Biotope maintenance: environmental workers with the shovel stop

After the pond biotope on the Ganser site was filled, those responsible took a look at the water on site.

There is now a lot of space for a special fauna and flora.

Brunnthal - Fritz Baur has been campaigning for animals in pools since the 1980s.

One of the created biotope ponds has now been rehabilitated with the help of the fire brigade and the construction company Ganser.

On this occasion, they met there for a site visit with a press conference.

Together with the Natur und Umwelt Südost association, he created three biotope ponds as project manager, which he has been maintaining since then.

Today, however, the club is facing the end because it lacks the offspring.

"We are an association in the process of dissolution," says long-time supporter Rüdiger Berger.

Large gravel pits between Hohenbrunn and Brunnthal created several ponds in the 1970s in which newts and toads settled.

"Then the pits should simply be filled in and I thought to myself: where should all the animals go," remembers the now 87-year-old Baur.

Demonstrate a lot, do nothing?

The two seniors are among the last to keep the club alive.

"Everyone here is 70 plus - more like 80 plus," says Berger with a smile.

Why don't the youth follow suit? Either they get involved elsewhere or activism only takes place on social media or at Fridays for Future. "We are the activists with the shovel," says Rüdiger Berger. “They all demonstrate, but they don't want to do anything,” complains entrepreneur Günter Ganser, who, together with his brother Matthias Ganser, provided gravel and work free of charge to renovate the pond. The entrepreneur brothers operate intensive gravel mining and a biogas plant. In addition, the municipal utilities are drilling on their site for geothermal energy and by 2035 the site is to become a "regenerative energy park". With their help, according to Matthias Ganser, they want to “give something back to nature” that they otherwise exploit. "In the past, something like this was voluntary, but today it is compulsory",he says and regrets that the authorities are too tightly regulated.

Cleaned and foiled

The small biotopes prove that individual people can make a difference with a simple commitment.

What at first glance looks like an inconspicuous pond offers valuable living space for toads and newts.

After one of the ponds was renovated in 2018, the second is now freshly cleaned and foiled.

The volunteer fire brigades in Brunnthal and Taufkirchen filled it with 20,000 liters of water.

"This is now our last action and it has really worked," says Rüdiger Berger, "next month it will all be over." Mayor Stefan Kern (CSU) and the entrepreneur brothers Ganser also regret the end of the association. Both pledge their support in the event of an unexpected continuation of the commitment. Active citizens like Fritz Baur are worth gold. "Fritz has always been such a great guy, we've known each other for over 30 years," says Brunnthal's mayor, Kern.