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Life Is Returning!

A biotope is the smallest spatial unit in landscape ecology. From its etymology, "biotope" basically means "place of life."
In our civilized world, these habitats for plants and animals have disappeared more and more through paving, industrialization and intensive agriculture. The decline in species marches relentlessly forward; the list of endangered species grows and grows. It is not only the loss of land area for habitats that plays a role in this, but also the isolation of individual biotopes. Animals are pushed back into the smallest land islands; the possiblities for seeking food, for procreating or getting through winter are limited.
Therefore, with the revision of the German Nature Protection Law in 2002, the German states became obligated "to creat a network of connected biotopes that should encompass at least ten percent of their land area." (Nature Protection Law, §3)

On the land of peace, initiated by the International Gabriele Foundation, this requirement of the German Nature Protection Law is already reality: A large connective biotope system consisting of hedges, woods and wetland and stone biotopes has been developed - and life is returning!

Hardly has a Benjes hedge been set up consisting of dry branches and brush, in order to plant young trees and bushes in its protection, when birds are already sitting on the branches the next day. And they aren't the only ones who rejoice over the newly planted hedge: hares, hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, countless insect species, butterflies, beetles, bees - they all find living space, protection and food in the hedge. Shy animals like deer can also cross meadows well protected along the hedges and move from one wooded area to another. The hedges connect various habitats, thus fulfilling an important task in the connective biotope system. 

During the last five decades, circa 70-80% of standing bodies of water has disappeared - with fatal consequences; Many dragonfly and amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Free-living animals like deer or birds must often travel a long way to quench their thirst. The wetland biotopes that have been created on the land of peace are thus a true blessing for the animals. Wild ducks, birds, insects and amphibians have a place to live again - and when it's warm, anyone sitting on a bench at the edge of a pond will be able to rejoice at the whirring of dragonflies, the croaking of frogs, and the cheerfull quacking of ducklings.

Stone biotopes are sun terraces for lizards and butterflies. Small mammals like mice or weasels also love the piles of stones with their many hiding places and nooks.
During the cold season, animals also find frost-free shelter in these hollow places. For example, frogs and toads have set up their winter quarters here.
The stones used to create these biotopes on the land of peace are locally found shell limestone.

The succession fields on the land of peace are left totally to themselves: Nothing is sown, mowed or watered. Gradually, those grasses and bushes move in that are particularly suited to the respective locations. As the years go by, higher bushes grow; the area becomes scrubby and turns into a “succession area of pre-woods.”
Very gradually this pre-woods transforms into a woods: maple, oak and beech trees settle in. These succession fields make many animals happy: Countless insects buzz around; birds find lots of seeds in the grasses and bushes; Field hares have their habitat and squirrels bury their winter supplies.

The woods are an area of retreat for many animals that are also at home in the connective biotope system: hedgehogs, martins, badgers, hares, wild pigs and deer. And the birds love to strike up a concert together in the treetops. There are feeding stations and nesting boxes provided for the birds everywhere in the woods on the land of peace – so there is enough food for all.

Each hedge in the connective biotope system is bordered by a strip of flowers and grasses, partly sown specifically by the farmers, to promote the variety of insects. Many wild bees buzz about here, along with the most varying kinds of beetles and butterflies. These little animals not only increase the diversity of  species, they also keep the pests under control in the fields. These field edges and flower borders are especially favored by ground-breeding birds such as field larks. There, they can bring up their young, protected by all kinds of herbs, grasses and flowers.

A few years after being planted, the small groves of trees in the fields near the hedges are now little woods, in which free living animals find protection and shelter. On the land of peace, these planted areas consist of a large variety of trees and bushes, which, in turn, shelter a diversity of small and tiny visitors:
Linden, cherry, oak, hornbeam, ash, mountain ash and white hawthorn were planted, combined with a protective layer of shrubs, which include blackthorn, elderberry, wild roses, sea buckthorn or hazelnut. Here, you can see many squirrels along with such birds as nut-hatches, tree creepers, turtledoves or collared doves …

The fallow fields in peaceable farming are an important part of the connective biotope system on the land of peace. Every third year, the fields, which lie between the hedges, have a fallow year to regenerate. Herb mixtures are planted in some places that may include clover, mustard, phacelia, vetches and peas, which condition the soil. In summer countless bees buzz about these often brightly colorful fields. Butterflies such as swallowtails, the marbled white, and various gossamer-winged butterflies dance about, and birds peck at their favorite seeds.