
- The manager of the national park, Dirk Treichel, highlighted the importance of expanding wilderness areas, stating that unused areas are crucial for national parks to function as open-air laboratories, allowing natural processes to occur and impacting the flora and fauna within the park.
- Geese and cranes are expected to benefit from the expanded wilderness areas, as they will have more space for roosting and nesting, while endangered bird species such as the bittern and reed warbler may find improved conditions in the new habitats.
- The German Press Agency reported that the state of Brandenburg initiated the land readjustment procedure in 2000 to develop the German national park enterprise, recognizing the significance of nature conservation and wilderness areas in the Lower Oder Valley Floodplain National Park.
Source: www.stern.de
