A gravel pit in the south of Echinger was recently the target of a special press conference.
Things are happening here that not only inspire the landscape conservation association.
Eching
- There aren't many corners of his home town that Eching's mayor Sebastian Thaler has never seen.
So he was amazed when he visited a gravel pit that had been abandoned for decades.
Nature itself has developed a high-quality biotope, which is now to be maintained and further expanded by the landscape conservation association in cooperation with the heath area association.
The truck ramp became a high-quality bank
The history of the entire area is somewhat diffuse: in the 1960s, the owner of the hidden gravel pit in the south of Echingen died unexpectedly - and the area has been left to its own devices ever since.
Actually, sins of nature were committed, but the concrete blocks of the former ramp for trucks, for example, now form a high-quality bank for one of the groundwater-fed pools of the approximately six-hectare biotope.
There are very few fish here whose spawns have been carried into the water by water birds.
An absolute treasure of the area, which should not be entered by humans because of its great potential, is the swamp stendrums.
This rare orchid species is on the red list of endangered plants and has already conquered areas in a clearing in the former pit.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
"We want to maintain the clearings and distribute the mowing so that this orchid species can spread," says Fabian Eichhorn from the Landscape Management Association.
He and Matthias Maino showed Eching's mayor Sebastian Thaler a clearing in which the faded swamp stendrums and small pines can be seen on the ground.
The saplings of the trees have to be removed so that the orchid gets the sunlight it needs.
The poor, nutrient-poor soil is perfect for the plant.
The extremely endangered Cross Gentian is also to be settled
During the inspection, the representatives of the landscape conservation association also presented a clearing that is even leaner and rather gravel-heavy. The extremely endangered Cross Gentian is to be settled here in the next few years. These plants can be found in the Garching Heath, which, in cooperation with the Mahdgut Heide Area Association, is to be brought to Eching's hidden island biotope. A clearing was created this year - by removing bushes.
The cost of around 17,000 euros was divided up: the landscape conservation association pays 10 percent and the government of Upper Bavaria funds 90 percent, because the abandoned area is of supraregional importance, not least because of the swamp stendellum and its potential.
“This area belongs under nature protection forever,” says Matthias Maino.
The former gravel pit forms a connection line for animals between the heathland and the Isar floodplains.
That is why these hidden natural treasures should also remain secret.
The area is difficult to find today
Nobody has been there in the last few decades, which is why the biotope is almost completely free of neophytes.
In the past, people only found the edge of the gravel pit with the former loading ramp.
Trucks were parked here and special day trippers came.
“Married couples used to meet here.
The only problem was that the couples weren't married to each other, ”jokes Matthias Maino.
Today this area is hardly to be found either, because the area is overgrown with bushes on all streets and paths.
The former loading ramp at a green hill can only be guessed at.
And from there a small way to work leads hidden to the area where nature has created a biotope over many decades that even the brightest experts would not have been able to create so ingeniously.
