Company excursion to a nature conservation project – corsus on the Elbe island of Krautsand

On the bike and off into nature! This year, for the annual company excursion the corsus employees went by bike to the Elbe island Krautsand.

The Elbe island of Krautsand in the district of Stade is located in the freshwater area of the Tideelbe, on the border to the brackish water zone. There, fruit farms, cattle pastures, nature reserves, the extensive landscape conservation area “Kehdinger Marsch”, harbors, sandy beaches, mudflats and the Elbe ferry from Wischhafen to Glückstadt meet. Krautsand is surrounded by the Wischafener Süderelbe and the Ruthenstrom, two tributaries of the Tideelbe, which flows into the North Sea a few kilometers downstream. Due to the special, tidal-dependent confluence of fresh and salt water, Krautsand is part of the Elbe estuary with valuable tide-influenced habitats. This results in rare habitats such as freshwater mudflats with tidal creeks and shallow water zones, freshwater tidal reed beds and tidal floodplain forests. For some time now, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has been working to preserve the biodiversity of Krautsand as project sponsor within the framework of the Krautsand large-scale nature conservation project. The focus is on maintaining and restoring a favorable conservation status of the Natura 2000 protected areas. These include the estuarine habitat type, the aquatic and terrestrial areas or the breeding and visiting bird species. In 2020, corsus was commissioned with the process support and the moderation procedure of the large-scale nature conservation project Krautsand and has since accompanied the progress of the project in different settings.

What could be more obvious than to take a look at the area together with all employees and to talk to a farmer from Krautsand about his perspectives on nature conservation and agriculture. The destination was the dairy farm of trust farmer Hans-Heinrich Leidecker. The project manager of the large-scale nature conservation project Beatrice Claus of the WWF was also present. A tour of the farm, followed by coffee and cake, rounded off the visit. The company outing was therefore not only sporty, but also highly informative. The return journey was by Elbe ferry from Wischhafen to Glückstadt and then by train to Hamburg. The direct experience of such a fantastic landscape and the discussions on site are valuable insights that we can take with us into the further monitoring of the project.

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