Eschweiler city forest
The Eschweiler Stadtwald is an approximately 350 hectare forest area in the south of the Eschweiler urban area with an altitude between 170 and 260 m above sea level. NN and flat to slightly wavy terrain in western North Rhine-Westphalia .
In terms of landscape, it belongs to the growth areas Vennvorland and Northern Eifel as part of the Eifel . It is part of the Rureifel-Jülich Börde Regional Forestry Office and an economically used recreational forest of good quality. After the Propsteier Forest, it is the largest contiguous forest area in the city.
division
In the immediate vicinity are the districts of Waldschule and Pump-Stich and the Donnerberg barracks in Eschweiler . The city forest is divided into four almost equally large quarters by two streets that cross exactly in the middle of the forest.
In the north-western part is the Trimm-Dich-path , a section of the local history circular hiking trail, the pinge set up on December 13, 1994 by the Eschweiler history association as it was 600 years ago and the largest body of water, the “Koppweiher”.
The highest artificial elevations are the “ Black Mountain ” and the neighboring “ Kitzberg ” in the northeastern area at the end of the Hundsgracht near Bergrath . The “ Grube Centrum ” and the “Kronprinzschacht” were located there by the city forest .
There are fish ponds in the southwest and the forester's lodge “Bohler Heide”, the excursion restaurant “Bohler Heide” with fallow deer enclosure and the forest tavern “ Killewittchen ”, built in 1947 , whose name is reminiscent of the legendary dwarf people of the same name. At Killewittchen there was a half-timbered house at the beginning of the 20th century , which served as the office building for the Hastenrath limestone quarries of the Eschweiler mining association EBV. On the south-eastern edge of the city forest are the "Hastenrather Kalkwerke", whose current production includes fertilizer, construction and industrial lime, as well as the former Albert mine .
There are also four designated parking spaces and seven refuges in the city forest for hikers . A refuge formerly located on the 50 m high "Black Mountain" was abandoned due to repeated vandalism.
Geological nature trail
The geological nature trail runs through the Eschweiler city forest. Station 1 is at the "Black Mountain", station 2 in the area of the former pit Center, Station 3 at the "Iewisch Pädsche" station 4 on the Duffenter swath , station 5 filled in the meantime with water former quarry in the southeast and station 6 in the quarry the lime works at Hastenrath and near the Albert pit.
Soil conditions and ecosystem
The urban forest is characterized by small-scale changing soil conditions and terrain structures, in which coal mining and pingen in the northern area as well as quartzite and clay mining in the form of heaps and ditches have left their marks. On December 13, 1994, the Eschweiler History Association set up a ping in the city forest like it did 600 years ago.
The urban forest ecosystem includes birds, bats , amphibians and wood ants . About one third are designated as nature reserve ACK-028 and the ground monument “Mining desert zone Eschweiler Wald”, the remaining two thirds as landscape protection area . In addition, natural monuments with particularly old, formative trees and protected landscape components such as spawning biotopes were established. The mean annual precipitation is 820 mm, the frost period lasts from the end of September at the earliest to the end of May at the latest, and the mean annual temperature in the vegetation period is 15 ° C.
The tree species are spruce (27%), birch , alder , hornbeam , wild cherry and red oak (25%), oak (22%), pine (15%) and beech , maple and ash (11%). Wild animals are deer , brown hare , rabbit , pheasant , wild pigeon , gray heron , fox , polecat , weasel , buzzard , hawk and kestrel .
history
Presumably today's city forest emerged from former Franconian ownership. At the end of the 18th century, the municipal forests were created due to the various divisions of the sovereign forest. The oldest forest depot, set up in 1854, had an area of 481 hectares in contrast to today's 350 hectares; in 1910 it was 454 hectares. Major damage was caused by immissions from the Birkengang zinc smelter and the Second World War . The immissions made about 40% of the forest area unusable for forestry purposes. The urban forest area, which had shrunk to 249 hectares, was enlarged by over 70 hectares in 1953, and in 1966 a further 24 hectares were purchased in the south.
In the area of the city forest, there are many former shafts of the Centrum mine, which was closed in 1891 : the old large cabbage shaft, the Christine shaft, the transit shaft, the Friedrich Wilhelm shaft, the Gyr shaft, the Kronprinz shaft, the Louise shaft, the Wilhelmine shaft, the main art shaft Gerhard, the Neugroßkohl artificial shaft, the Padtkohl artificial shaft as well as other weather shafts , men's art shafts and a light hole to the men's artificial sole.
literature
- Discovering Eschweiler, Peter Bailly and Franz Josef Holzapfel, published by the Eifelverein Eschweiler eV, 2002, ISBN 3-921805-24-4
- Christian Färber et al .: Forest nature trail in the city of Eschweiler . Environment, Landscape Management and Forestry Office of the City of Eschweiler, Eschweiler 1988
- Eschweiler - Heimatlicher Rundwanderweg, Städt. Forestry Office of the City of Eschweiler, June 1980
Web links
- Nature reserve "Eschweiler Stadtwald" (ACK-028) in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia
Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ′ 46 " N , 6 ° 15 ′ 43" E