History in details 

1965 to 1969: Foundation of Alsace Nature

• 20th of March 1965: General Assembly of the Regional Federative Association for Environmental Protection (Assemblée Générale constitutive de l’Association Fédérative Régionale pour la Protection de la Nature) Professor MARESQUELLE becomes the first Chairman and Doctor ULRICH the first Vice-president
• 1966 : Installation of a peregrine falcon monitoring station.
• 1967 : The Rhinau-Daubensand site is classified in the sites inventory
• 1968 : Creation of the French Federation of Environmental Protection Societies (Fédération Française des Sociétés de Protection de la Nature), later to become France Nature Environnement.
• 1969 : Alluvial environment alongside the Rhine River is being destroyed at a high pace and the replotting of the land preoccupies the federation.  
  

1970 to 1979: A period of controversy                                                                      

• 1970 :  Beginning of the protest against the establishment of the nuclear power plant in Fessenheim.
• 1971 : Creation of the first Sector-based groups, Beavers are back on the Doller river bank.
• 1972 : First legal action against a polluting industry in Bouxwiller.
• 1973 : Tourist development project in Marckstein jeopardizes The Vosges Mountains.
• 1974 : Field occupation in order to protest against the establishment of chemical plant by the Chemische-Werke-München (CWM) in Marckolsheim. First successful cross-border cooperation between citizens.  This would not be the only success of the association; Alsatian and German citizens prevented the establishment of a nuclear power plant in Wyhl.
• 1975 : Project to build a high clearance canal to join the Rhin River with the Rhône River.
• 1976 : Demonstration (3000 participants) for the conservation of the Rhineland’s forests which saved current site of Offendorf Nature Reserve from land clearing. That same year the Conservatoire des Sites Alsaciens and the Maison de la Nature de Muttersholz see a glimmer of hope thanks to the Regional Federative Association’s General Assembly for Environmental Protection (AFRPN) . In 1976 the first "Nature” Law  is passed.
• 1977 : The AFRPN denounces the gravel pits scandal stuffed with waste and strongly (9000 interventions) shows  its disagreement in the public survey concerning the Rhin-Rhône Canal.
• 1978 : Successful intervention against the Ottrott bypass but  failure to prevent the Selestat bypass.
• 1979 : Beginning of the classification procedure for the Little Camargue, for the Ried Centre Alsace (we are still waiting for it!!!) and for the Rhinau-Daubensand.  The Hautes-Vosges Mountains are continuously subjected to an oversized tourist and agriculture activity leading much to the dismay of the Capercaillie…  
  

1980 to 1989: The fight against pollution                                                                    

• 1980 : The AFRPN actively takes part in a number of consultation committees which are not necessarily “pro nature”.
• 1981 : The AFRPN deals with the interconnection point of Marckolsheim whereas EDF (Electricité de France) completely ignores  the suggestion to reinforce the existing network.
• 1982 : The AFRPN uncovers an enormous scandal; 52 000 tones of toxic waste being clandestinely dumped  in the rubbish dumps and in the gravel pits of the Bas-Rhin (Lower Rhine).  The Ried Centre Alsace drinking water is being slowly but surely contaminated by agriculture-related nitrates and is proportional to corn spread.
• 1983 : The reintroduction of the lynx in the Vosges Mountains stands in the light of the Biotope Protection Order signed in Bas Rhin (the heronry of Beinheim)
• 1984 : Important demonstration in order to prevent the recalibration and canalization of the ILL River.  The AFRPN creates a network of representatives to supervise the Land Use Plans (Plans d’Occupation des Sols  - the POS) which have become the Local Urbanism Plan (Plans Locaux d’Urbanisme - the PLU)
• 1985 : The AFRPN organizes in Strasbourg the 2nd International Conference against forest degradation and atmospheric pollution.
• 1986 : Chernobyl’s radioactive cloud gets to the Franco-German border and stops there (!!!) Sandoz fire heavily pollutes the Rhine
• 1987 : About thirty projects of golf courses emerge in Alsace, few of them have seen the light of day and the golf course project in Sommerau Commune is still being discussed.
• 1988 : Thanks to the l’AFRPN’s intervention, the “chaos granitique” (a natural heritage site) situated in Dieffenthal was saved from a hotel development project.
• 1989 : Creation of the nature reserves of the following sites: Grand Ventron, Erstein, Offendorf. A project concerning the installation of an industrial waste incinerator in Kehl mobilises both the AFRPN and the associations from Baden. Launching of the first training for the Guides Nature, and the first Dimanches Nature.       

1990 to 1999: Environmental protection                                                                       

• 1990 : Signature of the Marckolsheim Agreements devoted to the protection and conservation of Rhineland’s forests.
• 1991 : The AFRPN becomes Alsace Nature. Significant mobilization of volunteers concerning 23 public surveys for the classification of the Rhineland’s forests as protected forests.
• 1992 : Launching of a Tomme du Ried in order to protect the prairies from corn cultivation! The emergence of the Stocamine project and the environmental protection associations are concerned about the waste disposal in Bergheim.
• 1993 : The launching of Alsace Nature’s federal campaigns and environmental restoration programs.
• 1994 : A federal campaign « Parc National des Vosges » (National Parc of the Vosges Mountains) is at his height and the book « Vosges sauvages, pour un Parc National » (« Wild Vosges Mountains, in favour of a national parc »). Alsace Nature is recognized as a public utility association.
• 1995 : An amazing obstinacy against Navigation Service finally paid off concerning the project of a polder in Erstein. It is finally recognized  as a system able to create ecological floods of the Rhine River in this forest.
• 1996 : After a difficult struggle against some dangerous demagogical corporatism, Frankenthal-Missheimlé is classified as a Nature Reserve. A demonstration against the establishment of DHL company in the Strasbourg-Entzheim airport bring together 15 000 people.  Nature 2000 strongly concerns Alsace Nature.
• 1997 : The Bioscope project (a theme park that focuses on is abandoned). David’s victory over Goliath after a 20 years’ struggle !
• 1998 : Professionalization of Alsace Nature: employment of 8 young employees.  After long negotiations, a Nature Reserve in the Delta de la Sauer is created.
• 1999 : Reintroduction of beavers in the Ried of Selestat.  Alsace Nature wins a lawsuit against the project of clearing 2 ha of Marckolsheim’s forest: the Marckolsheim Agreements are respected.  cf 1990)                                                                                                
  

2000 to 2006: Citizen mobilization                                                                             

• 2000 : Victory against the building of a Center Park in the heart of the Niederlauterbach’s forest and the cancellation of the Declaration of Public Utility of the deviation of the main road RN66. The storm of December 1999 obligates the Office Nationals des Forêts to manage the forests in a more natural way.  A mobile press conference “la route de la pollution en Alsace du Nord” (pollution-road in the North of Alsace) discovers 3 companies which pollute the environment.
• 2001 : Road construction projects thrive in Alsace, the Alsatian road octopus has begun. There will be lots of work!
• 2002 : Stocamine society catches fire and the final waste resurfaces (the final waste was dumped in the old National Potash Mines of Alsace Mines domaniales de potasse d’Alsace in Wittelsheim):
• 2003 : An increase in “motorized leisure activities”… Alsace Nature wins the cancellation of the Declaration of Public Utility of VLIO (Voie de Liaison Intercommunautaire)   The mobilization against a planned bypass in the west of the agglomeration (GCO - Grand Contournement Ouest) swells : 2000 people attend the demonstration!
• 2004 : Legal recognition of the actions led by associations against the land regroupement decisions in the Kintzheim dossier. On the one hand Alsace Nature manages to cancel the Master Plan « Colmar-Rhin-Vosges » which planned an excessive urbanization at the expense of sensitive natural areas and flooding areas, but on the other hand it loses its fight against the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines tunnel.
• 2005 : Alsace Nature celebrates it’s 40th anniversary and issues « Alsace 2045 : 40 propositions pour l’action collective » (Alsace 2045 : 40 proposals for collective action). Hubert Reeves pays tribute to Alsace Nature’s achievements.  A corporate association makes the Capercaillie the symbol of the wellbeing of the Vosges Mountains.
• 2006 : On the initiative of the union « élus-associations-agriculteurs » (elected members – associations – farmers), the most important demonstration against the GCO took place in Strasbourg and constituted an exemplary popular demonstration. In Ostwald the citizens occupied a cabin at the top of a poplar tree to protest against the extension of the tramline which would encourage the use of automobiles and further destroy urban green-spaces.