Elbtalaue National Park

The Elbtalaue National Park was a German national park along the Elbe between Schnackenburg in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district and Bleckede -Radegast in the Lüneburg district in Lower Saxony that existed for just under a year. It was set up in 1998, but dissolved again in 1999 following a regulatory review application .

The area

The national park area had a size of 10,900  hectares , of which about 6600 hectares were forests , moors , swamps , bodies of water and about 4000 hectares of grassland . It followed the course of the Elbe over a length of a good 50 km between Wittenberge and Lauenburg (the districts affected by the national park were: Duchy of Lauenburg , Lüneburg , Lüchow-Dannenberg , Ludwigslust , Prignitz ) and a width of mostly around 2 km.

The former national park area is now the Lower Saxony Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve, embedded in the 375,000 hectare Elbe River Landscape Biosphere Reserve , which was recognized by UNESCO in 1997.

natural reserve

The lower Elbe valley floodplain is a dynamic and varied floodplain landscape, in which many natural and near-natural landscape elements have been preserved despite centuries of human activity. Regular spring and summer floods shape the landscape and the area is a stock of several hundred rare and endangered animal - and plant species very rich in species . The relative lack of disturbance and traffic in the floodplains as part of the former inner-German border is of particular ecological importance, especially for 150 different bird species that breed there and many migratory birds . Also, otters and beavers are found on the Elbe.

The Elbe sometimes meanders in wide loops with floodplains up to 3 km wide. The floodplains therefore play a major role as retention areas in ecological flood protection .

The court ruling

On January 15, 1998, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) announced that the planned national park did not meet the nature conservation requirements. Nevertheless, the "Elbtalaue" National Park Ordinance of the Lower Saxony state government came into force on March 6, 1998. On June 5, 1998 , a couple of farmers then submitted an application for regulatory control, as they saw their existence as threatened by restrictions on use. The main reason for the application was that the national park contradicts the requirements of the Lower Saxony Nature Conservation Act, since the area is not an “area that is not or only little influenced by humans”, but a cultural landscape . On February 22, 1999, the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg (OVG Lüneburg) declared the National Park Ordinance null and void. The 6th Senate of the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) finally followed this judgment with a decision on September 10, 1999.

Web links

• MDR: In the protected area of ​​the lower Elbe Valley ( Memento from October 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• rivernet: Elbe valley as a world heritage
• Kommunale AG Biosphere Reserve Elbe River Landscape
• Eckart Krüger (board member of the BUND district group Lüchow-Dannenberg) on ​​the court judgment of the OVG Lüneburg
• Monika Griefahn (Member of the Bundestag) on ​​the court judgment of the OVG Lüneburg short interview in the magazine zero , 51 from April 1, 1999

Individual evidence

1. ↑ BMU press release 4/98 S of January 15, 1998 - "Planned Elbtalaue National Park does not meet nature conservation requirements"
2. ↑ OVG 3 K 2630/98 OVG Lüneburg of 22 February 1999 - Invalidity of the Regulation on the National Park "Elbtalaue"
3. ↑ BVerwG press release of September 16, 1999 "National Park Elbtalaue failed" (BVerwG 6 BN 1.99) ( Memento of the original of October 13, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.