Tag Archives: Gypsum karst landscape

PHOTO OF THE DAY: "Care" of a fruit tree strip by the company Rigips

By | October 1th 2026
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This is not a suitable mowing method. Credits: pugnalom

COMMENTARY The photo shows a strip of fruit trees between Osterode am Harz and Förste, planted as a so-called compensatory measure by the company Rigips, a subsidiary of the French corporation Saint Gobain, for the expanded open-cast mine in the biodiversity hotspot gypsum karst landscape. It documents not environmentally friendly maintenance, but rather widespread destruction: Under the fruit trees, the entire green area was mowed so deeply with rotary mowers that not only… Read more »

Billion-dollar business with minimum wage: The social and environmental costs of the drywall boom

By | September 29, 2026
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Where orchids once grew: Rump & Salzmann open-cast mine. Credits: Pugnalom

COMMENTARY The boom in drywall construction using gypsum plasterboard is closely linked to precarious working conditions, the use of unskilled labor at low wages, and the rapid expansion of natural gypsum mining in ecologically sensitive regions such as the gypsum karst landscape south of the Harz Mountains. While the major building materials companies Knauf, Saint-Gobain, and Casea generate billions in profits from this raw material, which is extracted from the landscape practically free of charge, and… Read more »

A quality seal for hiking in a depleted landscape: On karst trails and the gypsum industry – a commentary

By | September 24, 2026
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Quality and wonderful? Exploitation along the way. Credits: pugnalom

The Karst Trail, marked practically everywhere south of the Harz Mountains by signs with a red and white background "K", is now being advertised on the association's flyers as a "Quality Trail" of the German Hiking Association. The town and tourism association are using the seal to convey to interested visitors to the region: The trails marked in this way offer hiking bliss in unique natural surroundings; habitats are respected here. In reality, however, they are… Read more »

From protected area to blasting zone: Rump & Salzmann swaps nature conservation signs for forest warning signs – a commentary

By | July 24, 2026
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At the foot of the Blossenberg: R&S replaces nature reserve signs with warning signs about falling branches. Credits: pugnalom

It happened without much fanfare: One by one, the signs in the gypsum karst landscape nature reserve near Ührde disappeared – signs that, among other things, prohibited visitors from disturbing plants and animals or leaving the paths – and just as quietly, the mining company Rump & Salzmann replaced them with signs warning of falling branches. Mind you: These are still… Read more »

Knauf subsidiary Rump & Salzmann: Environmental cynicism on the edge of mining – a commentary

By | July 23, 2026
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Unrivaled cynicism: Rump & Salzmann viewing platform. Credits: pugnalom

What a perfidious spectacle is unfolding here: In the middle of the gypsum karst landscape nature reserve near Ührde/Osterode am Harz, the ground is being blasted away, and where once bee orchids and purple orchids grew, and crested newts and sand lizards frolicked, deep ravines of exposed rock are now emerging. The project, approved in 2015 by the Lower Nature Conservation Authority of Göttingen and spearheaded by BUND Westharz under Dr. Friedhart Knolle and NABU… Read more »

NSG Gipskarstlandschaft near Ührde: How the nature conservation goal of "keeping the landscape open" deprives protected species of their habitat

By | June 30, 2026
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Fatally wrong: Grazing area in the gypsum karst landscape nature reserve near Ührde. Credits: pugnalom.io

In the gypsum karst landscape near Ührde, improper grazing with sheep is causing significant damage to the vegetation. The photo shows grazed flowers and herbs, as well as trampled remains of tough grasses. Sheep are highly selective feeders: they initially prefer the uppermost parts of plants and especially the flower heads of nutrient-rich species. These include, in addition to the strictly protected marsh orchids, the lizard orchid, various bee orchid species, the helleborine and common spotted orchid species, and… Read more »

Lower Saxony is destroying what protects Saxony-Anhalt: The betrayal of the South Harz gypsum karst

By | May 30
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Editorial. While Saxony-Anhalt has halted gypsum mining in the South Harz Karst Landscape Biosphere Reserve, Lower Saxony is relentlessly pushing ahead with the destruction of this same unique landscape. The gypsum karst landscape around Osterode near Ührde is unique worldwide – and one of Germany's 30 biodiversity hotspots. Companies like Knauf, Saint-Gobain, and Remondis (via Casea) are systematically destroying it. The BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), under Friedhart Knolle, has called for a partial ban on mining… Read more »

Shredded hedgerows in the nature reserve: Göttingen district disregards its own conservation obligations

By | March 3, 2026
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Destruction instead of care: Use of flail mowers in the Gipskarst nature reserve: Credits: Pugnalom

Crime scene: gypsum karst landscape nature reserve near Ührde. Once again, approximately 600 meters of hedgerow vegetation were cut with a flail mower, this time along a hiking trail across the Rötzel stream. The use of flail mowers on hedgerow vegetation in a nature reserve is hardly justifiable from either a technical or ethical standpoint, because it destroys precisely those structures that protected areas are meant to preserve. Where branches and shoots are cut across the entire area… Read more »

Gypsum karst: Osterode am Harz subsidizes multi-billion-dollar corporations – a commentary

By | February 4, 2026
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Worst whitewash: CASEA poster at Schachtrupp villa Credits: LabNews Media LLC

Osterode am Harz lies on the edge of Central Europe's most important gypsum karst region, designated by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as biodiversity hotspot No. 18 ("Southern Harz Zechstein Belt, Kyffhäuser and Hainleite") – one of only 30 "treasure troves of nature" in Germany. This unique karst landscape with caves, sinkholes, dolines, karst springs, and a high density of endangered species is massively threatened by mining… Read more »

Gypsum company Saint-Gobain swallows Maturix – plus background

By | June 23, 2025
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Credits: pugnalom

Saint-Gobain announces the next step in expanding its digital platform for construction chemicals: The company is acquiring Maturix, a leading provider of real-time monitoring solutions for the concrete industry, based in Denmark. Maturix offers state-of-the-art wireless sensor technology that enables remote, real-time monitoring of concrete properties during the curing and setting process. This allows contractors to optimize their operations and meet traceability requirements… Read more »