The Landesbund für Vogelschutz (LBV) likes to boast of being Bavaria’s oldest nature conservation organization. In fact, its history dates back to 1909, making the LBV four years older than the Bund Naturschutz. The LBV was founded by Prince Regent Luitpold as the “State Authorized Commission for Bird Protection in Royal Bavaria”. On Monday, the head of the LBV, Norbert Schäffer, and the director of the main state archive in Munich, Bernhard Grau, signed a so-called archiving agreement. The main state archive thus takes over the complete historical files and other correspondence of the LBV. The history of the association is to be preserved for posterity and made accessible to the public. “The inclusion of the LBV in the main state archive shows the important role played by environmental organizations in Bavaria,” said Schäffer. “For us, the interest of the main state archives and the contract are a great recognition.”
For most of its 113-year history, the LBV has worked in the background and strictly limited itself to the protection of bird life. Only under Schäffer, who has been at the head of the LBV since 2014, did he become politicized. Most recently, for example, he was involved in the “People’s petition for biodiversity – save the bees” and in the fight against the ski area on the Riedberger Horn. The LBV currently has 110,000 members and supporters.