In a nutshell:
- ROSEN Landing Net Event at the Fleckenbach in Bernte, Emsbüren
- Colleagues and their families netted aquatic animals and got to know the inhabitants of the biotope
- Particularly exciting for the youngest participants
- Goal: Discover the diversity of nature right on our doorstep with open eyes
Together with the Naturschutzstiftung Emsland (Emsland Nature Conservation Foundation), we discovered and explored the diversity of our local nature on Saturday, September 14, 2024. At the Fleckenbach stream in Bernte (municipality of Emsbüren), colleagues and their families picked up landing nets, noodle strainers and buckets in the morning and got to know a whole range of different inhabitants of the biotope in a short period of time.
With this joint campaign, we have returned to the roots of our cooperation with the Nature Conservation Foundation. It all began in 2019 with a series of environmental education events for school classes, which started with primary school pupils from the region learning all kinds of things about the water habitat and its inhabitants at the Fleckenbach stream in Bernte. Since then, and especially since the renaturation of the Fleckenbach in 2015, the biotope has changed continuously. Where there was a corn field in 2015, there is now an alluvial forest, a stream with fast-flowing and calm water zones and a floodplain, creating a variety of habitats for endangered native animal and plant species.
Know, appreciate and protect nature
We took the question of whether the same animals, insects and plants can still be found at the Fleckenbach today as five years ago as an opportunity to explore the riparian zones again. This gave our youngest children in particular an insight into our regional nature. Because only those who know and love the environment will appreciate and protect it in the long term. From butterflies to water snails and water scorpions, we encountered numerous insects, which Maike Hoberg (Deputy Managing Director of the Naturschutzstiftung Emsland) introduced in detail, especially to our youngest participants. This enabled us to answer the question 'Who lives in the Fleckenbach?' together. For their diligent research and newly acquired knowledge, our youngest participants also received a certificate at the end, which encourages them to use their findings to protect our native flora and fauna.
Child-friendly books about local flora and fauna
Unlike in previous years, we are realizing several projects with the Emsland Nature Conservation Foundation this year. The landing net campaign is already the second project that we have implemented together this year. On Friday. September 13, we also handed over the new edition of a children's book about the local flora and fauna to first and third graders in the region. We supported the production of this book for the first time in 2020. Since then, the books, with child-friendly illustrations, have been teaching children about the local flora and fauna. Which is why the Fleckenbach has also found its place in the new edition for third-graders and will hopefully look familiar to the participants of our landing net event in a few years when they open the book themselves.