The major challenges for the Center for Environment and Culture (ZUK) after the devastating hailstorm were now discussed at the annual meeting of the sponsoring association. The renovation work will probably take two years.
Benediktbeuern – “What a year,” CEO Lutz Spandau is quoted as saying in a press release. After the Corona period, we had just “found our footing again and everything changed within ten minutes”. Thank God there were no personal injuries despite being at full capacity at the time. Spandau praised the great achievements that ZUK leader Benedikt Hartmann and his team are now showing in the reconstruction.
The manager reported on the work on the large construction site. The west wing had to be completely gutted due to the moisture damage. The aim is to rebuild it within the next two years. “The insurance doesn’t cover all the costs,” says Hartmann. ZUK coordinator and nature conservation department head Father Karl Geißinger explained what happened on the monastery land after the hailstorm. A fellow brother and the volunteers built a nesting house for birds and bats, installed a stork's nest on the Fuchsbichlstadl and built a viewing tower on the barefoot path. “Dams in the moor had to be renovated,” says Geißinger. He also thanked the alumni, many of whom have joined together in the “Let's do Moor” association. “They extended the moor adventure trail by over 100 meters and carried out a bush removal campaign in the raised moor.” Geißinger is confident that the wildflower meadows will recover from the hailstorm. “There's also a lot going on in the bird world.” It's nice that ZUK employees, together with the parents of the Don Bosco kindergarten, built pasture fences to create a shady place.
In 2023 there were still 15,000 visitors
Statistics were also presented at the meeting. In 2023, 15,000 people took advantage of the educational offerings, around 11,000 were children and young people. Provincial Father Rainer Gesing, the highest Salesian in Germany in this office, thanked “the very good cooperation between the monastery and ZUK on the large construction site. Good cooperation with the community is also important to him.
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ZUK treasurer Franz Steger explained the budget. The current positive financial situation is based on the support of the Free State of Bavaria and other state institutions, the friends and supporters of the ZUK as well as foundations and many generous individual donors, said Steger, with a view to the millions in damage after the hailstorm. “The ZUK owes everyone a great and deep gratitude.” The ZUK board was finally unanimously discharged.
new member
The sponsoring association said goodbye to the former district council president Josef Mederer and the former state parliament member Martin Bachhuber as previous members. State parliament member Thomas Holz was welcomed as a new member. The members also said goodbye to the former chairman of the board, Father Heiner Heim, with great thanks for his many years of work. He made great contributions to the ZUK and also “quietly managed” the “generational change” in management from Geißinger to Hartmann, the statement says. Incidentally, the long-time deputy ZUK chairman and wildlife biologist Wolfgang Schröder will continue to support the ZUK with his professional knowledge even after he leaves the board in 2023.