Sheep creates landscape

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment is funding the project until 2025 with 5.2 million euros as part of the Federal Program on Biological Diversity. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is providing technical support.

Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "The Werra Valley region with the Hohe Meißner and Kaufunger Forest is a very diverse region, both geologically and in terms of landscape. Habitats with a high level of biological diversity have also been created here as a result of traditional local land use. However, many of the valuable, now rare meager sites in the Werra Valley are endangered, for example by intensive agriculture, abandonment of use and scrub encroachment. With the project 'Sheep Create Landscape', biotope corridors are now to be established through herding sheep. Sheep herding helps to connect valuable sites in the region and thus secure and improve habitat and species diversity."

BfN President Prof. Beate Jessel: "Shepherding sheep has had a particular impact on the unique, small-structured cultural landscape in the Werra Valley and has made a significant contribution to the high level of biodiversity in the region. In the new project, sheep farms are now being supported in establishing sustainable herding sheep husbandry. Sheep corridors are to be better interconnected, and pasture and drift areas are to be maintained and upgraded. Shepherds are involved in the project from the very beginning. The scientific monitoring of the project also ensures that the implemented measures are tested for their success and optimized if necessary. For future projects, these experiences and results will be of great benefit."

The goal of "Sheep Create Landscape" is to preserve the rare habitats of a sustainably managed cultural landscape in the long term. Valuable areas outside protected areas, such as lean meadows, pastures, scattered orchards and roadsides, benefit just as much as rough grasslands and juniper heaths from the maintenance and development of areas suitable for herding sheep. In addition, areas are to be secured for the long term. The sheep drive helps to connect valuable sites in the hotspot region. The Werra Valley is one of the "biodiversity hotspots", which have a particularly high density and diversity of characteristic species, populations and habitats.

The project will also develop strategies for marketing sheep products produced in the hotspot. Support for the marketing of products such as lamb meat, sheep cheese and wool, as well as the planned establishment of a regional network of actors, can make a decisive contribution to sustainable, socially and economically viable sheep farming. The measures are complemented by intensive public relations work and environmental education.

"A project only achieves charisma and exemplary character if the measures initiated prove their worth in the long term. We want to achieve this by bringing together players from science and practice and also letting those who ultimately implement the measures have a say in the decision-making process," says project manager Prof. Dr. Gert Rosenthal. The coordination and project management is carried out by the Department of Landscape and Vegetation Ecology at the University of Kassel. Project partners are the Department of Business Administration of the University of Kassel in Witzenhausen, the Werra-Meißner district and the Geo-Naturpark Frau-Holle-Land.

Contact person:

Anya Wichelhaus (M.Sc.)
Department of Landscape and Vegetation Ecology
Gottschalkstr. 26a
34127 Kassel

Phone: + 49 561 804 7195
E-mail: anya.wichelhaus[at]uni-kassel[dot]de

Web: https://www.schafland17.de/