Dümmer Nature Conservation Station Landscape architects, landscape planners, biologists and administrative experts work together to care for a wetland of international importance

The Dümmer nature conservation station was founded in 1993 by the district government of Hanover under the direction of the landscape architect Prof. Theo Stracke on behalf of the state of Lower Saxony. Today it is a branch of the nature conservation division of the Nieders. Landesbetrieb für Wasserwirtschaft, Küsten- und Naturschutz (NLWKN).

Today, the landscape planners Jürgen Göttke-Krogmann and Oliver Lange as well as the biologist Heinrich Belting work there full-time. The station works closely with the three districts of Diepholz, Vechta and Osnabrück, which are spatially affected, as well as with large nature conservation associations operating throughout the state, which have organised themselves into two associations based at the station here: NARI (Naturschutzring Dümmer) and NUVD (Natur- und Umweltschutzvereinigung Dümmer See e.V.).

Together, landscape architects and biologists take care of the protection and development of the Dümmer area, a large lowland dating back to the last ice age with various nature reserves within the EU bird sanctuary Dümmer(Natura 2000). At the same time, intensive educational work for nature conservation and landscape management is carried out there.

The Dümmer lowlands are shaped by the lake itself, but above all by the surrounding siltation moors, which have been used for agriculture for centuries. As a cultural landscape type that is particularly endangered today, the wet grassland with its biocoenoses is the focus of on-site management by the Dümmer Nature Conservation Station. Planning and implementation-oriented care management, qualified advice and, above all, partnership-based cooperation with the land users are at the forefront of everyday work.

The goal is the organization of sustainable land maintenance on the extreme location of the wet low moor grassland. Current agro-structural processes and maintenance costs must be calculated and require flexible planning and action, taking into account the priority of special nature and species conservation concerns.
The size of the entire care area with approx. 6000 ha and of it for the nature protection acquired 2,700 ha wet grassland justify the work organization by a field office of the national nature protection administration. As a special challenge in the activity profile the complexity of the acting in border situation between three districts with the respective actors is to be named.

Together with the co-operation partners of the non-official nature protection and the nature park Dümmer as well as in close co-ordination with the districts the opening of the protected areas for a gentle tourism and the water sports is conceived and converted. The dynamics of recreational use of visitor flows at different times of the year is to be taken into account and guided.

Supraregional networking for nature conservation-related area monitoring is maintained, as is the integration of research activities by neighbouring universities and colleges. Participation in thematically relevant interdisciplinary cooperation projects of third parties with reference to specialist topics is obligatory.

Texts: Prof. Theo Stracke, Consulting Public Services and Associations Management Consultancy