Iberg near Markershausen

Iberg near Markershausen IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
The northwest area of ​​the nature reserve.
location	In the districts of Markershausen and Archfeld in the Herleshausen community in the Werra-Meißner district of northern Hesse .
surface	32 hectares
Identifier	1636016
WDPA ID	163845
Geographical location	51 ° 3 '  N , 10 ° 7'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 2 '34 "  N , 10 ° 7' 20"  E
Sea level	from 310  m to 434  m
Setup date	1988
particularities	Special protection as a nature reserve and as part of a Natura 2000 area.

The Iberg near Markershausen is a 434  m high elevation on the southern edge of the Ringgau - high plateau in the north Hessian Werra-Meißner district . On the shallow soils, species-rich mixed deciduous forests with a rich soil flora occupy most of the area. In order to preserve this valuable habitat with the animal and plant species living here, the southwest slope was designated as a nature reserve in 1988 and since 2008 it has also been part of a flora-fauna-habitat area .

The remains of rock faces, as evidence of an earlier landslide, as well as a 180 m long and up to 30  m high limestone rock wall in the protected area are considered significant from a geoscientific point of view.

The name "Iberg" is derived from the yew tree and, as with many other "Ibergs" , the name denotes the yew tree. In the nature reserve it can still be found as the second layer of trees under beeches. Today yew trees are under special protection, as their population has been greatly decimated over the centuries and they are among the species threatened with extinction.

Geographical location

The nature reserve is located in the districts of Markershausen and Archfeld of the Herleshausen community in the southeastern part of the Werra-Meißner district. It belongs to the " Geo-Nature Park Frau-Holle-Land ".

The Iberg is located on the southern foothills of the Ringgau. The Werra once separated the Ringgau from its original rock formation of the shell limestone plates that border the Thuringian Basin and created a so-called " witness mountain " with the Ringgau . In its center it is cut by the tectonic rift valley of the Netra-Ifta Valley, which divides it into a northern and southern area. In terms of nature , the Iberg is assigned to the sub-unit “ Southern Ringgau ”. The main unit, " Northwestern edge plate of the Thuringian Basin ", extends here, and in the area of ​​the Gobert and Wanfrieder Werrahöhen , from northwest Thuringia to Hesse.

Protected position

With an ordinance of July 6, 1988 by the regional council in Kassel , the south-western slope of the Iberg was declared a nature reserve. The purpose of the protection was "to preserve and promote the area consisting of limestone corridors, poor grasslands, limestone beech forests and geophyte-rich mixed deciduous forests with the endangered animal and plant species living here". The ordinance came into force the day after it was announced in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse on August 15, 1988. The nature reserve has a size of around 32 hectares, has the national identification 1636016 and the WDPA code 163845.

As one of several sub-areas, the nature reserve belongs to the more than 1500 hectare flora-fauna-habitat area "Forests and limestone grasslands of the Ringgau Südabdachung". In the Europe-wide network of special protected areas Natura 2000 it has the area number 4926-305 and the WDPA code 555520292. The nature conservation significance is based on the species-rich forest areas on shell limestone. The "Waldmeister-Buchenwald" forms the core of the FFH area. With grove and orchid-lime-beech forests, ravine and mixed slope forests and bedstraw-oak-hornbeam forests, further habitat types occur in the forests. The open country is characterized by lowland hay meadows and orchid-rich dry limestone lawns. Specially protected species include the lynx , Bechstein's bat , great mouse- eared bat and yellow-bellied toad .

nature

In the limestone grassland at the foot of the slope, the year-round green juniper characterizes the landscape.

The south-western slope of the Iberg forms the nature reserve, which extends over an altitude of 310  m to 434  m . An orchid-beech forest has developed here on calcareous rock , the species-rich undergrowth of which has a striking number of species.

The botanical peculiarities of the Iberg, which the authors Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche list in the book "Nature Conservation Areas in Hessen", include the occurrence of branchless and branchy grass lily , arm- flowered rockcress , sickle-leaved and long-leaved hare's ear , white and red wood bird , mountain vetch , spotted orchid , daphne , Brown Red Helleborine , Frans gentian , mosquito Händelwurz , Turk's cap lily, spruce asparagus , Nestwurz , fly orchid , purple orchid , Bitter finial and wild pear .

The plants include many spring geophytes , which bloom early in the year, before the trees are cut, and color the forest floor. They were one of the decisive factors behind the designation of the nature reserve.

With a forest barley-beech forest and a maple-linden-hillside debris forest, there are two more natural habitat types of the forests, whose bottom flora is also considered to be very species-rich and well-developed.

38 different species of butterflies and rams were observed in the forest edge areas and in the heat-favored limestone grassland, which faces south-west.

Tourist development

A farm path with benches runs below the Iberg.

The protected area can be entered on the existing forest and farm roads. The Werra-Burgen-Steig Hessen , which has been awarded the “Quality Walkable Germany” certificate by the German Hiking Association, runs over the Iberg on the way between Altefeld and Markershausen.

literature

• Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hessen, protect-experience-maintain. Volume 3, Werra-Meißner district and Hersfeld-Rotenburg district . cognitio Verlag, Niedenstein 2005, ISBN 3-932583-13-2 .

Web links

Commons : Iberg bei Markershausen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hesse, protect-experience-maintain. Volume 3, pp. 129 and 130.
2. ↑ Classification of natural areas according to Otto Klausing in the Hessen Environmental Atlas at atlas.umwelt.hessen.de ; accessed on November 8, 2019.
3. ↑ Quoted from the ordinance on the nature reserve "Iberg bei Markershausen" of July 6, 1988 in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse, edition 33/88 of August 15, 1988, pp. 1881 f.
4. ^ "Iberg bei Markershausen" in the world database on protected areas; accessed on November 8, 2019.
5. ↑ FFH area "Forests and limestone grasslands of the Ringgau Südabdachung" in the world database on protected areas; accessed on November 8, 2019.
6. ↑ List of habitats occurring in Germany in Appendix I of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive; accessed on November 8, 2019.
7. ↑ Profile of FFH area 4926-305 “Forests and lean lime grasslands of the Ringgau Südabdachung” on the website of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); accessed on November 8, 2019.