Kaldenkirchen border forest
The Kaldenkirchener Grenzwald is a landscape and nature reserve and part of the Maas-Schwalm-Nette nature park on the left Lower Rhine .
Location and soil conditions
The border forest is located in the west and southwest of Kaldenkirchen and belongs to the municipality of Nettetal . In the west, it ends on the Meuse slope (popularly called The Gorge ), along which the German-Dutch border runs. In general, the soil is quite poor in nutrients and mostly consists of sand; there is also sound. There are a few small moor and swamp areas. When regular forestry was introduced from 1800 onwards due to the general lack of wood, the soils only allowed afforestation with the undemanding Scots pine . The clay was broken down by the brisk domestic roofing tile industry, which has meanwhile come to a standstill.
The 1947 forest fire
After the Second World War, the forest was declared an exclusion zone and the trees were released to the Dutch as reparations for deforestation. The forest floor, covered with abandoned tree tops and dry branches, burned down completely in the hot summer of 1947. What remained was pure sandy soil, which offered the wind a large target area; there was erosion in the form of sandstorms - unusual in Germany - that blew over fields and neighboring towns.
The reforestation
Difficulties
Difficulties were caused not only by the completely dried out sandy soil and the fundraising process immediately after the war, but also by the confusing division of the soil into approx. 5000 small parcels, some of which had a size of just 0.1 hectares. The owners showed little interest in reforestation. In 1919 the Belgians cut down the forest as a reparation payment, the compensation payment became worthless due to inflation . For the second forced deforestation by the Dutch, the payment of compensation was in part delayed until the day of the currency reform and thus devalued again. In addition, the Netherlands claimed most of the forest in the course of post-war border adjustments. Nevertheless, at the suggestion of Ernst J. Martin , the Waldwirtschaftsgemeinschaft Kaldenkirchen (WWG) was founded on November 14, 1949, in which almost all forest farmers came together and which, following a land consolidation process , was able to obtain considerable funds for afforestation .
A new forest is emerging
After the network of paths had been expanded, the construction of windbreak alleys began; The hardwood tall trunks received new humus soil brought in, each tree - tied to a wooden post - had to be protected against game bites with a wire fence . In 1951 650,000 pines were planted, later also red oaks were added and to prevent monoculture , countless bird protection trees were planted . A cockchafer flood and the pine chute threatened the new plantings. In order to create a natural ecological balance , nesting aids for birds and bats were hung; Red forest ants were transported from the Eifel to the new forest in special boxes . In order to reduce the risk of forest fires, protective aisles were expanded and extinguishing water ponds created. Trial areas of the Sequoia farm were planted with different tree species. A specialty is the one and a half kilometer long sweet chestnut avenue with different types of fruit. The Deutsche Waldjugend Viersen has been looking after a sponsored forest in the border forest for a quarter of a century and has carried out a bat resettlement program there, for example .
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The border forest today - local recreation and nature reserve
The current border forest shows a great variety of trees; A new humus soil has long since formed under the varied stands. It is a popular recreational destination. In the vicinity of today's Sequoiafarm arboretum , a geo-hydrological water garden has been created that is open to visitors. There are numerous designated riding and hiking trails as well as refuges and natural history tours take place regularly. In the area of the former "Experimental Plant 1", approx. 500 m north of the Sequoia farm, there is a 60-year-old (2010) population of over one hundred mountain sequoia trees , under which a sorrel carpet has now spread.
The small bog and marshland under nature protection (the border forest high moors Langes Venn, Galgenvenn, Kempkes Venn and Sonsbeck are the last of their kind on the Lower Rhine) are special biotopes of retreat for rare plants (besides cotton grass, for example, those that only occur here Gray bell heather ) and animals (in addition to dragonfly species, for example, the butterfly white-spot ram , which is occasionally seen ). The Heidemoore nature reserve is located in the southern part of the Kaldenkirchen border forest. In the past, peat was mined in these fens to a small extent and in the 19th century, when flax was still grown, pits were dug to rot the flax. Over time, nutrient-poor habitats emerged from these former sinks. The area of the heather water is maintained by means of landscape planning. Many plant species have spread here, including sundew and Schnabelried , and there is now one of the largest moor frog populations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The premium hiking trail "Galgenvenn" leads through the border forest . In 2016 it was voted the second most beautiful hiking trail in Germany.
See also
literature
- Ernst J. Martin: Fall and reconstruction of the Kaldenkirchen border forest . In: Fredeburg series of publications , volume: Nature conservation and landscape management in NRW , Henn. Ratingen 1951
- Ernst J. Martin: The border forest . In: Heimatbuch des Grenzkreis Kempen-Krefeld . Kempen 1951
- Ernst J. Martin: Border forest on the Lower Rhine . In: Our forest . No. 6/1957. Bonn. ISSN 0935-7017
- Herbert Hubatsch: From the Sequoia farm to the biological station . In: Heimatbuch des Kreis Kempen-Krefeld . Kempen 1973
- 30 years of Grenzwald. Documentation . Higher Forest Authority Rhineland. Bonn 1981
- Heinz-Willi Schmitz: Three decades of reforestation in the Kaldenkirchen border forest . In: Home book of the district of Viersen . Viersen 1981
- Erik Martin: The little border forest book . Special edition of the Muschelhaufen magazine . No. 24/25. Viersen 1988. ISSN 0085-3593
- Nils Martin: The border forest between Kaldenkirchen and Brüggen . Technical work in geography. Municipal high school Dülken. Viersen 2006
- Hans-Dieter Boos: Hiking - Change - Knowledge. Border town of Kaldenkirchen in Nettetal . Citizens' Association Kaldenkirchen. Nettetal 2006
Web links
- Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen in the "Project Mammutbaum"
- Website of the Arboretum Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen
- Maas-Schwalm-Nette Nature Park
- Schwalm-Nette Nature Park
- Photo album and information about the Kaldenkirchen border forest
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernst J. Martin: The great forest fire . In: "Heimatbuch des Kreis Kempen-Krefeld". Kempen 1958
- ↑ Gregor Fellenberg: Recording and characterization of the woody stock of the Kaldenkirchen Biological Station . Skilled work. University of Essen, 1994, page 15
- ^ Rheinische Post of October 18, 1949
- ^ Ernst J. Martin: Waldwirtschaftsgemeinschaft Kaldenkirchen . In: "Der Waldbauer" No. 18. 1957
- ^ Ernst J. Martin: Landscaping through afforestation in the border areas . In: "The Lower Rhine". No. 1/1953. Kempen 1953. ISSN 0342-5673
- ↑ Ernst J. Martin: Fall and reconstruction of the Kaldenkirchen border forest . In: Nature conservation and landscape management in NRW . Henn, Ratingen 1951
- ↑ Test facility 1 in the "Project Mammutbaum"
- ↑ http://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/galgenvenn-zweitschoenster-wanderweg-deutschlands-100.html