Mothhäuser heather

	Mothhäuser Heide nature reserve IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
	Stengelhaide area in the NSG Mothäuser Heide (2012)
location	Marienberg , Saxony , Germany
surface	4.141 km²
Identifier	C 13
WDPA ID	14525
Geographical location	50 ° 36 ' N , 13 ° 13' E Coordinates: 50 ° 35 '46 " N , 13 ° 12' 57" E
Setup date	2003

The Mothäuser Heide not far from the Marienberg district of Kühnhaide is the oldest moor and conservation area in the Ore Mountains . It has the status of a nature reserve and is also a fauna and flora habitat .

The moor is located northwest of Kühnhaide in the central Ore Mountains not far from the German-Czech border. With an altitude of 729 to 773 m above sea level. NN is the area on the ridge.

Origin and use

Profile section through a mountain moor in the Ore Mountains

The oldest bog formations in the Ore Mountains emerged at the earliest about 9,000 years ago. The first bog formations emerged where mineral-rich, acidic water came to light. The Erzgebirge moors - including the Mothäuser Heide - are low mountain range rain moors .

All types of moor use are preceded by drainage. The influence of the Erzgebirge moors is generally closely linked to the history of mining and settlement in this area.
To make it usable, a dense system of ditches (71 km long and up to 4.5 meters deep) was dug, peat was cut, spruce trees and spikes were planted. The economic use extended demonstrably over the period from 1818 to 1854. The clearing of the trenches was finally given up in 1875 due to inefficiency.

Apart from forestry interventions in the edge zones and immissions - here in particular SO ₂ - an undisturbed regeneration of the moor has been going on for 120 years. In the 1990s the moorland was transferred from the Free State of Saxony to a real estate agent for the sum of 1 million DM . Through this, wood was later felled in such a way that the protected area threatened to dry out. He later sold the area again for more than 4 million DM.

meaning

The area was declared a protected area as early as 1911, and in 1960 parts of this protected area were given total reserve status. The moor itself extends over an area of 124 hectares , the nature reserve is designated with 414.1 hectares and the FFH area with an area of 663 hectares.

The Mothhäuser Heide represents a relatively large and intact high moor landscape. The peat layer grows annually by about 1 millimeter and in the core of the area reaches a thickness of about 8 meters.

The water storage volume corresponds roughly to that of the Neunzehnhain I dam near Lengefeld , which is around 0.54 million m³.

vegetation

Pale moss cushion with sundew, cranberry and rosemary heather

In the course of various work, the moor was measured, its development described, the vegetation determined and compared with previous vegetation maps in order to examine changes.

Plant species (selection):

literature

Hedwig Frenzel: Development history of the Saxon moors and forests since the last ice age. Treatises of the Saxon Geological State Office, No. 9, Dresden, 1930
Siegfried Sloboda: Origin, usage history, maintenance and development principles for Ore Mountains raised bogs. From: Ecology and protection of the high moors in the Ore Mountains, pages 10–31.
Peggy Zinke: History of use, condition and revitalization of the moors in the Ore Mountains . TELMA, vol. 32, pp. 267-280.