With an area of over 400 hectares, the irrigated meadows along the Queich are currently the largest contiguous traditionally irrigated meadow area in Germany. The Queich meadows are also one of the largest still active meadow irrigation systems in Europe.
It is very remarkable that in two of the seven municipalities involved, in Offenbach and Ottersheim, over 200 hectares have been irrigated in the traditional way since the Middle Ages to this day. Irrigation in the other municipalities had been gradually abandoned since the middle of the last century, but was reactivated around and after the turn of the millennium. The Queichwiesen are managed according to a superordinate irrigation calendar, which the user and protection association, the Queichwiesen Interest Group, has implemented in an up-to-date set of rules based on old models. Farmers still recognise the agricultural benefits of the water meadows, and nature and landscape conservation has imaginatively combined the maintenance of the traditional irrigation culture with new values. The outstanding commitment and collaborative approach of the predominantly local organisations are exemplary.
Read more and discover:
Book volume (in German): Traditionelle Bewässerung – ein Kulturerbe Europas, Band 2, Regional Documentation
Queichwiesen website, www.queichwiesen.de
Bornheim Stork Center, pfalzstorch.de/storchenzentrum
Queichwiesen interest group
queichwiesen.de/ig-queichwiesen/
Queichwiesen: © Pirmin Hilsendegen