Rivers and Streams
If you happen to see a beautiful Kingfisher in action you can be sure that the water is clean and fish is plentiful. And where our watercourses are perfectly intact one might even find otters or beavers. Along rivers that have been left alone alluvial forests have developed. They are the last remnants of the Central European wilderness. However, in Germany, Austria, Luxemburg and Switzerland only about 10 percent of streams and rivers are allowed to flow naturally. All others have been straightened, channelled, cast in concrete beds, or culverted. Massive efforts are required to give our rivers - the linking veins in our landscapes - more room again. Such renaturalisation measures and clean water would allow the salmon and other delicious fish species to return to our rivers and streams.
