Eibenwald am Hainberg
The yew forest on the Hainberg is one of the largest natural occurrences of the European yew (Taxus baccata) in Germany . It is located in southern Lower Saxony in the Göttingen district , about 7 kilometers as the crow flies north of the city of Göttingen on the east side of the Leinetal .
geography
The Eibenwald is located in the Leinebergland in southern Lower Saxony , in the northernmost part of the Göttingen Forest , which extends along the eastern slope of the Leinegraben . It is located in the Bovenden area directly south of the Eddigehausen district . The yew forest is in Department 31 of the Reinhausen Forestry Office. It is 12.7 hectares and extends over the southwest slope of the 355 meter high Hainberg.
The growing area belongs to the state forest . The Lower Saxony Forestry Office Reinhausen with the Reyershausen District Forestry Department is responsible for the Eibenwald .
history
The yew forest on the Hainberg is one of the few remaining fragments of the former Central European yew occurrences.
As pollen analyzes show, the yew was widespread as a secondary species of the beech in western and central Central Europe. The shade tree species was mainly from the early modern period through the end of the coppice - and coppicing and forest economic change to afforestation out, in particular the high forest management , gradually to their present locations rest repressed. The decline in yew occurrences was already scientifically described in the late 18th and 19th centuries and discussed as the "yew issue".
The history of the Eibenwald am Hainberg can be traced back to the year 1573 using historical documents. Among other things, beams were cut from strong yew wood for the church in Reyershausen. In the middle of the 19th century, the neighboring yew forest on the Plesse plateau was already extinct and the yew forest on the Hainberg was classified as a meager residual occurrence.
The Eibenwald formerly belonged to the lords of the nearby castle Plesse . As early as 1908, the inventory was assessed as worthy of preservation and protection and placed under protection as a natural monument .
In 1972 the yew forest was raised to the rank of a natural forest reserve by decree of the (former) Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests as part of the voluntary commitment.
The yew tree population is listed today by the district of Göttingen as a natural monument Bovenden / Pleßforst, Gö 6 in the list of natural monuments in the district of Göttingen.
Habitat
The European yew grows on the Hainberg in a mixed deciduous forest on a hillside on shell limestone . It is the main tree species of the habitat , but not the most common tree species. Rather, the yew are available individually or in small groups in the stock of houses , ash and sycamore scattered, but not planted. In terms of area size and number of yew trees in the upper stand layer, the growth area is one of the largest contiguous yew stands in Germany.
There are around 800 trees with an age of up to 200 years. The strongest yew trees have a trunk diameter at chest height of up to 68 centimeters and reach a height of up to 21 meters.
Protective measures
The European yew tree, tree of the year 1994, is one of the plant species threatened with extinction in Germany. It is listed in category 3 - endangered - in the joint Red List of Endangered Species of the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen, published by the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation .
The Eibenwald am Hainberg is classified as a special biotope for species protection and included in the Lower Saxony forest protection area system. In the context of habitat protection, the yew forest was and is excluded from economically oriented forest management . The Reinhausen Forestry Office only carries out maintenance measures to secure the existence of the yew trees and to preserve the natural monument.
As a care measure, neighboring trees that overshadow a yew tree are either felled in order to reduce the competitive pressure, especially from the beech, but they are often "curled". Most of the bark is peeled off in a ring so that the tree slowly dies. As a result of this procedure, the beech tree in question loses its shady leaves over several years and the yew tree can gradually get used to the improving light conditions.
Seedlings and young plants of the yew tree are mostly fattened within a short time due to the high game population. The poisonous ingredients of the yew (including taxanes ) are not harmful to roe deer and hares . However, through the milling, a regrowth of young yew trees and a rejuvenation or enlargement of the growing area are largely prevented. For this reason, a small core area of the yew forest is provided with a game protection fence in order to allow the yew trees to regenerate naturally.
More yew forests
- The Paterzeller Eibenwald is located in Bavaria ( Upper Bavaria ) near the Wessobrunn Monastery . Within the approx. 88 hectare nature reserve in the Weilheim-Schongau district, there are over 1500 older yew trees in a species-rich mountain mixed forest .
- In the 58 hectare nature reserve Ibengarten near Dermbach in Thuringia , Wartburgkreis , there are 368 yew trees, 50 of which are said to be over 500 years old.
- The 31.3 hectare Wasserberg natural forest reserve near Gößweinstein in Upper Franconia (northern Franconian Alb) is a beech forest with yew trees.
- In Fürstenhagen in Thuringia, Eichsfeld district , there are around 5,700 yew trees in an old beech forest in the Lengenberg nature reserve . They are up to 120 years old.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jessica Preutenborbeck, The Eibenwald im Pleßforst . In: Bernd Herrmann and Christine Dahlke (eds.): Schauplätze der Umweltgeschichte. Workshop report (PDF; 9.2 MB). Free online version from the series of publications of the Research Training Group 1024: Interdisciplinary Environmental History. Natural environment and social action in Central Europe . Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2008. Accessed on October 13, 2009.
- ↑ Niedersächsisches Ministerialblatt No. 22 (1972), p. 840.
- ↑ Landkreis Göttingen ( Memento of the original dated November 7, 2007 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. (PDF; 27 kB), list of natural monuments, accessed on October 13, 2009.
- ↑ Lower Saxony Forestry Office Reinhausen ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2015 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. , Article on the Eibenwald am Hainberg, accessed on October 13, 2009.
Coordinates: 51 ° 35 ′ 20 ″ N , 9 ° 57 ′ 30 ″ E