Ahlenmoor

	Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor nature reserve, Halemer / Dahlemer See IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
	The Ahlenmoor in winter
location	North of Bad Bederkesa in the Lower Saxony district of Cuxhaven
surface	2,240 ha
Identifier	NSG LÜ 072 / NSG CUX 007
WDPA ID	64660
Natura 2000 ID	(partly) 018 (partly)
FFH area	2,240 ha
Geographical location	53 ° 41 ′ N , 8 ° 48 ′ E Coordinates: 53 ° 41 ′ 0 " N , 8 ° 47 ′ 30" E
Sea level	from -3 m to 6 m
Setup date	April 7, 1928
administration	NLWKN

The Ahlen Moor , with an area of around 40 square kilometers the largest bog in Cuxhaven heard, and, next to the Devil's Moor , the largest bogs in Lower Saxony . Although the original biotope was badly affected in the course of the 20th century by peat extraction, drainage and settlement, some near-natural raised bog remains can still be found in the Ahlenmoor. These are under nature protection according to the Habitats Directive (92/43 / EEC) and belong to the Europe-wide system of protected areas " Natura 2000 ".

geography

Since the end of the last ice age around 10,000 years ago, some large but shallow bog- edge lakes have emerged in the drainless depressions between the sandy gees and the developing raised bog . The banks of the Dahlem and Halemer lakes (which together have an area of about 190 hectares) are bordered by extensive marshes with reeds and willow bushes. One of the special features of Dahlemer See is that it “wanders with the wind”. While a steep edge about one meter high has formed on the eastern bank, where the lake continuously penetrates the raised bog, the western bank silts up at the same time.

Conservation and use

Aerial view of the Ahlenmoor (in the foreground the campsite at Lake Flögelner )

As early as 1932, a strip of the shore of Lake Dahlem was placed under nature protection. Today both lakes are under protection; Driving on boats is prohibited all year round. In winter, water birds in particular use the lakes as resting areas. In summer, the riverside areas serve as breeding grounds for many native, sometimes endangered, bird species. The Flögelner See, on the other hand, is used for tourism and business. There is a campsite and a weekend house area on the north bank. On the south bank, in the village of Flögeln , there are overnight accommodations, boat rentals, restaurants and fish smokers.

Peat mining and history

Julius von Ehren : Peat cutter , Ahlenmoor bei Flögeln, 1903

A long chain of “Moorkuhlen” can still be seen along the north and east edge of the Ahlenmoor. These mark the last status of the former peat cutting. Since the 17th century at the latest , peat had started to be cut from the bog edge settlements of Wanna - Süderleda , Ihlienworth -Westerende, Mittelteil and Medemstade, as well as from Steinau . The strips of pitted land were gradually turned into cultivated land and the dried peat could be used as fuel. The annual peeling rate was only about three to five meters per year. Otherwise, until the end of the 19th century, the Ahlenmoor was a wide, treeless area with a slightly arched glass arch in the center, which was almost entirely overgrown with heather , pipe and cotton grass . A characteristic spectacle was the courtship of the black grouse , in which the cocks always came together in the same courtship areas in the first morning light.

Greetings from the Ahlen-Falkenberger-Moor prison camp

The Ahlenmoor, renatured

The cultivation of the Ahlenmoors began as early as the First World War , with Russian prisoners of war being used in particular . The systematic cultivation through drainage and the use of artificial fertilizers was only carried out in the 1950s. This was an attempt to create a new livelihood for the farmers who had moved in from the eastern German regions. In 1956, industrial peat extraction began, mostly for the production of potting soil . Here, too, prisoners who were housed in a camp in Ahlen-Falkenberg were used until the 1980s .

The cultivated land that has arisen is now mainly used as grassland. Only around 17 percent of the moorland is still uncultivated, and only one to two percent of this can be considered as near-natural. The typical raised bog flora is increasingly being displaced by plants with high water and low nutrient requirements, such as the downy birch and the blueberry . On the other hand, many pastures are only used extensively today. Sedges , rushes and various other herbs settle here again , which in turn attract dragonflies , butterflies and other insects. Renaturation measures are also being taken in some pitted areas.

Web links

Commons : Ahlenmoor - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Ahlenmoor website

Individual evidence

^ "Ahlenmoor" nature reserve in the database of the Lower Saxony State Office for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN)

[1] "Ahlenmoor" nature reserve in the database of the Lower Saxony State Office for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN)