Excursion: biodiversity in the Ore Mountains
Hike to Gottesgaber Hochmoor in memory of the artist and conservationist Carl-Heinz Westenburger - Date: Saturday, 4 August, 9 a.m.
The Chemnitz Environmental Centre, Agenda 21 Office and Chemnitzer Künstlerbund, Erzgebirgsverein Tannenberg and BUND Sachsen cordially invite interested citizens to the annual excursion in the name of biodiversity and in memory of Carl-Heinz Westenburger (1924-2008), the initiator of these hikes: The date is Saturday, 4 August - the meeting point for participants in the hike to Gottesgaber Hochmoor is 9 am at Gasthof Tannenberg. Participation is free of charge.
The excursion through the raised bog at Plattner Kunstgraben will be led by Wolfgang Riether, Chairman of BUND Sachsen, and Manfred Hastedt, Head of the Environmental Centre. The area is extraordinarily rich in fauna and flora, especially the acid grass-rich moor meadows with almost metre-high cotton grass stems are rare in this country and scientifically interesting, as many of the boreal plants can only be found in Northern Europe today. The 12.85 km long ditch was created in the 16th century to transport water from the Schwarzwasser near Gottesgab to the tin mines in Platten. As part of the UNESCO World Heritage project "Montanregion Erzgebirge", the Plattner Kunstgraben is one of six focal points in the Czech Ore Mountains.
Background: With the annual art and nature excursion under the banner of biodiversity, the organisers are organising an additional offer for interested parties who have already been involved with the topic of biodiversity for several years, e.g. in the Chemnitz Agenda 21 programme. Together with artists, conservationists and nature lovers, hikes have already been organised to mountain meadows in the Ore Mountains, among other places, in order to get to know the natural beauty and wealth of species on our doorstep. Carl-Heinz Westenburger, who became known as a painter and graphic artist as well as a conservationist, was also a member of the Tannenberg Ore Mountain Association, and the hikes he organised together with artists from Chemnitz, then Karl-Marx-Stadt, have a long tradition that has continued even after his death. An important concern was and is to familiarise city dwellers with the great diversity of species on the outskirts of the city and at the same time the endangered nature of this biodiversity.
Contact: City of Chemnitz/Environmental Centre - Manfred Hastedt, call 0371/488-6177.