Michael Harengerd

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Michael Harengerd (born March 5, 1946 in Bad Rothenfelde ) is a German biologist and conservationist. Harengerd is committed to bird protection and is one of the initiators and pioneers of the Biological Station Rieselfelder Münster.

Life

The son of a sales representative, Michael Harengerd grew up in Münster and attended the Johann-Conrad-Schlaun-Gymnasium. After graduating from high school and military service, he studied biology from 1967 to 1973, first in Münster, then in Bonn . From 1977 he completed a legal traineeship within the teacher training program, which was followed in 1980 by a two-year activity as a study assessor. From 1982 until his retirement, Harengerd was a teacher. Harengerd received his doctorate in 1983 from the zoologist Jochen Niethammer with a thesis on the ruff .

Harengerd began to watch birds at the age of fifteen in the area of ​​the Rieselfelder Münster . They were used for sewage disposal since 1901. A system of ditches regulated by locks transported the sewage to an area that was parceled out by walls. The sandy soil there filtered the water from the dammed areas and a drainage system diverted it. This irrigation technique produced fertilized areas that were used for agricultural cultivation. As a sign of the capacity limits, more and more areas were under water all year round, which meant that waders and water birds found a suitable biotope and large numbers could be observed during the breeding and migration periods. This area was an ornithological attraction that was only known to a few ornithologists in the 1960s.

Harengerd came into contact with the Westphalian Natural Science Association in 1962. There he was involved in the working group to record the bird life of Westphalia. This resulted in a collaboration with older ornithologists around Werner Prünte (1940-2010) and he wrote articles in their newly founded journal Anthus .

The high school graduate Michael Harengerd was the first to draw the public's attention to the ecological and scientific value of the overflowed areas. In a newspaper article he promoted the preservation of the sewage fields - after the planned construction of a sewage treatment plant - as a habitat for waders and water birds. The first campaign with this objective was carried out in 1968 in collaboration with supporters. A mobile ornithological station could be set up. In 1974 part of the area was leased from the city of Münster; An association was founded to implement the nature conservation measures developed. The Biological Station Rieselfelder Münster was the first registered association in which volunteers worked on the establishment of a reserve. The station was a model for other start-ups and it was "[...] for decades one of the central bodies for socializing to become a nature conservationist - with consequences for the whole of Germany".

The main responsibility in the association was and still lies with Michael Harengerd. Successes came in 1978 and 1983: the sewage fields were declared a European reserve or a protected area according to the Ramsar Convention . At the beginning of the 1990s, the reserve was given its current, expanded design through a funding program of the European Union . Around 30 years after the association was founded, a new lease was signed at the end of the decade and recognition as a Natura2000 area was granted .

Harengerd faces the disputes with the most diverse political levels about the acceptance and the implementation of nature conservation. He joined the Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation in Germany in 1977 and was the state chairman of the BUND in North Rhine-Westphalia from 1992 to 1998.

Harengerd was a pioneer in the field of ecological objectives until the 1970s. After that, the attitude towards nature and landscape protection in politics gradually changed. On the one hand, an official nature protection scheme developed, which brought the existing biological stations into its directive and also founded new ones. On the other hand, a new management style developed. In planning processes, the legislature granted the association's nature conservation association, which emerged in the 1970s, a right to participate, but also civil society engagement. Since then, Harengerd has been involved in both fields and, as a station manager, he would like to remain as independent as possible from government regulations. For him it is clear that as a volunteer who is not involved in political currents, he is a more effective advocate for nature conservation.

Awards

Works

  • The Tundra is in the middle of Germany 2nd edition, Kilda-Verlag, Greven 1973.

literature

  • Jutta Bellers: Michael Harengerd - volunteer work with history. agenda Verlag, Münster 2018, ISBN 978-3-89688-598-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bellers 2018, p. 11.
  2. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 22.
  3. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 41.
  4. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 29 f.
  5. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 20.
  6. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 10.
  7. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 23.
  8. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 28.
  9. ↑ Klaus Nottmeyer, Jutta Bellers: Michael Harengerd. In: Charadrius 54 (2), p. 144.
  10. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 39.
  11. ↑ a b Bellers 2018, p. 47.
  12. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 65.
  13. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 49.
  14. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 75.
  15. ↑ Bellers 2018, p. 71.
  16. ↑ Ministerialblatt for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. (PDF) April 6, 1982, p. 5 (637) , accessed April 17, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Harengerd, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biologist and conservationist
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Rothenfelde