In mid September, we, the DKKV’s Young Professionals came together for a weekend to hold their annual meeting, which took place in the Harz. With a diverse program of excursions and talks, this time the meeting was dedicated to the topics of drought and its consequences such as #vegetation fires and adaptation. During a guided tour around the Oder reservoir, we obtained various insights into the management of the reservoir and received information on how they handle exceptionally high and low water levels there. After exciting presentations by district fire chief Uwe Fricke from the district of Goslar as well as Kai Bauer and Dr. Roland Pietsch from the Harz National Park about vegetation fires, their control as well as the health of the forest in the Harz Mountains, we could make our own impressions of the situation on a hike over the Achtermannshöhe to the Brocken.
Besides the thematic discussions and networking, there was also room to reflect the developments and activities of the Young Professionals in the past year as well as to discuss new ideas and perspectives. Overall, it was a very informative and productive meeting, during which not only everyone expanded his/her horizons and networked, but which was also always open and constructive in order to make progress for the Young Professionals community. But most of all, the joint weekend was a lot of fun! A detailed report will follow in the next newsletter. We look forward to the next projects!