3rd Danube-wide volunteer day by DANUBEPARKS
Last year DANUBEPARKS organized an international volunteer day for the third time, in which valuable nature conservation work was carried out free of charge.
The volunteer day took place on November 23 in the Danube meadows between Neuburg and Ingolstadt. Over thirty volunteers of all ages took part in the mowing and brushing campaign in bright sunshine. This saved a valuable burning location from overgrowth and preserved it for the future as a habitat for orchids, gentians and butterflies such as checkerboard and Schillerfalter.
Volunteering is essential in nature conservation. However, not everyone has the time or opportunity to become permanently involved in nature conservation associations. Especially for these people, this Danube-wide volunteer day is a good opportunity to get personally involved and to make contacts with other interested parties.
From the Danube Delta in Romania to Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria to us in Ingolstadt and Neuburg, voluntary conservationists from eight Danube countries took part in this campaign in the protected areas there. Together, they send a strong signal that the Danube not only connects ten neighboring countries, but also forms the backbone of a European biotope network. The Danube is one of the most important axes of propagation for animals and plants; the floodplains a hotspot for European biodiversity.
In order to emphasize this European importance of the Danube for nature and species protection, DANUBEPARKS has compiled and documented the volunteer actions from eight countries for 2019. The brochure can only be found online at https://www.ingolstadt.de/donauraum, currently only in the English version.
In autumn 2020 there will be another volunteer day in Ingolstadt together with the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen under the umbrella of DANUBEPARKS to continue this tradition of European cooperation.