Schleswig-Holstein Nature Conservation Foundation

The Schleswig-Holstein Nature Conservation Foundation was established in 1978 by the State of Schleswig-Holstein to promote nature conservation by securing land. It is a foundation under public law based in Molfsee near Kiel.

Seat of the Schleswig-Holstein Nature Conservation Foundation in Molfsee

Tasks of the Nature Conservation Foundation

The foundation buys or leases agricultural and forestry land in Schleswig-Holstein in order to secure it for nature and species protection , to increase biological diversity and to preserve the scenic beauty of Schleswig-Holstein. The foundation is also increasingly managing nature conservation areas that are privately or communally owned.

In 1978 the work of the Foundation for Nature Conservation Schleswig-Holstein began on an area the size of two football fields - today it takes care of two percent of the area of Schleswig-Holstein (36,000 hectares).

The foundation invests, for example, in climate protection, as bogs are being renatured on its land. Also floodplains should be restored to natural conditions, such as parts of the Krückau in Alveslohe in cooperation with regional actors. In addition, the foundation has set up semi-open pasture landscapes , so-called "wild pastures", on many of its areas . More than 1,000 tenants now maintain the landscape on them with the help of Galloways , Scottish Highland cattle , Exmoor ponies and Konik wild horses .

organization structure

The Nature Conservation Foundation is headed by a two-person board. Walter Hemmerling is a managing board member and heads the foundation's office, Sandra Redmann is an honorary board member. The honorary board member is elected from among the council members.

Silke Schneider , State Secretary in the Ministry for the Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas, currently chairs the 15-member Board of Trustees . The Ministry is the legal supervisory authority.

financing

The foundation is financed from various sources. It covers its personnel and material costs from the rental income of its space, the interest income from the foundation capital and donations. So far, funds for the purchase of land have mainly come from taxes and compensation payments. Nature and species protection projects are carried out with the help of funds from the European Union , the federal government or the state of Schleswig-Holstein.