Wutach Gorge

Wutach Gorge nature and landscape protection area IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
From the direction of the Feldberg to the Blumberger gate in the center of the picture, the Wutach crosses the open Südbaar in a long forest gorge . From here it flows to the left through the Wutachfluchten to the Rhine , whereas its former valley, 165 m higher, continues to the right down to the Danube .
location	Germany , Baden-Wuerttemberg , Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district , Schwarzwald-Baar district , Waldshut district
surface	9.688 km²
Identifier	1025
WDPA ID	166384
Geographical location	47 ° 51 '  N , 8 ° 19'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 50 '41 "  N , 8 ° 18' 43"  E
Setup date	07/26/1939
administration	Regional council Freiburg

The Wutach Gorge is a narrow valley in the course of the upper Wutach with three gorge-like sections, the lowest of which is also known as Wutachfluchten . It cuts through the southern Baar from the eastern Black Forest eastwards to the eaves of the Swabian Alb , which merges into the Randen here .

The 60 to 170 meter deep canyons extend (without side canyons) over 33 kilometers of river and are remarkable in many ways. Their geologically young, prototypical and vividly continuous formation produces a great variety of geopes and biotopes and enables a corresponding wealth of animal and plant species. The gorges are very popular with tourists and also played an important role in establishing the concept of nature conservation in south-western Germany. The Wutach Gorge is part of the Southern Black Forest Nature Park and is under special protection as a designated nature reserve as well as part of the European bird sanctuary Wutach and Baaralb .

Course and characteristics

Exposure of the south-west German layered plains along the Wutach

The gorges begin in the Gutach valley (upper reaches of the Wutach) below Neustadt and in the Haslach valley below Lenzkirch . After merging to form the Wutach , they initially run eastwards with only a few changes of direction and end at the Grimmelshofen district of Stühlingen , after the Wutach has turned significantly to the south in the area of ​​the former mining town of Blumberg on the eaves of the Baaralb . First, the gorges are bounded by the wooded plateaus of the eastern Black Forest canopy. The northern edge then forms the historic Bertholdsbaar with the center of Löffingen and the town of Rötenbach . To the south opposite is a similar shell limestone plateau with Bonndorf as the center and the municipality of Wutach .

The Wutach and some of its tributaries have dug a natural profile section, barely 20 kilometers as the crow flies, through almost all the rock layers of the southern German layered landscape , which fan out to the north for up to 200 kilometers, but here in close clustering one after the other on the surface. The Mesozoic rock strata were positioned significantly more obliquely than usual due to the uplift of the southern Black Forest (on average 7%) and it is precisely here that the Wutach cut them in sequence. Since the Wutach “only” flows eastward with a gradient of around 1%, it crosses over the course of the gorge into younger and younger layers of rock that are deposited over them. This created a continuous sequence of rock outcrops from the basement (here mostly granite ) over the Triassic to the Jura . Since these rocks, when they are cut by deep erosion , produce peculiar, very different terrain forms, one of the most varied and interesting canyon landscapes in Central Europe was created. The gorges are often cut seamlessly into wide valleys and can hardly be imagined even from a short distance.

Not only do the gorges themselves present themselves as natural spaces ; the plateau landscape they cut up is also assigned the status of an independent natural spatial unit. The middle Wutach area lies between the natural areas of the Baar in the north and the Klettgau hill country in the south, which are similar in terms of subsoil . Across the gorge that runs through everything, the area also represents a bridge between the Black Forest and Swabian Alb mountain areas .

The canyon system of the Wutach and its tributaries

Upper gorge in the basement

Pathless part of the Upper Gorge in the basement

Waterfall in the lower Lotenbachklamm

When the broad-bottomed valleys of the Gutach and Haslach emerge from the eastern Black Forest, which were heavily shaped during the Ice Age , the streams cut into small, often narrow gorges with a sudden increase in gradient. In the initially predominant granite, dark, impassable gorge sections alternate with short valley widenings. The rocky slopes have a naturally increased proportion of softwood. Down the valley, in the area of ​​the layers of red sandstone that are not very stable here, there are no spectacular gorge scenes. The side canyons of this upper canyon section are narrow; some would hardly be passable without paths laid out.

The gorge of the main source river Gutach begins with a noticeably increased gradient a little above the Gutachbrücke of the Höllentalbahn from 1900, whose stone arch had the largest span in Germany at 64 meters. The highlight of the Haslach Gorge , which joins from the right, is the Rechenfelsen , a short gorge a good 20 meters deep . The Rötenbach Gorge, which flows in from the left soon after, culminates in a two-tier waterfall 6 meters high. Below the few remains of Stallegg Castle , the Wutach calms down in the small reservoir of the Stallegg electricity plant from 1895. Shortly afterwards, it passes the wooden, covered Stallegg Bridge on the former connecting path between Fürstenberg possessions on both sides of the gorge. From the confluent Reichenbach Gorge , the river forces its way through the granite crags of the pathless Stallegg Gorge . It ends at the rock Räuberschlössle with the ruins of New Blumberg (also New Blumegg ), one north of Wutach to 80 meters towering quartz porphyry -Formation that after the occurrence of Pentecost cloves also Nägele rock is and is intersected clammy like the Wutach. The Lotenbachklamm , a granite gorge with four waterfalls up to 8 meters high, as well as a side stream that plunges into it about 20 meters deep, joins the Schattenmühle and the road crossing it. The upper Wutach Gorge is passable from the road bridge L156 to the Schattenmühle heavy whitewater IV with a suitable water level in winter or when the snow melts with a whitewater kayak . The Stallegg Gorge in particular has frequently changing tree obstacles.

Dietfurt and Bad Boll valley

Wutach Gorge near Reiselfingen, here a wide Kerbsohlental

When the river crosses into the Lower and Middle Muschelkalk , the typical Black Forest landscape ends. The limestone, which has been severely deformed and slippery due to the leaching of gypsum deposits , has created a somewhat wider Kerbsohlental with a great variety of locations and a restless small relief. On the sunny side of the Schelmenhalde, extensive tufa formations with wide veil waterfalls protrude over the hiking trail, and down the valley opposite a shell limestone rock formation that was once perforated, now crumbling and has since been known as the Three Peaks , slides on sliding masses of the Middle Muschelkalk to the Wutach. Deciduous forest communities dominate. Occasionally meadows interrupt the alluvial forest.

Further down the valley, first on the upper slopes, elongated rock walls made up of layers of the Upper Muschelkalk are characteristic, especially on the left the approximately one kilometer long black rock over the sagging subsoil. The Gaisloch , which has collapsed into an open gorge, flows there . Below that, at the Dietfurt with a former mill, the oldest, very steep gorge crossing led across the river, between 1614 and 1632 with a bridge. The center of the valley area, near the Fritz-Hockenjos-Steg , was the historic Badhof : an avenue and remains of the park are still preserved. On a rock spur above, Neu-Tannegg Castle (from around 1200) had to be abandoned before 1500 because it had partially collapsed due to the sinking cliff. Immediately below this, the Boller waterfall falls in two stages about 40 meters deep from the right to the Wutach. This is the highest waterfall in the Wutach Gorge and was illuminated in the evening when Bad Boll was still in operation. Today it is hardly accessible. At the Felsenweiher , an oxbow lake under a wall of the Upper Muschelkalks, the Tannegg waterfall (named after the Alt-Tannegg ruin ) falls 15 meters over a bizarre tufa formation. Opposite is the Münzloch , the longest cave in the Wutach Gorge at 84 meters.

Middle gorge in the main shell limestone

Muschelkalkwand ( Amselfelsen ) in the Middle Gorge

As soon as the shell limestone walls have reached the bottom of the gorge further down the valley, the canyon- like second gorge section begins . It is the earliest part of the gorge that was opened up and is still the most interesting part of the gorge for tourists. The Wutach shuttles from one rock face to another in a wide gravel bed, some of which are undermined and overhanging, some up to over 80 meters high.

The Ludwig-Neumann-Weg is one of the most elaborate paths of the Black Forest Association and leads today, after almost all bridges of an initial path system were destroyed by floods, exposed but secured by the rock walls. Right at the beginning the Amselel is crossed almost 70 meters high with a view of the Great Pulpit in the north. Parts of his right pulpit fell about 80 meters into the Wutach in 1983. The following long, partly overhanging wall line, Engländerfels , was named in memory of an Englishman who fell here in 1906. The trout rocks are also reminiscent of the early sophisticated English fishing tourism in the Wutach Gorge. The central resting place of the middle gorge is the Schurhammer hut in a valley widening . In the following section, the Wutach sinks largely into crevices in the shell limestone cliffs and emerges like a cataract after 1.3 kilometers at the foot of a wall. In 1953, the cave-like Alte Wutach sinking collapsed at the old Rümmelesteg , part of which anchored in the rock as a half-suspension bridge has been preserved. The Josefssteg and the Josefsfelsen with the crowning rock tower are again reminiscent of a crash victim (1907) . At the end of the middle gorge is the covered Canadian footbridge , which was built by Canadian pioneers in 1976. It leads from the Gauchach estuary to the high mountain spur opposite to the south with the former Hörnle spur castle . The middle Wutach Gorge is easy to moderately difficult whitewater I-II from the Schattenmühle to the Wutachmühle and can be kayaked at a suitable water level in winter or when the snow melts.

Achdorf Valley in the Keuper and Lower Jura

Achdorf in the valley widening, view of the Aubach valley

After the confluence of the Gauchach Gorge from the north, the valley widens again and becomes open, developed and populated. At the first road bridge is the Wutachmühle with a sawmill and a kiosk. The almost undeveloped slopes with restless, sometimes bizarre relief let the stable in the little rocks of the Keuper almost ubiquitous slip and creep guess. Four of the once nine villages in this so-called Achdorf Valley have fallen victim to the unstable building site and become desolate . Three large landslides are clearly visible: the Eschach landslide on the eastern slope of the Scheffheu (1880, 1940 and 1966), the landslide on the Eichberg in 1966 with a waterfall that resulted, and the landslide on the repeatedly discarded Wellblechsträßle at the Buchberg foot of 1976. The larger villages Aselfingen and Achdorf are at the mouths of the Aubachtal (with Mundelfingen waterfall and Hardegg ruins ) and Krottenbachtal. In the east, the valley is dominated by the striking mountain figures Eichberg (913.6 meters) and Buchberg (879.9 meters), between which the upper Aitrach valley seems to sweep into space 170 meters above the Wutach valley and forms the Blumberger gate . The Schleifebach Falls (4, 9 and 5 meters high) tumble down below the former Blumberg Castle.

Lower gorge (Wutachfluchten) in the main shell limestone

The left canyon wall of the flames

After the distinctive Wutach knee , the Wutach crosses a significant fault line , south of which the Upper Muschelkalk, which is already deeply submerged on this side, accompanies the upper valley slopes as rock walls. In this third gorge, the Fluchten ( Alemannic : rock walls), the dimensions of the canyon and the rock walls reach their climax. Here, along with the Walenhalde, lies the rugged, 350 m highest steep slope in the Alb. The Flünden are less varied, however, and only became well known to tourists with the operation of the Wutach Valley Railway .

The narrow valley begins with the small Letterngraben waterfall on the right side of the valley and with waterfalls in the Sackpfeiferdobel and in the Sturzdobel (15 meters, tufa projections) on the left side of the gorge. The actual Wutachfluchten represent a 3 kilometer long, up to 85 meter high rock wall on the left; it is the largest exposure of the Upper Muschelkalk in Germany. Rock towers such as the Lunzistein (also Brautfluh , about 15 meters high) or the Mannheimer Felsen emerge from the jagged wall . Opposite is the ruins of Burg Blumegg on a free-standing, 30-meter-high rock plateau . As a counterpart to the Gutach Bridge at the beginning, the viaduct of the Wutach Valley Railway marks the end of the Wutach Gorge.

The lower Wutach Gorge is passable by kayak from the weir in front of Achdorf to Grimmelshofen medium-difficult white water II (IV) and with a suitable water level in winter or when the snow melts.

Gauchach Gorge

Steps in the stream bed of the Gauchach above the Burgmühle

Mule track in the Gauchach gorge

The most important side gorge , the Gauchach Gorge , is characterized by its narrowness and by a stream bed that is cascading into the banks of the Upper Muschelkalks. Approximately in the middle, the rather straight, rough narrow gorge of the Tränkebach flows out at the Burgmühle , which forms the Bachheim gorge square with the Gauchach and Wutach gorges . There, too, the low water discharge finds its way underground to the Wutach.

After a valley widening below the Gauchach valley bridge in the course of the federal road 31 , a first narrow valley follows at the properly restored Guggenmühle . The actual gorge begins at the ruins of the Grünburg (remains of a wall measuring 15 x 12 meters) and the Lochmühle , which was destroyed by floods. Above it stands the Grünburg chapel with a votive picture of a flood disaster in 1804 and again in 1895. Below the ruins of Neuchâtel , which are almost invisible after a landslide, the nature lovers' hiking home Burgmühle functions as a tourist base. In the lower part of the gorge, a nature trail opens up, among other things, impressive spring limestone and stocks of giant horsetail.

Lengths of the canyon stretches

• Upper gorge: 9 kilometers

(Dietfurter Tal: 5 kilometers)

• Middle gorge: 7.5 kilometers

(Achdorfer Tal: 7.5 kilometers)

• Lower gorge (Fluchten): 3.5 kilometers

Total Wutachschluchten: 20 kilometers

• Haslach Gorge: 3 kilometers
• Rötenbach Gorge: 2.5 kilometers
• Reichenbach Gorge: 1.5 kilometers
• Lotenbachklamm: 1 kilometer
• Hirschgraben: 1 kilometer
• Gauchach Gorge: 4.5 kilometers
• Narrow gorge: 2 kilometers
• Schleifebächle: 1.5 kilometers

Total secondary canyons: 17 kilometers

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  The gorge computing rocks of Haslach

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  Waterfall in the lower Rötenbach gorge

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  The upper Wutach Gorge near the Stallegg ruins

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  Bottom waterfall in the Lotenbachklamm

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  Waterfall southwest of the former Bad Boll

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  View from the pulpit into the middle Wutach gorge

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  Middle Schleifebach case near Blumberg

The river history of the Wutach

Hydrographic notes

There are two conspicuous hydrographic nodes along the course of the Wutach , which point to the extensive landscape and history of the gorge formation:

• The more important is in the area where the river flows into the Rhine. The rivers Rhine , Kotbach (early worm-age course of the Rhine), Wutach, Steina , Schlücht , Aare , Reuss and Limmat meet here in a star shape less than 20 kilometers apart .
• The less noticeable one is in the area of ​​the Wutachknies near Achdorf and thus in the area of ​​the Wutachschlucht itself. A valley cross has formed here, on the one hand through the Wutach flowing in from the west and bending to the south, on the other hand through the Krottenbach flowing in from the north and the Schleifebach which plunges down from the valley in which otherwise, beyond the main European watershed (Blumberger Gate), the Aitrach flows lazily eastwards to the Danube.

Both water nodes are closely related through the Europe-wide process of geological and river history outlined below, the last culmination of which was the Wutach Gorge. ( see also: river system of the Rhine )

Development of the Wutach precursors

5 to 6 million years ago, at the end of the Miocene , the original Danube began its course in the upper Rhone Valley . This is evidenced by alpine gravel 70 to 200 meters above today's valley, starting with the striking Eichberg east of the Wutach Gorge. First, the river (as Aare-Danube ) lost today's Rhone area to Lake Geneva through tectonic subsidence in the northwestern apron of the Alps and then, still in the Pliocene , today's Aare area, initially via the Burgundian gate to today's Doubs , but then , around three million years ago, across the Upper Rhine Plain to the North Sea. Much later, in the Old Pleistocene , the present-day Alpine Rhine was lost to it via the Lake Constance basin .

Thus, for several hundred thousand years, today's upper Wutach became the source of the original Danube, the Feldbergdonau . It flowed at the level of the wide flatness directly above today's gorge, well documented by several layers of gravel. This last changed again, perhaps 70,000 years ago, with the onset of the high glacial of the Würm Ice Age . Due to processes that have not yet been fully clarified, the Feldberg Danube erupted into the High Rhine, which had long been flowing much deeper, and was able to develop its enormous erosion performance since then. The valley of today's Aitrach remained as a cut and almost waterless valley.

The distraction of anger

Tectonic events

Similar to the course relocations of the large rivers described above, the smaller rivers in the southwestern neighborhood of the Wutach also show traces of course diversions. Many of them, particularly the Alb , Schwarza and Mettma , show sudden changes in direction of around 60 ° at at least one point in their ravine-like valleys. They were almost always "tipped out" by the uplift of the Black Forest to the right, towards the Upper Rhine. But in contrast to the Wutachknie with the adjoining Aitrach valley, the abandoned valleys are barely recognizable by the remains of the shape, due to the much older distraction events. At the Wutach, d. H. the Feldbergdonau, such a diversion was prevented for a long time by the Bonndorfer Graben , between whose flanks it was led as if through dams to the Swabian Alb. This Bonndorfer Graben is an extensive grave structure , which is also connected to the former volcanism of the Kaiserstuhl and the Hegau .

The Feldberg Danube breaks out to the Ur-Wutach

What ultimately led to the river breaking is still unclear, and the timing can only be determined vaguely. In the older literature, one often spoke of the Wutach tapping , i.e. of the receding erosion of the creek neighboring to the south, in whose valley the Feldberg Danube could then overflow, the situation at the Wutach knee demands other explanations, which is why today only the Wutach- Distraction is spoken. It is disputed whether the glaciation of the Black Forest in the crack ice age (or before) was enough to Albrand and has laid ground the grave edge there at any crossing into much deeper Fützener basin. Less controversial is the hypothesis that, after the worm-age gravel had increasingly filled the valley of the Feldbergdonau, repeated eruption of the ice reservoirs of the worm-age Gutach glacier in Jostal and Langenordnachtal near Neustadt overflowed the, however depressed, watershed and tore the decisive first notch could. What is astonishing, however, is that this notch, the forerunner of today's Flühing, does not lead to the Fützener basin, but across the slope. Given the deflection, which was barely more than 70,000 years ago, it is difficult to imagine a topography that was sufficiently different to explain it.

However, the slightly offset valley sides of the rivers also suggest that there was an underground flow of the river deflection along a corresponding fault line, similar to the sinking of the Danube or the Wutach sinking in the middle gorge, also taking place in the Upper Muschelkalk. The sagging and breaking hanging rock would then have marked the decisive upper section of today's Flühe Gorge.

Continuous shifting of the watershed

Another, minor distraction has occurred since then. The Schleifebach, which falls at the Wutachknie from the direction of the Aitrachtal, rubs the remaining Aitrach valley from the west through retreating erosion. This would not happen at the current speed if the uppermost Aitrach had not been dammed a little down the valley through the alluvial fan of the Mühlegraben, until the water overflowed a little up the valley over the edge of the Wutach diversion as today's Schleiferbach to the Wutach. The majority of the Mühlegraben itself, fixed by humans, also flows through the former backwater area into the Schleifebach, thereby increasing its erosion power.

The formation of the gorges

It is important to understand today's gorges that the formation of the gorge took place in two significantly different phases.

The diversion currently set towards the early Würm glacial due to gravel bodies in the Gutach Valley released a strong erosion force with the increase in the gradient from originally around 0.4 percent to around 4 percent initially. The summer meltwater carried away the subsoil, which had been decomposed by frost weathering during the rest of the time, and produced pure deep erosion, whereby the higher and higher canyon slopes remained quite stable and steep despite the mostly unstable subsoil . It is assumed that the formation of the canyon was still upstream during the Würm glacial period to almost its current length. H. to about two kilometers below Neustadt. Apart from interstadial (Gossau-Interstadial), this deep erosion phase only ended about 10,000 years ago with the present warm period, i.e. the Holocene .

In the second formation phase that followed , the slopes, deprived of the stabilizing ice crust, began to sink into clods or downhill altogether. Since then, some sections of the canyon have widened in such a way that they lose their canyon character. The sagging masses pushed the riverbed shut in many places when the erosion force of the flood was no longer sufficient to remove the material (so-called valley thrust ). As a result, the depth of the valley decreased again in sections, and the gradient became more unbalanced. At the places where solid rocks lie above unstable ones, rock towers detach themselves from the walls and slowly slide down to the valley or even tilt. Networks of deep crevices form above such walls. In addition to the extensive subsidence and landslides (1966: 50 hectares on Eichberg, 1977: on Buchberg), there are also larger rockfalls in harder, chalky-sandy layers such as the Eschach landslide of 1880 or the rockfalls of 1953 on the Rümmelesteg and from 1981 on the Kanzelfels.

In total, around two cubic kilometers of rock were removed when the Wutach Gorge was formed.

In the course of the gorge, the mean flow of the river increases from just under 3 m³ / s (after the confluence of the Haslach: 4 m³ / s) to a good 8 m³ / s. The Gauchach contributes about 1 m³ / s. However, the power of erosion depends on the flood discharge. At the Wutach it is on average between 9 m³ / s at the mouth of the Haslach and 12 m³ / s near Grimmelshofen.

The rapid clearing of the gorge makes the Wutach Gorge an unusually young valley shape of this size for Europe, in this respect only occasionally surpassed by other valley formations such as the Ruinaulta .

Vegetation and wildlife

Vegetation geography

From the point of view of geobotany , the vegetation of the Wutach gorges is not only an expression of the respective location with its growth conditions, but also the climate history and the post-glacial repopulation by the previously displaced plant species. This in turn is an expression of the situation in relation to large-scale European vegetation areas. The vegetation of the Wutachschluchten has thus

• Via the Danube valley connection with and share in the subcontinental vegetation units of Eastern Europe,
• via the Burgundian Gate and the High Rhine Valley connection with south-western Europe and
• Share of alpine floral elements via the former glaciation areas.

Such long-distance references, which are also effective for other landscapes, manifest themselves in the Wutach Gorge in direct contrasts of almost contradicting vegetation types. Arctic-alpine floral elements at the foot of rubble heaps and in gorges with a “basement climate” can be found close to sub-Mediterranean societies such as dry grassland and bush forests, especially on steep slopes facing south. The Atlantic-oceanic species that are so characteristic of the Black Forest are almost completely absent on the east side of the mountains and in the area of ​​the Wutach gorges.

Locations and vegetation

Multi-stemmed European beech in the Wutach Gorge

Butterbur stocks in the middle gorge

The steep slopes, which are difficult or impossible to manage, have forest communities that almost correspond to those of the potential natural vegetation .

The large-leaved butterbur stocks are noticeable in gravelly ravines and alluvial fans . The benches are strengthened by pioneer trees such as gray willow and broken willow . Slightly older banks are populated by the gray alder and in the granite Upper Gorge by the black alder . Gray alder stocks are particularly blooming in spring. The proportions of sycamore maple and red beech quickly increase a little higher . The winter horsetail stands out here . Unlike the gravel floodplains, the narrow floodplains of the side ravines are dominated by the ash . In the Gauchach Gorge, in particular, there are impressive populations of the giant horsetail . Astmosses absorb carbonic acid in a widespread manner on moist slopes and convert calcium bicarbonate into water-insoluble calcium carbonate . This results in solid, moss-lined tufa crusts over a large area .

The maple-linden forest is widespread on warm, rather damp southern slopes, but not in the granite gorge. The abundance of epiphytes is noticeable in this forest community , and the Turkic League occurs occasionally . The drier parts are taken by oak forests with service tree and whitebeam tree . The shrub layer is often impenetrable here. Broad fringes of bushes at the edges of the forest often show typical steppe heather plants . Pine-steppe forests have developed in rocky, shallow locations.

On the cool, damp northern slopes, the equivalent to the maple-linden forest is the ash-maple gorge forest . Here, too, there is the Kleebwald, a variant particularly rich in spring plants on deep soils. On steep, rather unstable slopes, rich in debris, the proportion of mountain elm is significantly higher and the silver leaf is characteristic, in the Flüheschucht also the hart's tongue fern . The beech is sometimes found in a stand-forming manner with little undergrowth, sometimes as a fir- beech forest, often naturally with a proportion of spruce.

In the area of ​​silicate rocks, ash-maple canyon forests and spruce-fir-beech forests predominate. However, forest-dominated spruce and spruce-pine stands are widespread on less steep slopes. The flora of the rocks of the Upper Gorge, made of granite and red sandstone, is mostly poor in species, in contrast to the limestone of the rest of the gorge, where open-land species that have become rare can be found in abundance.

The few remaining original forests on the Baar plateau above the gorges are known for their abundance of orchids . Otherwise, the pure spruce stand dominates today. The natural forest community of the Baar, one of the coldest regions in Central Europe in winter, was shaped by conifers (fir, pine and spruce) even before the economic influence of humans. The former proportion of beech is not clear from the tree pollen preserved in peat and continues to give cause for discussion.

Biodiversity and wildlife

Of the around 2,800 vascular plants in southern Germany, around 1,200 species are found in the Wutach Gorge, including around 40 orchid species.

The diversity of habitats in the gorge is also reflected in the fauna in the high number of species. Vertebrate , articulated and molluscs are represented with roughly 10,000 species.

Among them the bird world is very diverse with almost 80 species for a narrow valley. In pine-oak bush forests are typically mountain warbler , garden warbler and treecreeper ago, in Maple Linden Forest blackcap and wood warbler , the fir-beech forest, for example, Mistle Thrush , Waldbaumläufer or nutcracker . In the narrow gorge area can be found on the rocks peregrine falcon and spotted flycatcher , the ravine forest Wren and Marsh Tit and the Wutach itself kingfisher , dipper , gray wagtail and until recently the Goosander .

Bats occur in some species because of the numerous smaller burrows, but not in large numbers of individuals.

With 590 large butterfly species , the gorge is home to around half of the species known in Baden. There are also around 1,400 species of beetles and over 1,000 two-winged species (mosquitoes, flies).

Cultural landscape

The Wutachland and the Baar are old settlements on which Neolithic burial grounds can be found. The plains between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb (Baaralb, Randen ) would also be predestined as a north-south transit area if the Wutach Gorge were not a difficult-to-cross trench at the narrowest point. The Roman road from Windisch ( Vindonissa ) to Rottweil ( Arae Flaviae ) once dodged eastward through the Baaralb valleys. In the Middle Ages there were only a few, and then steep or unstable cross paths with fords.

The effectiveness of the dividing line can be seen in the High Alemannic dialect south of the gorge and Lake Constance Alemannic dialect to the north with a Swabian touch. As "Ennewüetler", the residents differentiate themselves from those on the other side of the Wutach.

Map of the Principality of Fürstenberg

Until the formation of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1806, the Wutach was the border of territories such as the Alemannic-Franconian rule area of the Bertholdsbaar , which extended to the area of Horb in the north (8th century), or of the rule of the Zähringer . This is also evidenced by the large number of - often demolished - castle ruins along the Wutach Gorge. Later the ravine separated the prince bergische Landgraviate Baar from the St. Blasien Monastery belonging county Bonndorf.

The economic use of the gorge was mostly limited to forestry, initially mainly near the bottom of the gorge. In the 17th and 18th centuries, logs were rafted from the Haslach valley to the former ironworks in Eberfingen near Stühlingen. There was little gypsum decomposition at the Badhof. The Stallegg electricity plant from 1895 in the upper gorge is one of the oldest river power plants in Germany and contributed to the power supply in Donaueschingen until 1979 . It was reactivated in 2000.

Efforts to use the Wutach Gorge through a dam to generate energy arose during the Nazi era . The project to build the Wutachtalsperre , approved in 1943, came to a standstill during the Second World War . In 1951 the Schluchseewerke took up the plan and greatly expanded it. However, the project aroused widespread protest in the population and was finally rejected in 1960 for reasons of environmental protection.

Today the Wutach Gorge has a high identification value for the surrounding area ( Wutach region , Wutachland ).

Tourism and development

Resting under a shell limestone wall on the Wutach

The nucleus of tourism on the Wutach is the Badhof below the Boll castle ruins , initially a bathing house owned by the von Tannegg family, Bad Boll (sulfur brine) from around 1840 , a sophisticated hotel around the turn of the century, owned by Bad Boll Fishing Club Ltd. from 1894 to 1913 . London , later a therapy facility among other things. The reactivation as a hikers' home was prevented, in 1992 it was demolished by the state of Baden-Württemberg.

White water canoeists mostly navigate the narrow Upper Gorge near Stallegg.

While the bathing business was only of local importance here, the fishing tourism developed in the trout waters once famous across Europe. The development with hiking trails began around 1890, mostly by the Black Forest Association , and partly by members of the English Fishing Club. Then the complex construction of the Ludwig-Neumann-Weg along the Muschelkalkschlucht was carried out by the Black Forest Association in 1904, initially with seven bridges, soon mostly destroyed by floods, and later redrawn through the rock faces. The planning and construction management was carried out by the railway construction engineer Karl Rümmele . From 1908 to 1910 the Primeval Rock Gorge and the Flühe Gorge were also made accessible. The entire gorge path is part of the main hiking trails of the Black Forest Association ( Schwarzwald-Querweg Freiburg – Bodensee and Ostweg ). It is also part of the newly prepared and certified long-distance hiking trail Schluchtensteig . Hiking bus routes and luggage transport services complement the tourist offer.

In the last few years the Wutach Gorge has been advertised more and more for tourists despite the extremely high frequency of the main hiking trail, for example as the “Grand Canyon of the Black Forest” (similar to: Bodetal ).

Today, between 80,000 and 100,000 hikers visit the gorge each season. The Wutach Gorge is a destination not only for those seeking relaxation, but also for amateur geologists, paleontologists and botanists, as well as excursion events for students and schoolchildren. For this reason, seven public geological tapping areas were created in the gorge area from 1978, and a geological information center existed in Aselfingen for several years. Numerous display boards explain what is happening in nature at resting places and important access routes.

Signpost with warning and reference to the rescue section

Again and again there are landslides and rockfalls, which lead to road closures and diversions. Paths often have to be repaired. Due to natural events, but also insufficient preparation, hiking accidents occur again and again, for which the mountain rescue service has to be deployed, two to three times a week in the main season. The paths are partly slippery and exposed, surefootedness and sturdy shoes are required. Signs at the entrances also indicate these circumstances.

In March 2017, a high-voltage pylon had to be felled, which was immediately on the edge of the demolition after a landslide. A new one was set up for this in May. More are to be moved.

Conservation and water quality

On the initiative and three years of the then state commissioner for nature conservation in Baden, Hermann Schurhammer from Bonndorf, especially against the forest authorities at the time, the Baden state parliament decided unanimously in 1928 to commission the state government to create a nature reserve Wutach-Gauchachtal as a “replacement “For the natural landscapes destroyed by the construction of the Schluchseewerk . It was not until the ordinance of July 26, 1939 that it was placed under protection. In 1979 the flames followed . Since the last expansion on March 16, 1989, the Wutach Gorge nature reserve covers 950 hectares.

After the confluence of Gutach (1) and Haslach (2) the dam was to be built. (Model drawing)

From 1942, the heart of the natural dynamics in the Wutach Gorge, the erosion of the Wutach, was threatened by the intention of Schluchseewerk AG, in addition to the source streams of the river in the Feldberg area (2 m³ / s), which were already diverted to the Schluchsee, the Wutach in total by means of a 62 meter high dam below the Haslach estuary to the power plant group in the Schwarzatal. → Wutachtalsperre . In January 1953, was Arbeitsgemeinschaft Homeland Security Black Forest of Fritz Hockenjos founded to rescue the Wutachschlucht before the dam plans. The conservationist Erwin Sumser also campaigned for the preservation of the gorge. After 18 months, around 185,000 signatures against the plan were presented to the state's interior ministry. And after "1000 people (came) to a large rally in the Wutach Gorge on May 3, 1959 [...] the gem and wonder of creation remained for future generations." In 1960, the state government under Prime Minister Kurt Georg Kiesinger decided to reject the plans .

The effluents of the paper mill Neustadt led 1909-1989 again and again to fish kills and odors in the upper canyon. The construction of a sewage treatment plant with chemical (1972) and then also biological (1981) wastewater treatment did not have the desired effect. In 1989 the Neustadt paper mill, which at times had around 500 employees, went bankrupt .

The Münchingen district waste dump was decommissioned around 2008, and there are interests in continuing as an excavated earth dump.

Further pollution results, especially in the upper gorge, from forest damage and, above the middle gorge and rather slightly, from excavations of the Feldbergdonau sediments.

Since 1994 a full-time nature conservation warden ("Wutachranger") has been working on an integrative overall concept that is supposed to adapt all legitimate demands on the Wutach Gorge to the need for protection of the ecologically sensitive natural refuge. This is also done through public relations, visitor management, coordination of maintenance work and on-site inspections.

literature

• Dieter Buck: Natural site - natural sights between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb . Cadolzburg, 1999 ISBN 978-3-89716-085-9 .
• Gerhard Fuchs: Hiking trails and nature conservation in the Wutach Gorge . In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, pp. 567-575, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Gerhard Fuchs: Nature and landscape protection in the Black Forest . In: The Black Forest. Contributions to regional studies = publication by the Alemannic Institute Freiburg i. Br., No. 47, pp. 489-500, 1989 ISBN 3-7826-0047-9
• Rudolf Gauss: The butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Wutach area . In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, pp. 435-439, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Geographisch-Kartographisches Institut Meyer [Hrsg.]: Meyers Naturführer - Südschwarzwald Mannheim, 1989 ISBN 3-411-02775-4 .
• C. Elevation dispute : Wutach and Feldberg region - a geological guide . Stuttgart, 1999 ISBN 3-13-117531-1 .
• Fritz Hockenjos (Ed.): Hiking guide through the Wutach and Gauchach gorge . Freiburg, 1973
• Fritz Hockenjos: The Wutach Gorge . Constance, 1964, ISBN 3-7930-0226-8
• State Institute for Environmental Protection (Ed.): The Wutach - Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Natural u. Landsch.-Schutzgeb. Baden-Württ., Vol. 6, Karlsruhe, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Gerhard Lang: The vegetation history of the Wutach Gorge and its surroundings . In: T he Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, pp. 323-349, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Ekkehard Liehl: Morphology of the Wutach area . In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, pp. 1-30, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Erich Oberdorfer: The flora of the Wutach area . In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, pp. 261-321, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Willi Paul: The natural history of the Wutach gorge - geology . In: Fritz Hockenjos (ed.): Hiking guide through the Wutach and Gauchach gorge. Freiburg (Rombach), 1973, pp. 11-39
• Gilbert Rahm: The older glaciation of the Black Forest and the adjacent areas . In: The Black Forest. Contributions to cultural studies. = Publication of the Alemannic Institute Freiburg i. Br., No. 47, pp. 36-58, 1989 ISBN 3-7826-0047-9 .
• Martin Schnetter: The birds of the Wutach area . In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, pp. 447-474, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Herbert Schwarzmann: Hydrography of the Wutach area . In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. 6: 221-226, Freiburg, 1988 ISBN 3-88251-135-4 .
• Otti Wilmanns: Black Forest excursion guide - an introduction to the landscape and vegetation, with 45 hiking routes. Stuttgart, 2001 ISBN 3-8252-2180-6 .

media

• Reinhard Zeese: Geographical / geomorphological excursion into the past - adventure landscape between the Rhine and Lake Constance (with the Wutach river tapping), DVD, LEB-Brühl 2002

Web links

Commons : Wutachschlucht nature reserve  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• River history profile and map
• Till Stumpf (ELMM): Learning module "The Wutach: Did the Rhine dump the water from the Danube?". Geomorphology of Southwest Germany. In: WEBGEO regional / Southwest Germany. Institute for Physical Geography (IPG) at the University of Freiburg, accessed on February 1, 2004 (Flash, geographic texts and images on the Wutach and the gorge landscape).
• Article in the journal of the Black Forest Association "Der Schwarzwald" 3/2009, p. 14 by Friedbert Zapf on the history of the Wutach-Gauchachtal nature reserve (PDF; 3.0 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Willi Paul: The natural history of the Wutach gorge - geology. In: Fritz Hockenjos (Ed.): Hiking guide through the Wutach and Gauchach gorges, Freiburg (Rombach), 1973, p. 11
2. ↑ The flora of the Wutach area. In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, Freiburg, 1988, p. 313 ISBN 3-88251-135-4
3. ↑ Gerhard Lang: The vegetation history of the Wutach Gorge and its surroundings. In: Die Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, Freiburg, 1988, p. 346 ISBN 3-88251-135-4
4. ↑ Martin Schnetter: The birds of the Wutach area In: The Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, Freiburg, 1988, pp. 447-474 ISBN 3-88251-135-4
5. ↑ Rudolf Gauss: The butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Wutach area In: The Wutach. Natural history monograph of a river landscape. = Nature u. Landscape protection areas Bad.-Württ. Vol. 6, Freiburg, 1988, p. 435 ISBN 3-88251-135-4
6. ^ Conrad Meyer-Ahrens, Josef Wiel: Bonndorf & Steinamühle - two climatic cur stations on the Schwarzwalde , JA Binder, Bonndorf 1873
7. ↑ Christian Engel: Southwest: The Indomitable. Badische Zeitung, October 15, 2016, accessed on October 15, 2016 . 
8. ^ Heiner Hiltermann: Black Forest (=  DuMont Reise-Taschenbuch ). Du Mont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2019, ISBN 978-3-7701-7570-3 , p. 268 .
9. ↑ Experience the Wutach Gorge! In: wutachschlucht.de. Wutachschlucht holiday region, accessed on June 25, 2020 . 
10. ^ Stefan Limberger-Andris: Bonndorf: After landslide: Heavy current pylon fell on the edge of the Wutach Gorge. Badische Zeitung, March 15, 2017, accessed on May 11, 2017 . 
11. ↑ bz: Southwest: New mast on the Wutach. Badische Zeitung, May 11, 2017, accessed on May 11, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Bruno Morath: Fascination Wutach Gorge. In: Heimat am Hochrhein, Volume XXXVII, Yearbook 2012. Ed .: Landkreis Waldshut, Edition Isele, Eggingen 2011, p. 45 f. ISBN 978-3-86142-538-0 .
13. ^ Article in the Badische Zeitung
14. ^ Article in the Südkurier