Today, I had the opportunity to participate in a very special project together with eleven colleagues from the Cube Based Reporting & Analytics department at Erste Group Services GmbH: a maintenance assignment in the Baden spa gardens, organised by the landscape conservation association (Landschaftspflegeverein). We were accompanied by two dedicated biologists, Irene and Felix, as well as an intern – and I can only say: it was an enriching day all round!

We started at 9 a.m. at the Rudolfshof car park, where we briefly introduced ourselves. Then we continued on foot to Karolinen-Höhe. There we were given an exciting introduction to the history of the spa gardens and the special features of the dry grasslands. I was surprised at how diverse and worthy of protection these habitats are – and how important regular maintenance work is for preserving biodiversity.

After a brief rain shower, we got started: we were divided into two groups – the ‘loppers’ group took care of cutting back small trees, while we in the ‘cramps’ group removed shrubs such as lilacs and privet, roots and all. It was physically demanding, but also incredibly satisfying to see how much we had achieved together in such a short time.

The visit by Hermann Zimmermann from Stadtgärten Baden was particularly nice, as he personally thanked us for our efforts. Of course, we couldn't miss the opportunity to take a group photo!

Our work was finished by around 1 p.m. – with visible success: the area was much more open, and we all felt that we had contributed something meaningful. In addition to landscape conservation, we also gained a lot as a team – new impressions, a stronger sense of community and a deeper awareness of nature conservation.

A big thank you to the team from the landscape conservation association for their great support on site. It was informative, warm and really fun!

I can really recommend such an assignment to everyone – it feels really good.

Author: Christina Sulzer