Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park

Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park
	Deciduous forest in the national park
Location:	Rhineland-Palatinate , Saarland , Germany
Next city:	Hermeskeil , Birkenfeld , Idar-Oberstein
Surface:	about 10,000 hectares
Founding:	March 1, 2015
Address:	National Park Office Hunsrück-Hochwald; Brückener Strasse 24 ; 55765 Birkenfeld ; Tel. +49 6131 884152-0
	Location of the national park in the Hunsrück
	i2 i3 i6

The Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park is a national park in western Germany in the low mountain range of the Hunsrück , in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . The park is the sixteenth German national park , one year after the establishment of the Black Forest National Park and eleven years after the Eifel and Kellerwald National Parks, which are also located in the Rhenish Slate Mountains or the adjacent low mountain range and in the main beech forest area . The official opening ceremony took place on the weekend of Pentecost 2015.

In 2014, the two state governments agreed on the name and introduced approval laws to the mutually agreed state treaty between the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland on the establishment and maintenance of the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park (National Park Act) . Most of the municipalities in the area had already approved the concept presented in 2013.

The national park covers 10,120 hectares in the area of the western heights of the Hunsrück, more precisely the Idarwald and the Black Forest high forest , which is usually only referred to as high forest. Of the total area, about 986 hectares of the national park in Saarland lie within the area of the municipalities of Nohfelden and Nonnweiler .

History of origin

Idarbach

aims

The National Park

According to Section 3 of the National Park Act, 75% of the area of the national park should be left to natural development, i.e. returned to wilderness and then permanently wild. At the start of the national park, a distinction is made between wilderness areas that have already been left to nature, and development areas where the aim is to transform them into wilderness areas within 30 years. These two zones are called the natural zone.

The natural zone is surrounded by a so-called maintenance zone, which is intended to buffer negative effects from the natural zone on the environment (e.g. vermin infestation) or negative effects from the environment on the wilderness (e.g. insecticide mist). In addition, extensively used parts of the cultural landscape ( e.g. orchards , poor meadows ), which can also be very species-rich, are to be preserved in the care zone .

As an undisturbed habitat, the national park is part of the biotope network of the federal government and its two sponsoring countries in accordance with Section 4 of the National Park Act. It should meet the definition and requirements of the World Conservation Organization IUCN for national parks. For more information, see the IUCN category: National Park .

The national park should also meet the requirements of an EU bird sanctuary and Directive 92/43 / EEC (Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive) .

As far as compatible with these goals, a.

preserves the special character, scenic beauty, tranquility and privacy of the area,
culturally and historically valuable monuments and areas are preserved and remain accessible,
the area is made accessible to the population for recreational and educational purposes and, in this respect, made accessible.

The national park area

The area extends over parts of the Verbandsgemeinden Hermeskeil ( district Trier-Saarburg ), Thalfang am Erbeskopf ( district Bernkastel-Wittlich ), Birkenfeld and Herrstein-Rhaunen ( district Birkenfeld ) and the communities Morbach (district Bernkastel-Wittlich), Nonnweiler and Nohfelden ( St. Wendel district ). Enclaves in the area are the places Börfink , Muhl , Thranenweier and Hujetsägemühle .

According to Section 5 of the State Treaty, the national park should also promote the development of the entire national park area. So he should through infrastructural, tourist and other measures

further develop regional value chains such as near-natural tourism and sustainable forestry and agriculture,
support sustainable village and urban interior development and
strengthen regional cooperation.

The national park is to become an important image carrier of the region.

Natural space

High forest

The state concept for participation in a transnational national park in the Hochwald-Idarwald of the Ministry for Environment and Consumer Protection of the Saarland characterizes the transnational natural space unit 242.0 Black Forest high forest as follows:

The high forest is 400 to 700 m above sea level. NN on the southern edge of the Hunsrück and has an average annual temperature of 8 ° C and more than 800 mm of precipitation annually. ... The potentially natural forest community on the Taunus quartzite would be an acidic beech forest on quartzite . As special forest locations, in addition to alder floodplain forests, rubble forests and oak forests on quartzite in exposed steep slopes. ... The area has a number of legitimate communities, in particular wood-rush beech forests , ravine - and bog woodland , rock and scree communities as well as bird species such as the honey buzzard , gray and black woodpecker and Tengmalm .

Idarwald

The Idarwald ( Celt .: "Id ar" - forest height above the country) is up to 766.2 m above sea level. NN high part of the Hunsrück in Rhineland-Palatinate .

Overall meaning

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety promotes measures to maintain and develop biodiversity hotspots in Germany as part of the federal biodiversity program on January 26, 2011. What is meant by "biodiversity hotspots" are regions in Germany with a particularly high density and diversity of distinctive species, populations and habitats. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation has identified 30 of these hotspots nationwide in cooperation with the Federal Ministry and the federal states.

As part of the description of the hotspot 13th Saar-Ruwer-Hunsrück , Hoch- and Idarwald and Oberes Nahebergland , the Federal Office describes the Hoch- and Idarwald as follows:

The ridges of the Hoch- and Idarwald are richly structured and almost completely wooded. The low-disturbance, large areas of contiguous and old- wood rich beech and spruce forests are very important habitats for species with large space requirements such as the wildcat , red deer and for old wood inhabitants, e.g. B. Black woodpecker , rough-footed owl and Bechstein's bat . Biotopes diverse locations and complexes of bristle grass turf , wet , damp and hay meadows , closely linked to the forest habitats accommodate an extraordinary diversity (eg. As the butterflies ). Characteristic are the numerous breaks and sloping moors that have developed at the flat source outlets of the lower slopes. Light birch bog forests , alder forests , flat bogs and transitional bogs form richly structured and varied biotope complexes with small bog pools and other open land biotopes as well as forest habitats. The foothills of the Hoch- and Idarwald with the Upper Nahe are characterized by an outstanding diversity of locations, structures and species. Numerous near-natural low mountain range streams originating in the high and Idar forests flow to the Upper Nahe. Almost vertical rock walls and cliffs line the steep slopes of the strongly winding and deeply cut breakthrough valleys. Sun-exposed valley slopes have light and rocky oak and oak-hornbeam dry forests, shady slopes are ravine and mixed slope forests. The diverse deciduous forest communities are closely interlinked with small-scale, poor, semi- arid and dry grasslands , nebulized grass lawns, poor meadows and pastures, warm dry rocks, rock heaps and dry bushes. Here many live in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland extinction threatened or endangered species, in the coppice forests for. B. the hazel grouse .

Regional references

The Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park is embedded in the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park , which covers 2,055 km².

The Saar-Hunsrück-Steig hiking trail crosses the national park with stages 9 and 10 from Nonnweiler to Erbeskopf and with stages 11 and 12 in the section from the Kirschweiler fortress to Mörschieder Burr .

Organization and management of the national park

Symbolic cornerstone of the national park at the Erbeskopf

National Park Office

Basics

In accordance with Section 18 of the State Treaty and National Park Act, Rhineland-Palatinate is establishing a Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park Office based in Birkenfeld (Nahe) and a branch in Nonnweiler in the Saarland . It is subject to the legal supervision of the ministry responsible for nature conservation in Rhineland-Palatinate, in its area also its technical supervision , in Saarland its technical supervision.

According to § 20 of the contract, its tasks are primarily the creation, updating and implementation of the national park plan, including the action plan derived from it and the route plan, as well as the operation and maintenance of the national park. It is also the forest office and the lower hunting authority for the area and the competent administrative authority for administrative offenses according to the National Park Act according to its § 17.

According to § 19 of the contract, income remains with the country in which it is incurred, and Rhineland-Palatinate bears the costs of the National Park Office, except for the Nonnweiler branch. The Saarland also contributes an annual reimbursement amount.

begin

In the double budget of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate for 2014/15, the National Park Office plans to implement up to 53 job equivalents from other departments and to create three new positions; 1.5 million euros are also earmarked for material expenses and investments. In addition, services of around 4 person equivalents are to be provided from the area of the State Forestry Department.

On February 5, 2014, a starter team consisting of 10 people in the Birkenfeld Forestry Office began to prepare the work of the National Park Office.

National Park Assembly

The municipal national park assembly in accordance with Section 21 of the State Treaty is informed by the National Park Office at an early stage about the preparation of the national park plan and the route plan and is involved in establishing agreement with its final version. If the National Park Assembly does not agree to a new plan, the ministries of the two countries that are responsible for nature conservation and forests decide, as far as this is required for legal or nature conservation reasons.

Are members of the assembly

the district administrators of the national park area
as well as one additional representative per district for every 3000 hectares or part thereof in the park,
the local mayors of Börfink and Neuhütten ,
Mayors of the association communities and the Saarland communities with a share in the national park,
if necessary, with one additional representative for each 1500 ha share in the park or part thereof. At least half of the other representatives in Rhineland-Palatinate must be local mayors.
The assembly can call citizens to the assembly and give up to 6 of these citizens the right to vote.

The assembly also submits proposals and suggestions for the maintenance and development of the area and promotes the participation of the population of the area as well as the understanding of the sense of the protective measures.

National Park Advisory Board

In accordance with Section 22 of the National Park Act, the National Park Office appoints a National Park Advisory Board with up to 15 expert representatives from the interest groups nature conservation, land use, education, recreation, economy and science in agreement with the National Park Assembly . This advises and supports the National Park Office in the maintenance and development of the National Park and the achievement of its purposes. For this purpose, he is to be informed at an early stage about goals, plans, developments and measures of the national park administration and about questions of fundamental importance.

Citizens Forum

At least once a year the National Park Office has to inform interested citizens about goals, plans, developments and measures in a public meeting. In accordance with Section 23 of the National Park Act, citizens are to be given the opportunity to express their views and to discuss them.

Photo gallery

In the spring forest. The trees are the national park's greatest treasure.
In the national park, deadwood is part of natural development.
A beech shoot - in the long term, beeches will replace the old spruce forest in many places.
The Hunsrückhaus on the Erbeskopf, one of three future national parks .
An owl in the exhibition on the national park in the Hunsrückhaus near the Erbeskopf.
A striking landmark - the sculpture Windklang on the Erbeskopf.
The Celtic ring wall in Otzenhausen, in the southwest of the national park.
A hillside moor, also called Brücher , with a boardwalk for visitors.
View from the Mörschieder Burr , a typical dump from the last ice age.
Mossy rocks near Dollberg: wilderness for nature lovers. The park also has recreational functions.
The idyllic Traunbach on the Börfinker-Ochsentour hiking trail .
The national park is characterized by a rich insect life, here a green hairstreak.
Wild boars - animals from the region are shown in the Wildenburg game reserve.
A deer calf in the Wildenburg game reserve as a typical forest inhabitant of the Hunsrück high forest.
The rare and shy wild cat lives in the nature park (here a prepared animal on display).
Young beeches in autumn near the Sandkopf - this is where the “wilderness of the future” is emerging.
Autumn beech forest on the Luisenruhe .
Winter trees near the Erbeskopf.