Elisabethaußengroden

Coordinates: 53 ° 42 ′ 55 "  N , 7 ° 53 ′ 47"  E

Elisabethaußengroden​

Lower Saxony

The Elisabethaußengroden is a salt marsh landscape in the Vordeich area on the Wangerland coast . It is located in Lower Saxony in the Friesland district between Harlesiel in the west and Schillighafen in the east.

description

The Elisabethaußengroden is about 774.7  hectares . The salt marsh foreland with a depth of 200 to 500 meters (measured between the foot of the dike and the mean tidal high water line ) is around 400 hectares in size. The Groden was created from the construction of a new main dike line between 1969 and 1974, which separated it from the Elisabethgroden behind it, which was diked in 1894/95. In the 1930s, with the aim of reclaiming new land, more land was built. During the Second World War the work was interrupted. They were resumed in 1949 and continued until the mid-1950s. Newer Lahnungen were only erected at the beginning of the 21st century, especially in the eastern part of the Groden, in order to counteract the erosion.

The outer dike area was used for agriculture for a long time - primarily for mowing . In 1973 the Elisabeth outer large was placed under nature protection (date of regulation: April 12, 1973). As a result of the protection, the use of the Groden was restricted or completely stopped in the eastern part. As a result, a near-natural salt meadow developed here. The central and western part is mowed once a year for maintenance on a 200 meter wide strip at the foot of the dike after the birds have been breeding and rearing.

The Scientific Working Group for Nature and Environmental Protection (WAU), which was founded in 1971 as a regional environmental organization in the district of Friesland and had endeavored to place the area under protection, was commissioned to look after the protected area.

With the designation of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park on January 1, 1986, the previous nature reserve in Protection Zone I (quiet zone) of the National Park was opened and further areas were subsequently withdrawn from use. The area, which today can only be entered on three designated nature trails , is one of the largest salt marsh areas in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea. North of Friederikensiel , directly behind the dike, is the coastal protection camp Elisabethgrodendeich with a viewing hill, from which parts of the Elisabethaußengroden can be seen. Elisabethaußengroden is part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea Biosphere Reserve as well as the FFH area "Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park" and the EU bird sanctuary "Lower Saxony Wadden Sea and adjacent coastal sea". To the south parts of the close landscape protection area "Wangerland - within the dyke" on.

flora

The Elisabethaußengroden area is characterized by salt marshes. These are very rich in nutrients, as silt is repeatedly transported onto them when floods occur . In front of the salt marshes are seagrass communities made up of common seagrass , which constantly settles below the mean tidal low water line, and dwarf seagrass , which can survive a few hours of drying out . The seagrass communities are important for many species of fish, including sole , plaice , herring, and sprat , which spawn here . Dead parts of the seagrass communities are significantly involved in the development of the mud flats .

The seagrass communities go inland into the silting zone of samphire and rice grass communities . European samphire and types of sod and silt grass like salt mud grass dominate here . The siltation zone is followed by the salt marsh, which is typically characterized by Andel grass societies and further inland red fescue societies with common red fescue . Mercury settles on muddy soil . Other plants of the marsh that in some regions into a tall herb salt marsh developed are Kriechquecke , beach wormwood , beach aster , beach alarm , spit reporting , beach milkweed , beach purslane , beach lilac , beach plantain , Sow-thistle , salt Schuppenmiere and Suaeda maritima .

fauna

The Groden is of great importance for various Limikolen . So here are redshank , oystercatcher , lapwing , avocet and black-tailed godwit home. The ringed plover was also native here, but has only been found sporadically since the late 1990s. The stocks of the other Limikolen are also in some cases strongly declining. The reason for this is assumed to be natural succession and predation pressure . Duck birds are z. B. represented by shelduck and a small number of eider , teal and shoveler as breeding birds. Furthermore come u. a. the songbird species skylark , meadow pipit , reed bunting , yellow wagtail and bluethroat , in small numbers also reed and reed warbler . In particular, the breeding populations of skylark and meadow pipit have declined sharply. Other bird species that breed in Elisabethaußengroden are marsh harrier and meadow harrier as well as occasional hen harriers and short-eared owls . The areas south of the main dyke and cultivated as grassland in the Elisabethgroden are also important for meadow birds and a resting place for numerous geese .

During the bird migration , the salt marshes and mud flats in front of the Elisabethaußengroden are visited by numerous knots , gray geese and brent geese as a resting place. Because of the high number of migratory birds , the area was declared a wetland of international importance in 1976 .

Dyke construction

Klei was repeatedly won in Elisabethaußengroden for dike construction and dike heightening measures . The resulting pütten are partly silted up, partly created between them and the Wadden Sea trough systems . During a construction project to raise and strengthen the dike of the Elisabethaußengroden at the beginning of the 21st century, large quantities of the required clay were obtained in the Wangerland north of Hohenkirchen . This created the Wangermeer . Part of the clay required for the construction project was dismantled in Elisabethaußengroden itself.

literature

• Werner Menke: The development of the breeding bird population in Elisabeth-Außengroden . In: News of the Marschenrat to promote research in the coastal area of ​​the North Sea. Marschenrat for the promotion of research in the coastal area of ​​the North Sea e. V., issue 52/2015, ISSN  0931-5373 ( PDF , 1 MB).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Excursion Friesland , Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (PDF, 564 kB). Retrieved January 25, 2017.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Elisabethgroden and Elisabeth-Außengroden ( memento from January 27, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), Ecomare , Stichting Texels Museum.
3. ↑ Nature and environmental protection in the district of Friesland , Scientific Working Group for Nature and Environmental Protection. Accessed on January 25, 2017.
4. ^ Salzwiesen , Ostfriesland Tourismus GmbH. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
5. ^ Dyke construction on Elisabethgrodendeich in Wangerland , Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation . Retrieved June 8, 2020.
6. ↑ Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park , profiles of the Natura 2000 areas, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation . Retrieved June 8, 2020.
7. ^ Lower Saxony Wadden Sea and the adjacent coastal sea , profiles of the Natura 2000 areas, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
8. ↑ Landscape protection area "Wangerland - binnendeichs" , Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation . Retrieved January 25, 2017.
9. ↑ Marine biology excursion, Wilhelmshaven and Helgoland, summer 2006 , Department of Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (PDF, 2.2 MB). Retrieved January 25, 2017.
10. ↑ Jürn Bunje: Legal framework and nature conservation criteria for soil removal in the dyke foreland of the national park , 2nd BWK Coastal Day 2013 in Stade, April 26, 2013, National Park Administration of Lower Saxony Wadden Sea (PDF, 8.1 MB). Retrieved January 25, 2017.