In the years 1993 and 1994, the Naturefriends International “Landscape of the Year” revolved around the Oder Delta at the border of Germany and Poland. On 17 May 2014, 20 years after the official end of the project, many former stakeholders met for a commemorative meeting, among them Herbert Brückner, former president and now honorary president of NFI. 

The central element of the meeting was crossing the bridge over the Torfkanal channel in Kamminke/Wydrzany, directly at the border between Germany (island of Usedom) and Poland (area surrounding the city of Świnoujście/Swinemünde). 

This was the location where, in May 1993, after surmounting tremendous administrative obstacles, a makeshift bridge had been established for the opening of the Landscape of the Year. This bridge brought the opening event within walking distance of the Polish participants. At the time, Naturefriends had promised “to re-erect this bridge again and again, until the day that it will be erected for good”, which they wrote down in a list of demands. 

Nowadays, this bridge really does exist. Two ash trees, which were planted in 1993 on both sides of the border, and a commemorative stone keep the memory of the proclamation event of the Landscape of the Year alive. The Naturefriends Landscape of the Year Oder Delta set a lot in motion – at a point in time in which it hadn’t been long since the fall of the “walls” between Eastern and Western Europe.