Quarzwerke

Objective

The renaturation of the Silica Sand quarry to make a suitable habitat for the fauna and flora of the area.

Context

The quartz sand quarry Frechen lies in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, which has a rather small share of forest with eleven percent of its area. For forest dwellers there is therefore little room for suitable quarters. Quarzwerke has been quarrying quartz in Frechen for 128 years and started reforestation in the 1920s. Meanwhile, over 100 hectares were renatured, about 60 percent with forest trees (deciduous forest). The renatured forest is in some areas 60 years old, so still too young for old forest inhabitants. With targeted measures, quartz plants have systematically begun to upgrade the renatured forest and let it appear "older". Various measures intermesh with each other and will increasingly attract old forest species such as bats, salamanders, mountain newts, woodpeckers and common toads into the young forest.

Actions

A new forestry concept, bat summer and winter quarters, numerous deadwood trunks, forest ponds, an amphibious tunnel and a bat cave.

Result

The old woodland comprises 580 types of plants and a broad diversity of animals from salamanders to bats.

Partners

Local amphibian experts.