Oftersheim dune circuit
The Dünenrundweg Oftersheim is an approx. 3.1 km long nature adventure trail (circular route) that leads through the landscape of the Oftersheim inland dunes. The path runs through several landscape and nature reserves, including the mightiest inland dune in Baden-Württemberg, which rises 21 meters above the Rhine plain. Along the way, nine so-called nature experience boards are set up, the contents of which provide information about the formation, use and care of the dunes as well as the special features of the flora and fauna there.
Dune landscape
At the end of the last ice age around 10,000 years ago, the landscape along the Upper Rhine was only covered by sparse vegetation and the prevailing westerly wind was able to blow sand unhindered from the deposited river gravel. As a result, shifting dunes formed on the eastern lower terrace of the Rhine. Due to the increasing vegetation, the migration of the dunes finally came to a standstill. Today the distance to the Rhine is approx. 3–4 km.
The dune landscape in Oftersheim consists of forest, arable land and fallow land. What they all have in common is the lime and nutrient-poor sandy subsoil, which only enables the cultivation of certain crops such as asparagus, tobacco, rye, and barley etc. Typical sand and dry grass communities can be found on the fallow land , the typical tree of the dune forest is the Scots pine , which forms the so-called light dune forest with other dry-tolerant varieties such as certain oak species.
Protected areas
While the heights of the dunes are already designated nature reserves according to German law, the entire associated area of the Hardt Forest was added to the list of European protected areas (Natura 2000) in November 2007 as a so-called FFH area (Fauna-Flora-Habitat).
location
Oftersheim is a municipality in the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg and is located in the Upper Rhine Plain in the middle between Speyer and Heidelberg. The circular dune path begins and ends at the visitor parking lot at the club restaurant of the dog sports club Oftersheim on Oberfeldweg.
carrier
The Dünenrundweg is a local Agenda 21 project in Oftersheim. It was realized with financial and technical support from the Karlsruhe regional council and the environmental agency of the community of Oftersheim. The inauguration of the path took place in 2004, on "Forest Day".