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District Administrator Allgaier: "Successful project for local history and nature conservation" - Water buffalo have been grazing in the Bottwara floodplain for five years

For many cyclists, hikers and walkers, they have become a natural part of the landscape: the water buffalo in the Bottwara floodplain. They have been grazing there for five years. District Administrator Dietmar Allgaier paid tribute to the project and paid the buffalo a visit.

A group of seven men stands in a grassy field, holding sticks and smiling. They are surrounded by tall grass, with a few water buffalo grazing in the background. The scene conveys a sense of community and engagement with nature.

For five years now, the water buffalo in the Bottwara floodplain have been contributing to landscape diversity and climate protection. District Administrator Dietmar Allgaier (3rd from right) congratulated the buffalo managers Uli Weigle (1st from left), Gerhard Fahr (2nd from left) and Andreas Weigle (right), the initiator Claus-Peter Hutter (3rd from left) as well as the companions Mayor Ralf Zimmermann (2nd from right) and the Director of the Stuttgart Natural History Museum Prof. Dr. Lars Krogmann (center) on the successful project.

"It is thanks to the patient pioneering work and voluntary commitment of the buffalo managers Andreas and Uli Weigle and Gerhard Fahr as well as the initiator Claus-Peter Hutter, President of the NatureLife environmental foundation, and their helpers that the animals are able to carry out their important work for biotope and climate protection as four-legged landscape conservationists," said District Administrator Dietmar Allgaier on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the introduction of the water buffalo. On May 19, 2019, the buffalo were brought from a project in the Lake Constance region to their new home.

A project that sets an example: "Deserves great recognition"

In his congratulatory letter to the four project participants, Allgaier emphasized the complexity of the initiative, which combines practical nature conservation with landscape management, biotope networking, climate protection on the doorstep, environmental education, science transfer as well as home preservation and local recreation. "What has been and is being achieved here by all those involved and a remarkable network from the most diverse areas of society deserves great recognition," emphasized Allgaier. The project and its support from a wide range of sponsors and the town of Großbottwar is known far beyond the district boundaries and serves as a role model, continued the district administrator.

It makes a difference whether grazing projects are realized in remote areas or, as here, in the middle of a conurbation. This has required new alliances, community spirit and even more patience. According to Allgaier, the development of the area so far as a diverse natural habitat for birds such as the common snipe, water rail, whinchat and stonechat, marsh warbler and reed warbler and many other species shows that the effort has paid off.

Grazing project as a contribution to biodiversity and climate protection

Despite the dense population, Allgaier still sees potential for further grazing projects in the district as a contribution to biodiversity and climate protection. "As ecological building blocks for our comprehensive climate protection program, we should now examine all possibilities and implement them if possible. The example of the buffalo pasture in the Bottwartal shows what is possible."

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