Peter Rüther - Chairman of the EuroNatur Board of Trustees
Peter Rüther was elected Chairman of the EuroNatur Board of Trustees in December 2015, taking over the post from Dr. Heidrun Kleinert who had declared her resignation in October 2015. It was on long walks through the Weserbergland, the country he grew up in, that he discovered how important Nature was for him and became an active nature conservationist. He later chose to make this passion his life work.
After his studies in biology at Bielefeld and Göttingen he worked first of all for the Bielefeld Wasserschutzamt (Water Protection) until he moved in 1992 to become head of the Senne Biological Station (now Senne-Paderborn Biological Station), a post he continues to fill. His field here with his small full-time staff and many volunteers is very varied. It ranges from the plains of the Westphalian bay with its many wetland meadows and the wide variety of habitats of the Senne to the Teutoburger Forest and Egge Mountains. „In particular it is the cultural landscapes that have appealed to me. Linking the needs of human beings and nature is a very real concern of mine“, he says.
This is a motto that is central also to his task as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Among the members of the Board are specialists in nature conservation but also entrepreneurs, politicians, scientists and creative artists. It is an explicit goal of Peter Rüther to make good use of this wide range of competence and know-how in the service of EuroNatur and of the protection of species-rich cultural and natural landscapes in Europe.
