About us: Milestones

How it all began

Roland Tischbier, founding director and chairman of the Stiftung Pro Artenvielfalt, grew up on a farm in the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz, Bavaria) and so, as a child, was captivated by White Storks, geese, swallows, sparrows and bats - a fascination that continues until today. Throughout his life, even while working in managerial positions in well-known branded goods companies at home and abroad, he devoted every free minute to the protection of wild animals and the preservation of biodiversity. But that was not enough ...

To start with, it was just an idea among good friends who - like Roland Tischbier - had been committed to nature conservation in various ways for decades. They were convinced that there had to be a more direct and satisfying course, competent, forward-looking and above all effective, with specific regional species protection projects to counteract the continuing extinction of species ...

2002

Inspired by this idea, the love of nature and zest for action, the non-profit organization DieTierPaten gGmbH (The Wildlife Sponsors) is founded together with a friend, to recruit the financial support of like-minded people for wildlife in need and the preservation of biodiversity.

Roland Tischbier is the founding partner and CEO.

2005

To give injured and helpless wildlife the chance of a second life in freedom, the non-profit organization begins with the financial support of the existing voluntary rescue stations for Common Swifts in Frankfurt / Main and hedgehogs in Kirchwald / Eifel.

2007

The concept of species protection towers as regional life rafts for wildlife species inhabiting buildings is born. It is based on the future-oriented reuse of decommissioned transformer tower stations and other disused farm buildings.

On July 16, 2007, the first species protection tower in Wünschendorf / Elster OT Untitz, East Thuringia, is opened for habitation by protected species, in the presence of a large gathering of kindergarten children, school classes, the interested local population and the media.

2008

For the long-term security of the biotopes and properties for species protection acquired with donations and, last but not least, at the request of many long-term donors, the Stiftung Pro Artenvielfalt is set up with their financial support. The total assets of the non-profit organization DieTierPaten gGmbH is to be transferred to the Foundation with the consent of all previous donors. DieTierPaten gGmbH is to be liquidated (terminated) after the statutory period has expired, in compliance with all formal requirements.

The legally defined unique selling point of foundations is their "eternal character". This means that the foundation capital must be preserved in the long term, and the purpose of the foundation, once defined in writing and approved by the tax office and the foundation authority, may no longer be altered. The foundation's work, which is recognised as charitable by the annual exemption notification from the responsible tax office, is financed from income from the foundation's capital, tax-exempt donations and bequests (inheritances).

2009

Based on a project cooperation agreement with the Nature Park Administration Barnim, Wandlitz, Brandenburg, our Foundation begins with the large-scale land purchase project Finowtal near Biesenthal, Barnim District. This project aims to protect the meadow bird species and their fen habitat that are endangered in many areas and, with the support of many donors, our Foundation acquires the first fen property areas.

In a bidding process in the Thuringian Forest, we acquire an approximately 5-hectare dry grassland juniper biotope. With its unique variety of flowering plants and butterflies, this nutrient-poor dry slope is one of Germany's most threatened biotope types.

2010

With the actor and environmental activist Hannes Jaenicke's support, the strategically oriented international migratory bird protection campaign STOP dem Vogelmord® (STOP Bird Slaughter) is launched. The aim is to inform the public and the political institutions responsible for nature conservation in the Republic of Cyprus, Germany, and at the EU in Brussels of the millionfold bird murder practised in the Republic of Cyprus. It also highlights the massive violations of the 1979 EU Birds Directive, ratified and in force in the Republic of Cyprus. The intention of the campaign is to maintain sustained pressure on the responsible authorities to take effective action.

As a directly effective instrument against illegal bird slaughter at the hotspots in Cyprus and Sardinia, international bird protection camps are conducted during spring and autumn bird migration together with our cooperation partner Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), Bonn.

2011

Our Foundation receives three nature conservation project areas free of charge from the National Natural Heritage property programme (Nationales Naturerbe, NNE) of the Federal Republic of Germany. The areas of the landscape and large-scale biotopes classified as particularly worthy of protection for nature and biodiversity are to be transferred to state foundations, recognised nature conservation associations and private foundations under sustainable conditions as part of the privatisation of properties from the former 'public property of the GDR'.

2012

In close coordination with the Lower Nature Conservation Authority of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen District Office, our Foundation purchases almost 9 hectares of pre-alpine mixed mountain forest on the Buchrain mountain in the Herzogstand-Heimgarten massif above Ohlstadt and nearly 4 hectares of the ecologically most valuable low moor stream meadows in the Murnauer Moos nature reserve.

2013

For the long-term protection of the migratory bird species that use the Central European bird migration route, our Foundation is expanding its commitment to buying land in Sicily. The central bird migration route is used by more than 110 bird species from Northern and Central Europe and passes over the Alps and along the Italian coastline before crossing the Strait of Messina to Sicily. From here, it traverses the Mediterranean to the North African coast. In a court bidding process in Siracusa (Sicily), our foundation purchases the Pantano Cuba lagoon on the southeast coast of Sicily.

2014

Our Foundation purchases an approximately 1.7-hectare property from the Thuringian Fernwasser AöR, Erfurt in Dörtendorf, Greiz District, East Thuringia. The property is no longer required for their operational purposes, and the disused filter backwash water treatment building is planned for demolition. It is restored as Europe's largest species protection building for wildlife species inhabiting buildings.

2015

With the support of many thousands of motivated donors, our Foundation is developing its land purchases in the meadow bird protection project Finowtal, Brandenburg and in the migratory bird sanctuary Pantano Cuba in Sicily and begins purchase negotiations for the neighbouring lagoon Pantano Longarini with the adjoining wet meadowland, covering a total area of approximately 122 hectares (1,220,000 m2).

2017

In the anniversary year 2017, our Foundation's board of directors can look back on a total of 15 successful years in the field of species protection - and, after years of lengthy negotiations, we crown the anniversary year with the purchase of the approximately 9-hectare Lehnssee, located in the centre of the Finowtal project area.

2018

The contractual financing of the purchase price and the ancillary purchase costs of the Pantano Longarini lagoon in the Pantani wetland complex on the southeast coast of Sicily at the cost of almost 1.2 million euros is successfully completed.

2019

In September, our Foundation signs a project promotion agreement with the EU in the framework of the EU-LIFE18 Nature Protection Funding Programme. In the Pantani wetland complex, this funding project strengthens the population of a duck species threatened with extinction throughout Europe, as well as extensive land purchases and their biotope rehabilitation and optimisation measures. The funding project also includes structural measures to promote eco-tourism for nature-interested visitors from Italy and Europe. Our Foundation bears 25% of the costs of the funded project

Also in September, our Foundation signs its largest property purchase agreement in Germany for a total of 36 hectares (360,000 m²) of wetland, swamp forest, hillside forest and dry hillside areas in the Finowtal.

2020

Perseverance is rewarded: in February, our Foundation is able to expand its land ownership in the NSG Jülchendorfer Trockenhänge (Juelchendorfer dry slopes) in Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania by a good 11 hectares to a total of 31 hectares.

Paradises on earth - including natural paradises - have their price! This was brought home to our Foundation when it purchased its fourth property in the tourist area of the Blue Mountains in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen near the Murnauer Moos. The 1.6-hectare Wiesmahd, a pre-alpine flower meadow, has been managed by generations of farmers exclusively for haymaking in late summer, without the use of manure and artificial fertilisers. It is extremely rare, as it is home to 15 butterfly species on the Bavarian Red List and the German Red Lists. A unique survival space. A planned change in land use posed a significant threat to the site.

In our wetland project Lake Estates near Frose, in the Salzland District, Saxony-Anhalt, our Foundation is constructing a birdwatching tower. This is being done in agreement with the subordinate nature conservation authority and at the request of many nature-loving birdwatchers. This wetland is surrounded by intensively managed farmland and is an important stopover, feeding and breeding site for bird species favouring shallow water and reed bed biotopes.

2021

On 1 September 2021, after 830 hours of work on top of the 'normal' workload of the two board members, we complete the new, technically up-to-date and refreshed website, and make it available online for the interested public. This included the review and selection for the website from more than 9,000 excellent photos by Foundation members and friends in our photo archive.

Our thanks go to our homepage supervisor in Bielefeld for his creative proposal for the design of our homepage and his unlimited patience and perseverance in the implementation of our texts and the design of each individual homepage page.

We now plan to complete the English version of the homepage by autumn 2022 to satisfy the curiosity of our English-speaking Foundation friends in Europe and the USA.

2022

For 20 years, we have focused on four main project areas: land purchases, protection of migratory birds, species conservation buildings and wildlife rescue stations. Thanks to fifteen years of intensive public relations and committed project work in Brandenburg, and with the support of dedicated conservationists, we have succeeded in buying two wonderful lakes in the district of Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg, along with some adjacent wetlands, in our anniversary year of 20 years of commitment to species protection. With the purchase of the 78.1 ha (781,000 m²) total area of the Vorder- and Hintersee, our lake property in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has increased to a total of 5 lakes with a total of 120 ha of water surface.

But that's not all: in the middle of the intensively farmed hilly landscape of western Saxony, directly adjacent to the town of Oberlungwitz, our Foundation now owns the 23.4-hectare 'Hirschgrund', an approx. 1.1 km long and up to 200 m wide meadow valley, through which the Hirschgrundbach flows. We have thus succeeded in acquiring our first property in Saxony. We aim to develop this meadow valley, with its diverse structure and the meadow slopes to the east, into a wilderness area with a steadily growing variety of animal and plant species through extensive grazing and using some areas as hay meadows.

The crowning glory of our anniversary year is the launch of our English homepage on 1 November 2022, thanks to the excellent and professional translation work of our good friend Major (Retd) David J. A. Conlin psc., so that our English-speaking friends of our Foundation can now also quench their thirst for knowledge.

2023

Climate change and the increasing frequency of dry spells are making it more and more difficult for wildlife to find the food they need in bodies of water. Many wild animals and birds are often left with no choice but to satisfy their hunger and thirst at artificial fishponds, much to the annoyance of anglers and fish farmers.

With our purchase of the 12-hectare 'Schimmels Teiche' pond complex with nine fishponds near Limbach-Oberfrohna, in the district of Zwickau, in the Free State of Saxony, we can now create an undisturbed paradise for bird species dependent on water, and amphibian and insect species, where, protected by us, they have a safe and undisturbed refuge. No more intensive fish farming, instead native small fish species, ecological restoration of the ponds with new breeding islands, different water depths and species-rich pond planting. An authentic future biotope for up to 230 species of birds, amphibians and insects that depend on the aquatic habitat, which they can all use undisturbed for foraging, resting and reproduction.

2024

The TV and print media have discovered our bold and pioneering species conservation project work. On 17 January 2024, in the WDR3 TV Lokalzeit OWL programme in their studio in Bielefeld, the Foundation's chairman presents the Little Owl protection project in East Westphalia and the bird protection camp work in Southern Europe. Our two species conservation projects on the frontline of bird poaching in southern Europe, the Pantani migratory bird conservation project on the south-east coast of Sicily and our Messina wildlife rescue centre in the Peloritani Mountains on the Strait of Messina, are shown on ARTE-TV on 17 May 2024 at 6:30 pm in the programme 'Sicily - Italy's sunny island in the Mediterranean' and on SWR in the TV film series 'Traumziele' on Sunday, 15 September 2024 at 8:15 pm. In the July 2024 issue of the ornithological journal ‘Der Falke’, the project work of our Pantani migratory bird sanctuary is honoured with an eight-page cover story. It is also featured in the Neue Westfälische Zeitung (NW) Christmas edition in December 2024.