The district of Upper Bavaria honors the Gmund nature and environmental expert Wolfgang Hiller with the district medal in gold.
Gmund – His watchful eyes miss almost nothing: He knows how many greylag geese feel at home around Lake Tegernsee;
where swans cause problems and if so, how many there are;
he counts and documents so-called "sensation birds" that live in the middle of the lake in summer, and he knows how many tufted ducks are already stopping at smaller bodies of water in the Mangfall area on their migration from the North and Baltic Seas south this year.
In short: Wolfgang Hiller from Gmund is an expert on nature and the environment and officially the bird watcher for the State Office for the Environment.
In addition, the 87-year-old is responsible with a team of seven for the international waterfowl census in the Mangfall area, in technical jargon: "monitoring for migratory waterfowl".
The native Swabian, who taught chemistry,
Taught biology and exploration, is also very familiar with the geological history of the landscape around Tegernsee, and has created a rock garden in the park of the Tegernsee high school.
"I want to do educational work in matters of nature so that people tolerate it and deal with it sensitively," says the 87-year-old, summarizing his passionate commitment, which has now earned him an honor: the district medal in gold from the district of Upper Bavaria for services to nature and environmental protection.
Actually, Hiller was supposed to go to the Seeon monastery culture and education center in person to receive the badge of honor from district president Josef Mederer – in good company with other people whose voluntary commitment was thus recognized.
Unfortunately, Hiller was prevented and could not go to Seeon Monastery, where Mederer spoke of "that role models give courage, serve as a source of inspiration or offer a guide for one's own actions and actions".
According to a press release, Mederer also emphasized in his laudation: “We need people who are committed to the community, who make their skills available to the general public.
We need people who can be seen as role models and who are extraordinarily committed to volunteering.”
The president of the district council has now sent word via a secretary that Mederer will personally visit Hiller in Gmund as soon as there is an appointment at Tegernsee or nearby to catch up on the honor.
"I'm very happy about that," Hiller reacted to this news.
He also knows what he will then report to Mederer: The waterfowl census carried out in mid-September showed that of the greylag geese, which recently became a plague on Lake Tegernsee and which have now been released by hunters for shooting, "not a single specimen" more was counted at Tegernsee.
"Many are apparently to the Ammersee, where 550 greylag geese were counted," Hiller knows.
He will also report that 13 species with 726 waterfowl individuals were counted at Tegernsee in September.
A number that roughly corresponds to that of the previous year.
He will also report on the already remarkably high number of black-and-white tufted ducks for this time of year (104 at Tegernsee, 598 at Seehamer See and 803 at Vagener Stausee) and will note that climate change is making itself felt.
He will not leave unmentioned,
that he was involved in the protection ordinance that the lower nature conservation authority of the district office was working on for the winter at Tegernsee.
At the subsequent award ceremony he will probably also report that there will perhaps be rangers here too who will watch over the behavior of the leisure society.
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