Heinz Sielmann Foundation

Description

The Heinz Sielmann Foundation is a German charitable nature conservation foundation based in Duderstadt.

It was founded in 1994 by wildlife filmmaker Heinz Sielmann and his wife Inge to protect natural habitats and species diversity. It buys and manages large landscapes across Germany, called Sielmanns Naturlandschaften, to preserve biotopes and connect habitats for wildlife. It also runs nature discovery centres, such as Gut Herbigshagen, Wanninchen and the Doeberitzer Heide, offering environmental education programmes especially for children and young people.

The foundation acts as a funding body, supporting nature and environmental projects outside government programmes, mainly in Germany and in individual cases abroad where the subject directly concerns nature and environmental issues. It confers awards for outstanding conservation work, including the Heinz Sielmann Honorary Prize, the German Biodiversity Award, the Heinz Sielmann Film Prize and a youth film prize. It also preserves Heinz Sielmann’s archive of nature photographs and films.