Hertogenwald
The Hertogenwald , formerly the ducal forest area, is a closed forest area in eastern Belgium , north of the High Fens and is part of the Ardennes . It is located on the territory of the municipalities of Eupen , Raeren , Baelen , Limbourg and Jalhay and is part of the "Vennvorland" in the cross-border nature park Hohes Venn-Eifel . With its 12,300 hectares, the Hertogenwald is one of the largest closed high forest areas in the Ardennes.
history
Since the 13th century the area has always been in the hands of the Dukes of Limburg and, in their successor, the Dukes of Brabant . Before the clearing in the Middle Ages, the area extended to the Aachen city forest . From 1795 it was a French state forest, from 1815 a Dutch and Prussian state forest; from 1920 the area came completely to Belgium. From 1830, the Hertogenwald was divided into a western part belonging to Belgium and an eastern part belonging to Prussia . These areas are currently still managed by two different forest offices. The dividing line of the areas is the former state border, which is given by the course of the Hillbach. A large part of the western Hertogenwald belongs to the so-called “royal hunt”, which has its starting point in the Hestreux forester's house .
In the second half of the 17th century, the forest, which originally consisted of beech, oak, alder and ash, disappeared as a result of overgrazing and heavy deforestation for iron production. The area, as well as that of the adjacent Eifel, were without a high-growing tree population, which is why the Habsburg governor signed a decree in 1775, as a result of which an area could be planted with fast-growing spruce trees on a trial basis .
These parcels still bear the field name of the "thousand firs" or the "ten thousand firs". From the middle of the 19th century, the Prussian forest administration began to create large-scale monocultures with conifers in the eastern part. Currently the forest consists of about 2/3 of coniferous wood and 1/3 of hardwood. In order to reverse this situation, the Natura 2000 project is currently carrying out renaturation of the streams and increased reforestation with deep-rooted deciduous trees.
Looting of wood during the First World War
In the period between 1916 and 1918, the German military command had Russian and later Italian prisoners of war remove large quantities of hardwood (oak and beech) from the western, then Belgian, part of the Hertogenwald in order to fortify the trenches on the 700 km long Yser front . For this purpose, a narrow-gauge railway network with a total length of 60 km was created through the Hertogenwald, which was given the name "Trans-Hertogenwaldbahn". At the same time, a powerful sawmill was set up in the Weser Valley near Membach , where the wood was processed. According to estimates by a responsible forest official, around 300,000 strong trees were removed. Only the inaccessible slopes on the Gileppe Dam were excluded from overexploitation. The wood was transported from Membach by rail to Flanders via Dolhain . Farmers from the surrounding Belgian villages and their horses were used to back wood. From 1920 the track system was gradually dismantled.
Mefferscheid Arboretum
In 1901, the Belgian forest administration at the time set up an arboretum of around 5 hectares in front of the Hestreux forester's house, not far from the fork in the road , in order to observe the growth of mainly coniferous wood from North America, Asia and Europe on the barren soil. Several of the giant trees planted around 120 years ago are still there. There is a parking lot in front of the area and it is easy to explore thanks to the wooden slat paths. Since 2012 it has also been nicknamed Ar (t) boretum or Dragon Path , as there are artistically designed wooden objects.
Waters
The most important bodies of water are the Weser , the Getzbach , the Hill , the Thrush and the Gileppebach, which feed the Eupener Wesertalsperre and the Gileppetalsperre , respectively .
Hiking in the Hertogenwald
Tourist and nature-related information is available from Haus Ternell or from the Botrange Nature Park Center . The partly asphalted forest road network, which extends over more than a hundred kilometers, offers numerous hiking and cycling opportunities.
literature
- Willy Gillessen: Game and hunting in the Hertogenwald . In: Zeitschrift des Eupener Geschichtsverein , vol. 3 (1953), pp. 25–29 and 57–63.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://environnement.wallonie.be/amisdelafagne/HF/Portaits/Hertogenwald.htm
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://natura2000.wallonie.be/faq_forestiere.htm
- ↑ M. Lambou and JM Groulard "Le chemin de fer Transhertogenwald". "Hautes Fagnes" n ° 205 p. 13-19, 1992
- ↑ Description of the arboretum in the Hertogenwald
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 41.3 ″ N , 6 ° 2 ′ 10.5 ″ E