The Bavarian State Minister for the Environment, Thorsten Glauber, recently came to the Freising district.
His goal: the yellow-bellied toad that needs to be protected.
District
- The yellow-bellied toads in the former gravel pit in Unterkienberg near Allershausen probably did not expect so many political celebrities.
But on Thursday even the Bavarian State Minister for the Environment and Consumer Protection Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters) went in search of the endangered species.
Reason: The project “In spite of all prophecies of doom” ends this month.
Now, according to District Administrator Helmut Petz, further political impulses are needed.
Lived species protection
"This is species protection in practice," emphasized Glauber, who released the yellow-bellied toads that had previously been captured for viewing.
According to Glauber, such ambitious projects would not be possible without the financial resources of the Bavarian Nature Conservation Fund.
However, he also knows: it will not work without great commitment - and for that he thanked everyone involved.
The stroke of luck
The former gravel pit, and this was also confirmed by the project coordinator Judith Jabs-Ingenhaag from the Freising district office, was of course a particular stroke of luck.
In addition, the municipality of Allerhausen and the Freising civil engineering department were able to purchase additional areas on the property, so that the managed area has grown to around ten hectares.
The yellow-bellied toad has long since settled in the gravel pit near Unterkienberg - but other animals have also settled here, for example a whole colony of sand martins and even an eagle owl.
The project, which has now been running for five years, is a complete success - and yet it is actually just the beginning.
Above all, these toads need good networking with other surrounding areas, which should not be too far away.
The progress
A very important step forward: a total of 500 bodies of water were created as spawning biotopes in the districts of Altötting, Freising and Neuburg-Schrobenhausen.
In addition, over 100 toad godparents were trained during this period, who, among other things, want to raise awareness of yellow-bellied toads among the population.
The goal
Because that is fundamental: Public awareness of this endangered species must be significantly increased. According to Jabs-Ingenhaag, it is crucial to anchor the natural spawning waters, which can also arise from deep tractor tracks, as a matter of course for the people. In rural areas, the project manager emphasized, “creative chaos” is being avoided more and more and more and more cleaned up, so that there are hardly any spawning grounds. Further commitment, according to Petz, urgently needs to be valued and reinforced with political impulses. According to Petz, Glauber is exactly the right man for this, who has also started the ultrafine dust measurement and has taken on the patronage of the Freising Climate Conference - which may have to be postponed due to the pandemic.
The future
But what will happen now in the future?
The courses for toad sponsors will definitely be continued, and according to Jabs-Ingenhaag, many volunteers will continue to be involved.
The coordination of the measures to protect the toad will be taken over by biodiversity advisors in three districts, in other districts the situation is unclear, as in Freising.
Here Jabs-Ingenhaag would like to take over the further support for a year - despite all prophecies of doom.
Robert Lorenz
