Graburg

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Graburg

IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area

Part of the northern side of the Graburg seen from Weißenborn.

Part of the northern side of the Graburg seen from Weißenborn.

location In the districts of Weißenborn and Rambach of the community of Weißenborn and in the districts of Rittmannshausen and Netra of the community of Ringgau in the Werra-Meißner district in Hesse .
surface 341.0 hectares
Identifier NSG 1636003, ND 636.604
WDPA ID 6970
Geographical location 51 ° 7 '  N , 10 ° 7'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 6 '43 "  N , 10 ° 6' 51"  E
Graburg (Hesse)
Graburg
Sea level from 320  m to 515  m
Setup date ND 1915, NSG 1965
particularities Special protection as a natural monument , nature reserve , part of a Natura 2000 area, geotope worthy of protection and “core area nature protection”.

The Graburg in the North Hessian Ringgau is a mountain made of shell limestone , which lies over a base made of red . Near-natural limestone beech forests, rocks and landslides characterize the area in a special way. Because of its "scenic beauty and uniqueness" and its importance as a habitat for rare and endangered animal and plant species, the Graburg was placed under special protection in 1915 as a natural monument and from May 1965 as a nature reserve .

As a place where a variety of rare plant species grow , the Graburg is one of the most important nature reserves in Hesse in terms of plant geography . The numerous vegetation units that exist here are considered valuable for research and teaching. Particularly worthy of protection are the limestone grasslands rich in orchids , the largest yew population in Hesse , the large landslides with their blue grass slopes and the numerous caves in the rocky areas as winter quarters for endangered bat species .

Geographical location

Graburg is located in the Hessian Werra-Meißner district in the suburbs of Weißenborn and Rambach of the community of Weißenborn and in the suburbs of the districts of Rittmannshausen and Netra of the community of Ringgau . Its highest peaks, which protrude from the one and a half kilometers long and seven hundred meters wide plateau, are the 514.8  m high Rabenkuppe in the west and the 489.6 m high shepherd's castle to  the east .

The reserve belongs to the " Geo-Naturpark Frau-Holle-Land ". In terms of natural space , it is assigned to the sub-unit "Northern Ringgau " in the main unit of the " Northwestern edge plate of the Thuringian Basin ".

climate

The average annual rainfall in the area is 700 mm. The wettest month is July with 80 to 90 mm. In contrast, the lower limit in March is only 30 to 40 mm. An annual average temperature between 6.5 and 7.5 ° C. indicates a weak subatlantic climate impact. The exposed rock corridors and blue grass slopes with the adjoining canyon forests are exposed to significantly more extreme climatic conditions.

Protected position

Natural monument

Already in the early days of state nature conservation in North Hesse, the Graburg received the status of a natural monument to be protected . A decree by the royal government of the then Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau protected the shell limestone plateau with its rocky slopes from "destructive interference" in 1915. Later - since 1924 - larger areas of the Graburg were taken out of forest use. In the list of natural monuments of the Werra-Meißner district, the Graburg has the number ND 636.604 with an expulsion date of October 23, 1937.

Nature reserve

With an ordinance of May 24, 1965 of the higher nature conservation authority at the regional council in Kassel , around 180 hectares of the Graburg were entered in the state nature conservation book and thus placed under the protection of the still applicable Reich Nature Conservation Act of 1935. In November 1988, the area was again designated as a nature reserve with an area enlarged to 341.0 hectares. The area to be protected now comprised the plateau of the Graburg, from the Rabenkuppe in the west to the shepherd's castle to the east, including the Königental to the south and the 475  m high Manrod. The nature reserve has the national identifier 1636003 and the WDPA code 6970. The purpose of the protection was it, the " Lean lawns, limestone corridors, hardwood- rich block rubble and hillside forests, geophyte-rich deciduous mixed forests, alder-ash forests and wet meadows with the people living here, in part very to preserve and promote rare and endangered animal and plant species. ” The same ordinance should also protect two natural rockfalls of different ages, which are of great scientific importance due to their geomorphology .

Natura 2000 site

With the "Dreiherrenstein-Eschenberg-Kreuzerberg" nature reserve bordering to the east and the area around the 488.2  m high slate in the west, the Graburg forms the fauna-flora-habitat area "Kalkberge bei Röhrda and Weißenborn". The establishment of the area boundaries and the conservation objectives took place with the "Ordinance on the Natura 2000 areas in Hesse" in 2008. In the Natura 2000 protected area system , the FFH area has the number 4826-305 and a size of 634.5 hectares .

The occurrence of thirteen habitat types in the FFH area is considered to be exceptional , which are considered to be of community interest and special protection areas must be designated for their conservation. They reflect the great biological diversity of the area. Three of these habitat types have been given priority, which means that they are threatened with extinction and that there is a special responsibility for their conservation. The occurrence of the bat species great mouse- eared bat and lesser horseshoe bat as well as the orchid lady's slipper was also decisive for the designation of the FFH area . According to Annex II of the Habitats Directive, they are severely endangered and strictly protected species for which special protected areas must also be designated.

Geologically protected object

The natural landscape of the Graburg is listed as a geotope worthy of protection in the North Hesse landscape framework plan . Here, with the help of the Hessian Nature Conservation Act, individual creations of nature and natural parts of the landscape that are considered part of the geological natural heritage due to their “rarity, peculiarity or beauty” are to be specially protected.

Core area nature protection

In the area of ​​the Graburg and the Schieferstein, a total of 39.2 hectares were declared core areas as part of the Hessian biodiversity strategy in the 2010s and are therefore only available for nature conservation and no longer for wood use. These selected forest areas should be able to develop unaffected in the future so that the deficits in stocks of the age and decay phases can be remedied in order to improve the biodiversity of old and dead wood inhabitants . In order to achieve the desired eight percent target, a further designation of around 230 hectares of the state forest areas in the Graburg area is planned. Resistance to these decommissioning plans, which were welcomed by nature conservation associations , arose in the affected municipalities, as conflicts over use and targets are feared.

geology

The "Anger" lookout point, above a spoiler lip, offers a wide view over Weißenborn to the Schlierbachswald and the Werra Mountains.

The Ringgau belongs to the western foothills of the Muschelkalkplatten that surround the Thuringian Basin . These extend here from the northwest of Thuringia to Hesse. Their plateaus are on average between four hundred and five hundred meters high. Projections near the edge of the plate protrude even higher. The Ringgau was once separated by the Werra from its original rock formation of the edge plates and with it created a witness mountain , which is cut in its center by a tectonic rift valley. The elongated "Netra-Ifta Valley", in which the Netra flows to the Sontra in the west and the Ifta to the Werra in the east , divides the Ringgau into a northern and southern area.

In the northern area, the Graburg forms the center piece. It mainly consists of the Upper and Lower Wavy Limestone of the Lower Muschelkalk . These rock layers were formed from the deposits of a shallow sea more than two hundred million years ago. During the Mesozoic period , the region was covered by a tropical to subtropical marginal sea , which had only narrow connections to the ocean. The prominent, widely visible rocks are demolition surfaces of the shell limestone clod. All the way down to the edge of the forest at the foot of the slopes, slipped limestone has covered the Upper Buntsandstein , which is called Röt , below . The limestone rock bands, which stretch like bands along the upper slopes of the slope, are considered to be geomorphologically significant. In many places there are slopes created by Muschelkalk landslides and landslides, which should not be so common anywhere in Germany as in the area of ​​the western edge of the Thuringian Basin, which includes the Gobert and the Wanfrieder Werrahöhen in addition to the Ringgau .

The landslides and landslides occur again and again in times of exceptionally high rainfall. They arise at the layer boundary between the Lower Muschelkalk and the Upper Buntsandstein. Rainwater seeps into the crevices and crevices of the shell limestone and meets the clayey red color, which swells and can become fluid. As a result, the limestone above the red starts to move and becomes unstable. The rocky areas that peel off move gradually down the valley on the pulpy red and create gorges . These enable increased seepage of precipitation , which accelerates the so-called mass displacement process. The last landslide happened on Manrod in May 1895. Here, after thunderstorms, huge masses of rock fell and destroyed a forest area of ​​more than one hectare.

nature

As a place where rare plants grow and because of its exceptional floristic wealth, the Graburg is considered one of the most important nature reserves in Hesse. In a maintenance plan from 1986 commissioned by the District Directorate for Forests and Nature Conservation in Kassel, the area is also rated as important nationwide. For example, twenty orchid species have been identified here, including a remarkable population of pale orchid for Hesse . In addition to the orchid-rich limestone lawn, the special need for protection also applies to the largest occurrence of yew trees in Hesse, the large landslides with their blue grass slopes and the numerous cave occurrences in the rocky areas as winter quarters for endangered bat species.

vegetation

In early spring, the leaves and the countless flowers of the Märzenbecher color the forest floor green and white.

Among the plant communities, those of the rock corridors are emphasized, which are characterized by a large number of dealpin species and a high proportion of sub-Mediterranean and continental species. The societies included in the “steppe heath” are very old and original. Some of their pre-Alpine species are considered Ice Age relics , while the sub-Mediterranean and continental species are likely to have penetrated this far in the warmer periods of the Late and Post- Ice Age. As floristic treasures are vaginal Kronwicke that Armblütige Gänsekresse that Heilwurz , the Pale Orchid and the mountain Kronwicke viewed.

The fine rubble heaps of the demolition walls and the rocky embankments are populated by semi-dry, blue-grass-rich grass of various types. The blue-grass and blue-green sedge dominate the stocks . Above the rock faces, the blood cranesbill fringing society joins, due to their biodiversity with a high supply of flowers, fruits and seeds.

The richness of orchids in the limestone grasslands and forests is considered to be of national importance. Represented in the area are: white forest bird , lady's slipper , reddish-brown and broad-leaved stendellum , mosquito-handelwort , bird's nestwort , bee and fly ragwort , stately and pale orchid and greenish forest hyacinth .

The herbaceous layer of a former middle forest in the vicinity of the Rabenkuppe is particularly attractive in spring due to the extensive occurrence of Märzenbechen . The biodiversity also enriches the white butterbur . The rather rare in Northern Hesse plant from the family of the daisy family is on the way to Königental still very numerous.

Woods

The rocky backdrop on the west side of the "Rabenkuppe".
Former middle forest on the "Rabenkuppe" with stick rashes and mossy trunk feet.

The main area of ​​the reserve is covered by beech forests. From a location-based point of view, the forest areas are divided into a submontane beech mixed forest zone on the slopes and a montane beech zone in the plateau areas. The woodruff beech forest forms the dominant forest community on the lime-rich subsoil . Characteristic of the area are also the limestone beech forests and the canyon forests, which are more compact .

In the past, large parts of the forest were managed as medium forest and coppice forest. Relics of these forms of use are still visible on the Graburg high plateau. At the beginning of the 20th century, nutrient-poor and poorly usable pastures and fallow areas were reforested with pine trees . Stands of old pines from this period can still be found in the area today. Their already small proportion has already decreased in the current generation of forests and should continue to decrease in the future.

The development goal is the preservation of the near-natural and structurally rich stands with the tree species typical of the habitat. The forests, most of which are privately owned or owned by the State of Hesse, have been managed by Hessen-Forst for a long time . Only trees with a certain minimum diameter are taken as high-quality trunk wood . This type of use is intended to promote a mosaic of various stages of development and age in the holdings. In addition, so-called core areas have been identified that are no longer processed for forestry and are left to their natural development. The core areas are considered to be an ideal retreat for species that are particularly sensitive to disturbance such as black stork, great spotted woodpecker and forest bats. The numerous landslides and ledges, including a twenty-five meter wide strip, are in any case exempt from forest use according to the Protected Area Ordinance.

Another special feature is the large number of yew trees, which have become rare in Hessian forests today. It can often be found at the shepherd's castle and the northern slope of the Graburg. With more than a thousand specimens that have survived on the steep slopes, the protected area has the largest natural yew tree population in Hesse. In the past few decades, around six hundred young yew trees have been added. These are extensively protected from the deer 's appetite by the employees of the responsible Wehretal Forestry Office with fences and individual sheaths.

fauna

The numerous cave occurrences in the rocky areas use bat species as winter quarters. The lesser horseshoe bat was found in one of the caves . It was considered lost in Hesse in 1995 and is threatened with extinction in Germany. With the noctule another endangered species occurs in Graburggebiet.

In addition to typical forest birds have with owl , black , Central and gray-headed woodpecker , red kite , boreal owl , black stork and Honey Buzzard eight according to the European Birds Directive their habitat requiring special protection for species in Graburggebiet. Also deemed worth Dove , tawny owl , long-eared owl , woodcock and Raven .

Numerous butterflies can be observed, especially on the rocky slopes surrounded by forests. Of the endangered and protected butterflies and burnet were apatura iris , Dog Violet Fritillary , White Admiral , Swallowtail , Real Kleewidderchen , thyme and ZYGAENA LONICERAE proven :.

Historical uses

In the Iron Age, residents of nearby dwellings are said to have built a refuge on the steeply sloping rock ridge of the "Shepherd's Castle" and repeatedly visited it.

On the narrow rock ridge of the "Schäferburg", which slopes steeply to the north and south, residents of nearby dwellings are said to have built a rampart as a refuge in the Iron Age . Recovered finds of ceramic fragments from the 13th century suggest that this was also the site of a high medieval castle . Nothing is known about the builder, there is no contemporary evidence. However, since the 15th century there have been indications in the reports of various chroniclers that many castles were built during the Hessian-Thuringian War of Succession from 1247: In the Werra area, among other things, the Graburg. The archivist and historian Georg Landau also mentions the “Kraburg” among the fortifications in his book “Historical-topographical description of the desolate localities in the Electorate of Hesse” , which was published in 1858 and is said to have been built in the 13th century and soon destroyed . The findings of Sippel of 1991, the "Kraheborgk" as an Outbound Spur castle is on the eastern edge of the limestone plateau, by a " waiting gap called" moat is separated from the main area.

Similar to other parts of the region, large parts of the forest were managed as medium and coppice forest and the oak-rich forests of the Graburg were also of great importance for traditional hat and litter use . Relics of these forms of use, which were largely abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century, can still be seen today on the Graburg high plateau.

The dry grasslands in the area, with the exception of the natural stocks in the area of ​​the rock ledges, were created through historical pasture use. Up until the 19th century, drift pastures were important for sheep farming. Remnants from this time are the juniper stocks that determine the landscape south of the Schäferburg. Compared to other woody plants, the juniper is very weak and its occurrence is limited in many places to locations that were created through pasture use. Since the juniper is a plant in which the sheep do not eat the young shoots, it became a characteristic feature of a cultural landscape that was characterized by grazing by sheep and goats.

Tourist offers

Graburg Scout

The community of Weißenborn offers a “Graburg-Scout” to look after the hikers who explore nature on one of the numerous paths in the local area. The hiking tourists, according to the plan, will be met by him after a spontaneous phone call and an appointment at short notice and will be treated to a rustic snack with products from the region in one of the huts around Weißenborn. This offer convinced those responsible at “GrimmHeimat NordHessen” so much that they honored this idea and its implementation with the tourism award in the “Service” category in January 2019.

Premium hiking trail

The premium hiking trail "P15 Graburg", which encircles Weißenborn extensively, has been awarded the hiking seal of the German Hiking Institute due to its high quality . Because of its steep ascents and descents and partly narrow forest paths, the 14 km long circular route is classified as a medium-difficult tour.

Long-distance hiking trails

The long-distance hiking trails that cross the protected area and partially overlap on the same route include:

Art trail

The basic idea of ​​the “ Ars Natura ” project is to set up art trails along long-distance hiking trails X8 and X3 . Over a distance of 700 km, Ars Natura is to become a total work of art with international participation and worldwide attention. Since September 2001, more than twenty sections with currently over three hundred works of art have been opened. With the aim of “relaxation through hiking and an intense artistic experience in the nature gallery”, the installation of a work is to be realized approximately every kilometer. The twelfth part-stage, which leads from Röhrda to Dreiherren- and Heldrastein through the Graburg area, is identical to long-distance hiking trail X8 - “Barbarossaweg”. In this area of ​​the “open-air gallery”, artists address political reunification and the unity of man and nature.

  • "Ars Natura open-air gallery" on the Graburg

  • Jördis Samland, Hildesheim: "Waldläufer".

  • Oliver Seeger, Hildesheim: "Cocoon".

  • Bianca Gabriel and Julia Wandel, Hamburg: “A letter”.

literature

  • Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hessen, protect-experience-maintain . tape 3 : Werra-Meißner district and Hersfeld-Rotenburg district. . cognitio Verlag, Niedenstein 2005, ISBN 3-932583-13-2 .
  • Uta Hillesheim-Kimmel, Helmut Karafiat, Klaus Lewejohann, Wolfgang Lobin: The nature reserves in Hessen . 2nd Edition. Institute for Nature Conservation, Darmstadt 1978, DNB  780650581 .
  • Adalbert Schraft: GeoTours in Hessen - Geological forays through the most beautiful regions of Hessen . tape 3 : East Hessian red sandstone mountains and Werra-Meißner mountains . Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology, Wiesbaden 2018, ISBN 978-3-89026-384-7 .
  • Paul Krämer, Gerlinde Straka: Basic data acquisition on the FFH area "Kalkberge bei Röhrda and Weißenborn" . Planning Office for Nature Conservation and Forests (PNW). On behalf of the Kassel Regional Council, Arnstadt 2006.

Web links

Commons : Graburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Paul Krämer, Gerlinde Straka: Basic data acquisition on the FFH area “Kalkberge bei Röhrda and Weißenborn”. Processing period from May to November 2003 and May to December 2006. Planning Office for Nature Conservation and Forests (PNW).
  2. ↑ a b c d Sieglinde and Lothar Nitsche: Nature reserves in the Werra-Meißner district and the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district. In: Nature reserves in Hessen, protect-experience-maintain. Volume 3, p. 122 f.
  3. ↑ Classification of natural areas according to Otto Klausing in the Hessen Environmental Atlas at atlas.umwelt.hessen.de ; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  4. ↑ Marcus Schmidt: The pioneering phase of state nature conservation in North Hesse. In: Yearbook Nature Conservation in Hessen. Volume 14, 2011/2012. (nw-fva.de , accessed January 1, 2020)
  5. ↑ The ordinance came into force on the day after it was announced in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse on July 5, 1965.
  6. ^ Ordinance on the "Graburg" nature reserve in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse, No. 27/1965 of July 5, 1965, p. 782 f.
  7. ^ "Graburg" in the world database on protected areas; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  8. ↑ Quoted from the ordinance on the "Graburg" nature reserve of November 9, 1988 in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse, No. 48/1988 of November 28, 1988, pp. 2585 f.
  9. ↑ Ordinance on the Natura 2000 areas in Hesse in the Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse, Part I, No. 4, of March 7, 2008.
  10. ↑ Profile of FFH area 4826-305 “Kalkberge bei Röhrda and Weißenborn” on the website of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); accessed on January 1, 2020.
  11. ↑ List of habitats occurring in Germany in Appendix I of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  12. ↑ List of species occurring in Germany in Appendix II of the Fauna Flora Habitat Directive; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  13. ↑ Geologically worthy of protection objects in the landscape framework plan North Hesse on the website of the regional council of Kassel; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  14. ^ Hessian biodiversity strategy on the website of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  15. ↑ "1,100 hectares of forest area of ​​the Graburg and Plesse are to be closed", on the website of Lokalo24.de; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  16. ↑ Marcus Schmidt: habitats and species. In: Nature reserves in Hessen, protect-experience-maintain. Volume 3, p. 23 f.
  17. ↑ a b c Helmut Sauer: Graburg. In: The nature reserves in Hessen. P. 355 f.
  18. ↑ Emily Spanel: Hesse's largest natural yew population is growing around the Graburg near Weißenborn. In: Werra-Rundschau. October 26, 2018 (werra-rundschau.de , accessed January 1, 2020)
  19. ↑ a b Graburg, community of Ringgau. Castles, palaces, mansions (as of October 6, 2011). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on January 1, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Historical uses with significance for the protection goals of the area. In: Action plan for the FFH area "Kalkberge bei Röhrda and Weißenborn". November 2014.
  21. ↑ The "GrimmHeimat NordHessen" is a cross-thematic and cross-sector umbrella brand of the regional management of North Hesse, which is intended to promote and market the region.
  22. ↑ Emily Spanel: Tobias Schäffer is the Graburg Scout for the community of Weißenborn. In: Werra-Rundschau. December 30, 2018 (werra-rundschau.de , accessed January 1, 2020)
  23. ↑ "Order the Graburg-Scout!" With the menu to download on the website of the community of Weißenborn; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  24. ↑ Premiumweg P15 on the website of the Geo-Naturpark Frau-Holle-Land; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  25. ↑ The basic idea of ​​the project is presented on the Ars Natura website ; accessed on January 1, 2020.
  26. ↑ Information on art on the hiking trail between Röhrda and Heldrastein on the Ars Natura website; accessed on January 1, 2020.