The Erlangen Conservation Association (NGE) was founded in 1994 by members of a ‘pond group’ that has been working since the 1980s to protect amphibians and their habitats. The role of the association has steadily expanded over the years.

For example, the NGE now looks after areas of ecological significance, developing and implementing concepts to protect them. The association’s dedicated members network biotopes, develop concepts to support specific species, and carry out measures for the protection of amphibians. The NGE devotes much of its time to the ‘Weihergrundstück Nature Experience Center’, where visitors can see and learn about a wide range of local habitats, plants and animals. As part of its ‘Green Classroom’ program, the NGE offers guided tours and events for kindergartens and schools, during which children can experience local amphibians and reptiles in enclosures and aquariums.

The employees at the Drees & Sommer regional office in Nuremberg decided to roll up their sleeves to help. In September, the time had finally come: Wolfgang Maisel from Drees & Sommer, who is also the first Chairman of the NGE, first guided his colleagues through the "Weihergrundstück Nature Experience Center". In addition to various amphibians such as yellow-bellied toads, tree frogs and fire salamanders, they discovered European pond turtles and could even observe a kingfisher at the pond.
After this discovery tour through nature, they went to work: The dresos replaced defective crossbars on a fence, removed the topsoil in preparation for a planned flower-dry lawn meadow, painted the façade of the wall at the entrance to the property and installed the metal frame for the new cover of the toad enclosure.