BR, 2018, 45 minutes
The Allgäu Mountains around Bad Hindelang are part of the so-called “Gems of the Alps” – a cultural heritage that must be protected. The flora and fauna around this Alpine village are of nearly unequalled uniqueness. Eighty percent of the municipality comprises protected landscape or nature reserve. Bad Hindelang is much more, though, than “just” an encounter with nature. The town made national headlines with its “Eco-model Hindelang” – a unique concept to which Hindelang has strictly adhered for the last thirty years. Local farmers cultivate their fields according to strict organic farming guidelines, thus preserving the original nature of local agriculture, with its typical Buckelwiesen (“hummocky meadows”), colorful carpets of plants, and clear water. The demise of part-time farmers has been largely stopped, thanks to government ecological payments in compensation for region-wide cultural landscape preservation, and the production of quality food.