Hainich National Park

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Hainich National Park
View from the treetop path on the Thiemsburg over the southern Hainich
View from the treetop path on the Thiemsburg over the southern Hainich
Hainich National Park (Germany)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Coordinates: 51 ° 5 ′ 48 ″  N , 10 ° 23 ′ 27 ″  E
Location: Thuringia , Germany
Specialty: largest contiguous deciduous forest area in Germany
Next city: Eisenach , Bad Langensalza , Mühlhausen
Surface: 7,500 ha
Founding: December 31, 1997
Address: Website of the National
Park Hainich National Park
At the Marktkirche 9
D – 99947 Bad Langensalza
Logo Hainich National Park.svg
National park sign near Berka in front of the Hainich
National park sign near Berka in front of the Hainich
i2 i3 i6

The Hainich National Park , which was founded on December 31, 1997, is the 13th  national park in Germany and the only one in Thuringia . One of the most important goals of the 7500 hectare park is the protection of the local beech forest. Since June 25, 2011, the Hainich National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site of primeval beech forests and ancient beech forests in the Carpathian Mountains and other regions of Europe .

4,875 hectares in the core zone of the national park belong to the WILDForest areas certified by the European Wilderness Society .

geography

The 75 km² park is located in the west of the state of Thuringia east of the Werra and is part of the Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal nature park. It is located in the city triangle Eisenach - Mühlhausen - Bad Langensalza in the south of the approximately 160 km² Hainich , the largest contiguous deciduous forest area in Germany.

Flora and fauna

The Hainich has a wide range of beech forest communities , where in addition to the red beech also numerous other deciduous trees such as ash , maple , linden and the rare wild service occur. There are also mushrooms and large stocks of spring flowers such as Märzenbecher , hepatica and wood anemone .

Among the fauna of the Hainich, the European wildcat , 15 bat species, seven woodpecker species and more than 500 wood-dwelling beetle species are particularly noteworthy.

Purpose of the national park

Old beech in the Hainich World Heritage Site

In the Hainich National Park, a Central European primeval forest is to be created again, in which nature is allowed to run free and the areas are not cultivated. Currently, this national park covers the area of ​​former military training areas with around 50 km², the largest unused deciduous forest area in Germany. In the future, the beech forest will prevail on most areas. This fulfills an important requirement of international nature conservation, since a typical habitat in Central Europe can finally be protected. The implementation is reinforced by an enlargement of the core zone from 29 to 75 percent in July 2009.

particularities

Tower of the Treetop Path

East and center

The Thiemsburg forest house is located in the eastern part of the national park . Since August 2005, it has been possible to take a look at the crown region of a forest on a 310 meter long treetop path just below the tree tops (extended to 530 meters in May 2009). The University of Goettingen operates for several years in this forest geobotanical canopy research . This treetop path was only the second in Germany and enables scientists and visitors to find out about new botany findings . Such treetop paths are already known in tropical rainforests, for example in Costa Rica . ( 51 ° 4 ′ 59.6 ″  N , 10 ° 30 ′ 24.2 ″  E )

south

The southern part of the national park occupies a spacious area that was cleared for the requirements of the military training area in the early 1980s and later remained unused for forestry purposes; only individual, local open spaces were allowed to be grazed. This area can now be accessed again on the designated routes. Visitors will find a young forest that is already twenty years old as a special feature. The Hainichblick observation tower on Generalshügel , which opened in June 2011, provides a comprehensive view of the area. ( 51 ° 2 ′ 15.7 ″  N , 10 ° 26 ′ 11.3 ″  E )

west

The Urwald-Life-Camp was opened on the Harsberg near Lauterbach in 2006 , offering numerous offers for school classes and young people. ( 51 ° 4 ′ 26.4 ″  N , 10 ° 22 ′ 38.2 ″  E )

north

Since March 2009 there has been a " Germanic Cult Path " in the area of ​​the Hünenburg - Hünenteich . These are replicas of sanctuaries that were discovered during excavations in the sacrificial moor near Niederdorla. ( 51 ° 6 ′ 39.6 ″  N , 10 ° 27 ′ 8.2 ″  E )

mobility

The cooperation “Destination Nature” is jointly supported by the three large environmental associations BUND , NABU and VCD as well as Deutsche Bahn . Partners in the cooperation are 23 nature areas, including the Hainich National Park. All together are committed to environmentally friendly travel in the natural landscapes.

The "World Heritage Wartburg Hainich" is seamlessly linked to the regional and long-distance network of Deutsche Bahn. The Eisenach , Bad Langensalza and Mühlhausen train stations are easily accessible from all over Germany. Eisenach is served by several ICE or IC lines every 1 or 2 hours.

The route network of the transport companies should enable comfortable and fast travel. The Hainichbus (line 150) connects Eisenach with Bad Langensalza every day. The national park bus (line 154) operates as an on-call bus between Mühlhausen, the villages on the eastern edge of the national park and Thiemsburg. The culture adventure bus (line 160) connects Eisenach with Mühlhausen via the villages on the west side of the national park.

photos

literature

  • Hainich species book - animals, plants and mushrooms in the Hainich National Park , Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, 2005, ISBN 978-3-937135-37-3 .

Documentation

  • Hainich National Park: a primeval forest in the middle of Germany . Documentary, 30 min., Germany, 1999, by Peter and Stefan Simank, production: Simank-Filmproduktion, Dresden.
  • Primeval beech forests. The last witnesses. Treasures of the world. Heritage of Humanity, SWR (until min. 7:52)

Web links

Commons : Hainich National Park  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Hainich National Park  - Travel Guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Old beech forests in Germany are world natural heritage. In: unesco.de , accessed on June 25, 2011.
  2. ↑ (overview plan), core zone enlarged to 75 percent of the national park area ( memento of the original from March 6, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationalpark-hainich.de
  3. ↑ Destination Nature: The cooperation Destination Nature , accessed on October 1, 2019.
  4. ↑ Hainichbus (line 150)
  5. ↑ National Park bus (line 154)
  6. ↑ Culture adventure bus (line 160)
  7. ↑ Hainich National Park: Arrival. Retrieved September 30, 2019 .