Kellerwald-Edersee National Park

Kellerwald-Edersee National Park
View from the Ringelsberg near Asel -Süd over part of the Edersee towards east-southeast to the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park with Dickem Kopf
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  N , 9 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  E
Location:	Hessen , Germany
Specialty:	European beech forests
Next city:	Bad Wildungen , Frankenau , Frankenberg , Fritzlar , Korbach , Waldeck
Surface:	57.38 km² (5738 ha)
Founding:	January 1, 2004
Address:	Website of the National Park Kellerwald-Edersee Laustr. 8 D-34537 Bad Wildungen

National park sign at Hemfurth-Edersee

The Kellerwald-Edersee National Park ( CDDA no. 318077) in the north Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg is a 57.38 km² national park located south of the Edersee in the northern part of the Kellerwald low mountain range . Since June 25, 2011, the beech forest area of ​​the national park has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Primeval Beech Forests and Old Beech Forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe .

The national park administration is located in Bad Wildungen, east of the park .

geography

Park size

A new survey of the park area from 2009 showed that the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park is 57.38  km² . The frequently given figure of 57.24 km² is therefore no longer relevant.

location

The Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, which is located in the western part of northern Hesse about 40 km (as the crow flies ) southwest of Kassel , includes the northern part of the Kellerwald. Its area is roughly congruent with the mountain region of the Ederhöhen , which extends south of the Edersee , among other things . The park, which is uninhabited within its boundaries, is located within the boundaries of the Kellerwald-Edersee Nature Park .

The national park is located south of the Edersee between the cities and municipalities of Waldeck (northeast), Edertal (east), Bad Wildungen (east-southeast), Frankenau (south-southwest) and Vöhl (northwest), whose areas extend into the park. Somewhat away are the cities of Korbach (northwest), Naumburg (northeast), Fritzlar (east) and Frankenberg (southwest). The park forms an area between the following localities (clockwise, starting in the north): Bringhausen , Rehbach , Hemfurth-Edersee , Affoldern , Mehlen , Giflitz , Kleinern , Gellershausen (all to Edertal), Frebershausen (to Bad Wildungen), Frankenau, Altenlotheim (to Frankenau), Schmittlotheim and Kirchlotheim , Harbshausen and Asel -Süd (all to Vöhl).

In the west, north and east the national park borders on the valley of the Eder , in which the Edersee and Affolderner See are located, in the southeast and south on that of the Wesebach and in the southwest and west next to the Edertal on the valley of the Lorfe .

Somewhat north-northeast of the national park, in the north of the Kellerwald-Edersee nature park, above the southern shore of the Edersee, lies the Edersee wildlife park with the Edersee wildlife park and the Fagutop Kellerwald information center .

Natural allocation

The Kellerwald-Edersee National Park belongs to the natural spatial main unit group West Hessisches Bergland (No. 34) and in the main unit Kellerwald (344) to the subunit Große Hardt (344.3), with foothills in the north in the subunit Ederseetrog (344.4), in the east in the subunit Wildunger Bergland (344.2), in the south in the subunit Mittelkellerwald (344.1) and in the west in the subunit Niederkellerwald (344.5) in the natural area Lotheimer Täler (344.51).

The Große Hardt, the area of ​​the national park, is also called Hohe Hardt, Hardt , Ederhöhen, Ederberge (not to be confused with the Ederbergland near Battenberg ) or - in the Middle Ages  - as Hochgewilder.

The heavily hilly, almost completely covered with forest Ederberge consist of over 50 individual, more or less large and up to 626.4  m above sea level. NHN high mountains.

Mountains and altitude

The lowest point of the National Park Keller Edersee is on the edge of the Eder valley at the edge of Affoldern near or below the barrage of Affolderner lake to 194  m , its highest point with 626.4  m on the Traddelkopf .

→ see: List of mountains in the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park

→ see also: List of mountains in the Kellerwald

The highest mountains of the national park and the Ederhöhen are - sorted by height in meters (m) above sea ​​level (NHN):

• Traddelkopf (626.4 m)
• Ahornkopf (604.1 m) - southwest foothills of the Traddelkopf with the nature reserve Ruhlauber
• Big head (603.7 m)
• Valley passage (566.1 m)
• Locheiche (557.3 m) - northeast foothills of the Traddelkopf
• Quernst (about 545 m) - North Extension of Talgangs with ruins of Quernstkirche (at 535 m), the Quernstkapelle and a vantage point overlooking the Rothaargebirge and Winterberg
• Ox root head (542.2 m)
• Ermerod / Peterskopf (539.2 m / 506.6 m), with the upper basin of the Waldeck pumped storage plant
• Friedrichskopf (528.5 m) - southern foothills of the valley

Waters

Running waters that frame the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park or the Ederhöhen or arise therein are (clockwise, starting in the north):

• Eder (tributary of the Fulda )
  • Banfebach (tributary of the Edersee / Eder)
    • Keßbach (tributary of the Banfebach)
      • Large kitchen (tributary of the Keßbach)
        • Small kitchen (inflow of the large kitchen)
    • Bleibach (tributary of the Banfebach)
  • Mellbach, Rehbach (tributaries of the Edersee / Eder)
  • Wesebach (tributary of the Eder)
    • Wesebach tributaries: Haarbach, Schrummbach, H a imbach, H e imbach, Bartenbach, Kesselbach, Eschelbach, Klingesebach, Dreisbach, Ebach, Quernstgrund, Sasselbach
  • Lorfe ( Lorfebach ; tributary of the Eder)
    • Elsbach (tributary of the Lorfe)
  • Hundsbach (tributary of the Edersee / Eder)
  • Bärenbach (tributary of the Edersee / Eder)

Still waters in the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park or in the Ederhöhen are:

• Edersee (on the northern edge)
• Affolderner See (on the northeastern edge)
• the high storage basins of the Waldeck pumped storage plant

Forest history

Early forest history

Kellerwald National Park Center between Vöhl - Herzhausen and - Kirchlotheim

All pre-existing forests were destroyed by the ice ages. The basement forest region was only reforested after the end of the last ice age. In line with the slow global warming, new tree species gradually immigrated.

In the Alleröd Interstadial from 11,400 BC. A tundra with juniper ( Juniperus communis ) and willow bushes ( Salix ) emerged, which developed into a sparse pine ( Pinus sylvestris ), birch ( Betula pendula ), juniper forest.

In the period of the Preboreal (9610 to 8690 BC) a hazelnut-rich pine and birch forest was created.

In the Boreal (8690 to 7270 BC) mixed oak forest ( Quercus petraea , Quercus robur ) dominated with many elms ( Ulmus glabra ), linden ( Tilia platyphyllos , Tilia cordata ) and hazel ( Corylus avellana ).

The warm and humid Atlantic (7270–3710 BC) formed the post-glacial climate optimum. During this period the beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) immigrated to Central Europe, expanding at the expense of the elm and linden tree. Dense beech forest with oaks was created.

In the following periods of the Holocene , the Subboreal (3710-450 BC) and the Subatlantic (450 BC to the present day) the climate became colder and more continental. Since then, the common beech has dominated the forest almost completely.

Until the Middle Ages , the Kellerwald and especially the Ederhöhen were largely deserted forest wilderness. People only lived on the edge of the area. In particular, the very fertile Fritzlarer Börde on the lower reaches of the Eder has been continuously settled since the Neolithic. In today's national park area there is a burial mound from the Bronze Age to the south-east of the Hardt mountain ( 394  m ) and northeast of its south-south-west neighbor Bettelkopf (approx.  435  m ) . They are attributed to the culture of the battle ax people.

Middle Ages and early modern times

Between the Vöhler districts of Kirchlotheim in the north and Schmittlotheim in the south, to the east above the Eder and a little south of the local Hagenstein ( Loreley of the Edertal ; 373.5  m ), there are remains of a castle from the 8th century, which is known as the castle at the oven . It was created in connection with the Saxon Wars (772–804) of Charlemagne and was probably abandoned before completion, as it was no longer needed when Charles won the war against the Saxons. Today only the double moat can be seen.

A denser settlement of the basement forest region has only been proven for the years from 700 onwards. In three large settlement waves, people penetrated the previously untouched jungle by 1200. The last of these waves also reached the Ederberge, which is today's national park area. There the villages Eselsbach arose , located on the Hundsbach in the Gebrannten, Eschenbruch a little east of the Fahrentriesches, Wellenhausen in the upper Banfebachtal near the Quernst, Denninghausen in the Bleibachtal east of the Raspberry Head, and Bodenscheid and Banfe in the lower Banfebachtal. Due to the poor soil, these villages could not last long and fell desolate by 1470 at the latest . Their clearing islands were used as meadows and pastures by the farmers in the surrounding villages. So -called Triescher emerged .

In the Ederhöhen on the Talgang mountain in the middle of the forest are the ruins of the Quernstkirche , which was built around 800 on an old Germanic sanctuary, a sacred grove. Until the Reformation , which was introduced here in 1526, it was the only church in the numerous cellar forest villages. In addition to the above-mentioned villages of the Third Settlement Period , the town of Frankenau and the villages of Altenlotheim , Frebershausen , Gellershausen , Bringhausen and Asel originally belonged to their municipality . The Quernstkirche was no longer used from 1528 and fell into disrepair. Today only overgrown heaps of rubble can be seen.

Another early Christian mountain church is the Siegelkirche , which was probably also founded on the site of a pre-Christian holy grove. In contrast to the Quernstkirche, however, it gained no significance, but was probably more of a small chapel, which was mainly visited during processions. The name of the church is probably derived from the old German personal name Siegold. The Siegelkirche stood on the Bracht mountain in the so-called Mariental, i.e. the upper Bärenbachtal on the edge of a meadow. In 1864 the pastor Bingmann from Kirchlotheim saw the remains of the wall in the Mariental, which he assigned to the Siegelkirche. A good 100 years later, however, the local history researcher Walter Zarges could no longer reliably locate the location of the church.

On July 20, 1760, as part of the Seven Years' War, a battle between Hessian and French troops took place on the Himmelreich mountain in the south of today's national park . In this battle, Johann Justus Dehnert from Röddenau , a non-commissioned officer in the Hessian Jägercorps, died. He was buried directly in the kingdom of heaven by his relatives. The descendants of the Dehnert family care for the grave to this day and can be visited. The place is called Dehnert's grave.

The kingdom of heaven has been haunted since that battle . It is reported that people have frequently heard the cries of battle, the sound of horns, field music and great wailing from the wounded. A carpenter , who was on the way from Frebershausen to Frankenau , claims to have seen "2 limbs soldiers in colorful uniforms with ashen faces, as if carved into rock" in the kingdom of heaven at night.

The forest itself was used intensively and unregulated in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. In particular, domestic pigs were driven into the forest to fatten them with beechnuts and acorns. The name Sauhütte on the Hegeberg near Schmittlotheim still reminds of this practice . But also litter removal, the unregulated removal of firewood and construction wood, charcoal burning, hunting and the use of the oak bark as tannery caused the forest to be described as devastated ("devastated") in the 18th century.

Modern times from 1800: The Kellerwald as a hunting area

Systematic afforestation only began from 1800, in contrast to many other regions, however, again mainly with beeches and hardly with conifers. Throughout the 19th century there were violent conflicts over the use of the forest between the impoverished population and the forest authorities. Poaching and forest crime , i.e. unauthorized logging, were widespread. At times the electoral government of Hessen-Kassel had to deploy soldiers to protect the forests. Anecdotes handed down from this period still circulate among the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Unforgotten is z. B. the figure of the Waldeck chief forester Karl Kruhöffer (1821-1893), who was resident in Bringhausen and was only called the forest people because of his loud voice. He was able to shout instructions to his forest workers across two valleys! He was adamant about poaching. His grave is on the Daudenberg at Sauermilchplatz.

Politically, the Kellerwald region was for a long time split between the Principality of Waldeck , Hessen-Kassel and Hessen-Darmstadt . As a result of the German War , Prussia annexed the Electorate of Hessen-Kassel and the Hessian hinterland that belonged to Hessen-Darmstadt in 1866 . Waldeck came to Prussia in 1929.

The Eder Heights were the preferred hunting ground for the Waldeck princes. Since the game population was kept artificially very high by feeding, the damage for the farmers in the surrounding villages was enormous, especially since there was no compensation for game damage in the Principality of Waldeck. In order to avoid this in the future, the Waldeck part of the Ederhöhen was fenced in by a gate in 1894, which was extended to the former Hessian parts in 1934 and thus took up an area of ​​47.46 km². In 1894 Prince Friedrich had a hunting lodge built on the Lingenkopf , which he named Bathildishütte after his wife . After the prince's abdication as a result of the German Revolution of 1918, the hunting lodge was sold for demolition and rebuilt in Altwildungen . Only the horse stable remained standing. It was later converted into a hunting lodge that still exists today. Even during the Nazi era and in the post-war period , the region was mainly used as a hunting area. Representative state hunts were carried out. From 1963 to 1984 the Edersee Wildgatter was officially a wildlife sanctuary.

In the direction of nature conservation

Nature reserve

In 1989 several large nature reserves were set up so that at least parts of the old beech forests could be placed under protection. These are the NSGs Arensberg-Bärenbachtal-Fahrentriesch, Dicker Kopf, Hagenstein, Rabenstein and Ruhlauber. In 1990 the Wildgatter area was designated a forest and landscape protection area , in 1991 the summit of the Locheiche was designated as a protected forest and in 1998 the Gatter Edersee forest protection area and other areas with a size of 5724 hectares were registered with the European Union as an FFH area .

In 1991 the association Pro Nationalpark-Kellerwald e. V. presented a concept for a national park in the area of ​​the forest protection area and with a part in the southern Kellerwald. After many years of difficult discussions, the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park was founded on January 1, 2004 and officially opened on May 25, 2004. This only happened after several years of demands from environmental groups such as NABU , BUND , WWF and Greenpeace .

On February 1, 2007, it was registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . In October 2007 certification began as the first German national park to meet the international criteria of the IUCN (International Union for the Protection of Nature). On March 10, 2011, the national park was the first large German conservation area to receive official certification for Category II of the IUCN guidelines.

On January 18, 2008, the Kellerwald National Park Center was opened between Vöhl - Herzhausen and - Kirchlotheim , directly on Bundesstraße 252 .

Parts of the national park, in particular the red beech forests with old trees and the few remaining primeval forest remains , were included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site on June 25, 2011 , together with beech forests in the national parks Hainich , Grumsiner Forst and Jasmund as well as the Serrahner part of the Müritz National Park . In total, 1467.1 hectares of the 5738 hectare park area in the Kellerwald belong to the natural heritage area.

An expansion of the park is planned for autumn 2020.

Flora and fauna

flora

Beech forest near the Edersee

Heidenelken on the northern edge of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park

The characteristic forest community of the national park is the acidic hornbeam and beech forest . It grows mainly in acidic, nutrient-poor locations and has only a gappy layer of herbs. Spring bloomers such as wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa) are rare. The whitish grove (Luzula luzuloides) is characteristic of this forest community . Above 500  m altitude, there are montane grove beech forests in which the sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) and - much less often - the common ash, the mountain elm and other tree species of the higher low mountain ranges can be found.

On nutrient-rich sites comes in small areas Woodruff - and melic -Buchenwald ago.

In addition, there are a large number of special forests such as oak - dry forest , oak-hornbeam forest as well as rubble and hillside forests with winter and summer linden and other hardwoods such as maple, elm and hornbeam. On the steep slopes of the Edersees there are numerous silicate rock corridors with Europe's high-risk Cheddar pink . Alder and ash forests grow alongside the stream in the valleys.

In addition to the forest locations, there are over 200 hectares of Driesche (former Hutungen ) and forest meadows along the streams. Among other things, arnica , heather carnation , wood lice herb , devil's claw and broad-leaved orchid grow here . In total there are over 550 fern and flowering plants in the national park  . The lichens are represented with 270 species recorded so far.

Funga

A total of 613 species of large mushrooms were detected over a ten-year observation period. Of these, 42% decompose wood , 26% decompose leaf and needle litter , 27% form mycorrhiza and 5% are semi-parasites. The diversity of species is significantly lower than in other primeval beech forests in the Carpathian Mountains or in Germany such as the Hainich . This is explained by the lower number of tree species (32 species compared to 53 in Hainich) and the relatively low proportion of dead wood . Of the species found, five ( Ästiger Stachelbart , Hohenbuehelia auriscalpium , Flat Schillerporling ( Inonotus cuticularis ), Ischnoderma resinosum and powdered wooden funnel ( Ossicaulis lignatilis )) are of high natural value . Spongipellis pachyodon and Xylobolus frustulatus are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN .

fauna

The large domestic mammals are represented by red deer , roe deer and wild boar. Added to this are the wild species mouflon and fallow deer , which were released in 1935 . The national park is home to a total of 44 species of mammals, including fox , badger , tree and stone marten , polecat , ermine and weasel . Also hare , hedgehogs , dormice and dormice occur. In 1934, the raccoon was first released in Europe on the Edersee, which has since spread across the borders of Northern Hesse. In 2007, the European wildcat ( Felis silvestris ) , which has been considered extinct in the region for 60 years, was detected.

15 of the 24 bat species found in Germany live in the national park ; including the great bearded bat , the brown long-eared bat and the particularly endangered species great mouse- eared bat and Bechstein's bat .

In addition, 75 species of breeding birds live in the national park. The largest breeding bird in the area is the black stork . The eagle owl breeds in the cliffs . Other owl species are the tawny owl , long-eared owl , rough-owl and, less commonly, the pygmy owl . The woodpeckers are represented by six of the seven Central European woodpecker species. The common raven has been breeding in the national park since 1989 , and there are still tree-breeding jackdaws . Even Dove and woodcock are found. Flycatcher , Redstart , Red-backed Shrike and Shrike are further special features of the park.

To date, 876 species of beetles have been counted in the national park . The beetles are particularly represented by old and dead wood residents. Seven species that only occur in primeval forests, including the hermit, are found. The butterflies have been recorded by volunteer research over the past 15 years. So far 822 species are known.

Tree species composition and forest condition

Beech leaves in the autumn backlight

The permanent sample inventory carried out between 2007 and 2009 revealed the following tree species composition and regeneration for the national park:

Tree species	Percentage ownership %	Regeneration per hectare (plants)
European beech	65	3831
Sessile and English oak	09	0168
Other deciduous trees	03	1519
Norway spruce	11	0326
Scots pine	03	0004th
Other conifers	09	0031

What is striking about the regeneration is the high proportion of European beech and other deciduous trees, while the conifers and the two oak species only play a minor role. This leads to the expectation that the proportion of coniferous forests will decrease sharply in the next generation of forests.

In terms of their tree species composition, 63.4% of the forest area of ​​the national park corresponds to the natural forest vegetation. These are the various beech forests, the linden-maple ravine forests and the Hainsternmieren-alder forests. Another 7.6% forest area comes close to the natural forest vegetation. These are semi-natural mixed deciduous forests such as birch-oak forest or oak-hornbeam forest. Deciduous and coniferous mixed forests grow on a further 18%. They are clearly removed from the natural forest vegetation. 10.1% of the stands are pure coniferous forests and thus very clearly removed from the natural forest vegetation.

The high proportion of beech forests over 160 years is also striking. It is already over 20% in the national park (as of 2009). In the national average, only 0.9% of the beech forests are older than 160 years. The park is at the beginning of a medium to long-term maturation process, so that the amount of dead wood, which is now only slightly higher than that of commercial forests, will increase considerably. However, it will take several forest generations and thus several hundred years before a real primeval forest develops.

Ecologically particularly valuable park areas

Traddelkopf

The Traddelkopf , also popularly known as the Traddel , is the highest mountain in the national park at 626.4  m . It rises more than 300 meters from the Wesebach valley near Gellershausen. In the upper regions of the mountain, in particular, there is a more than 200-year-old montane grove beech forest with many sycamores. The beech forests of the Traddelkopf are among the oldest in the national park and continue on the neighboring Ahornkopf.

Maple head

The 604.1  m high Ahornkopf is the western continuation of the Traddelkopf and the second highest mountain in the national park. The Ruhlauber forest area, which has been under nature protection since 1989, is located here. Its beech forests were established between 1830 and 1840 and are therefore between 170 and 180 years old. The height of the trees is sometimes over 30 meters. A second layer of trees has grown since it was placed under protection, so that a uniform indoor forest became a multi-layered stand. Sycamore maples also grow in some places. A former wolf pit and a border stone between Hessen-Kassel and Waldeck are located near the Frankenauer Tor square .

Arensberg

The 459.6  m high and elongated Arensberg has a high proportion of old and near-natural forests. However, these are usually no longer accessible to the public.

As Wooghölle the northern slope of the mountain is called, where he drops steeply to the Edersee. As far as the records go, this area has never been used by humans and has always been covered with forest, even during the period of greatest deforestation in the early modern period. So there is an actual jungle on 10 hectares. Due to the northern exposure, this slope receives very little sun. That is why a canyon forest has developed there, which consists mainly of beech (Fagus sylvatica) and deciduous trees such as sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) , Norway maple ( Acer platanoides) , summer linden (Tilia platyphyllos) , mountain elm (Ulmus glabra) , common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) . The Edersee Urwaldsteig leads a bit through the Wooghölle.

On the subsequent northern high plateau some more than 200 year old beech forests have been preserved, which are also among the highest in the national parks. Very natural, partly unspoilt forest complexes are also located on the east and west slopes of the mountain. There are ravine forest and dry beech forest. According to Frede, this area is like a jungle and has also never been used by humans.

Taken together, NABU describes the Arensberg as the national park's silverware because of these forest complexes. Red deer and wildcat should prefer to stay here, as well as the black stork breeding. The Waidmannsheil Hut, a hunting lodge on the Arensberg , has already been demolished.

More old beech and near-natural forests

Other old beech forests in the national park are on the Dicken Kopf, the Locheiche, the Geismarsberg, the Bracht, the Hegeberg, the Hardt (mountain) and the Salzkopf. Many of these forests are no longer accessible to the public.

Original, primeval forest-like forest types (without old beech wood) can still be found on the Rabenstein with natural oak-hornbeam forest, the White Stone, the Daudenberg with a very large block rubble , the Hoher Stoškopf, the Ringelsberg, and the Hagenstein , the "Loreley of the Edertal ".

Fahrentriesch

Fahrentriesch

Checkerboard butterflies in Fahrentriesch

The Fahrentriesch is the largest of the Triescher in the national park and is located near Altenlotheim at about 450  m altitude on a high plateau between Bracht, Arensberg, Ascherberg and Kronberg. It belonged to the cleared island of the deserted village of Eschenbruch, which fell in 1332. However, this village was not directly on the Fahrentriesch, but a little further east on the Eschertriesch (now afforested) and the forest area "construction site". Presumably this village location was chosen because of the better water supply.

In the central part of the Fahrentrisch there are large stands of nebula grass with occurrences of common heather, juniper, individual spruce and larch. Arnica , common heather , heather carnation , blueberry and German gorse also grow here . In the outer areas there are red fescue and red ostrich grass meadows, smooth oat meadows , fresh meadows, wet meadows and orchards . Even further out, on the slopes of Kronberg and in the Bärenbachtal between Bracht and Arensberg, large areas of spruce were reforested in the 20th century. These were already cleared in advance of the establishment of the national park. The remaining trees that were still standing were knocked down in 2007 by Hurricane Kyrill .

The meadows are kept open through grazing with sheep and mowing. On the other open areas, forest of birch and red elder (Sambucus racemosa) is slowly developing again . Rowan trees were planted along the paths.

On the meadows rare birds such as live -backed shrike , shrike , wood lark and Goldammer , reptiles such as forest lizard , sand lizard and smooth snake and insects such as the Great Heath grasshopper who spotted club cricket and the Nightingale grasshoppers .

Several very large and expansive beeches grow on the meadows, as well as a large summer linden tree and numerous spruce and larch trees.

An ordinary refuge on Fahrentriesch was dismantled and replaced by an old game feeding system, which was converted into an information and refuge hut. At the end of March 2012, a group of Danish youths rebuilt this feeding system on the Fahrentriesch free of charge (see Buchenblatt 1/2012). In 2013, text panels were attached and benches were set up.

Other Triescher, some of which are also home to rare animal and plant species, are the Tannendriesch near Gellershausen , the Quernsttriesch with the ruins of the Quernstkirche and the Quernstkapelle, the Damentriesch with a meadow called Hasenhute and the Heiligenstocktriesch . The last three Triescher are located near Frankenau . There is another refuge with information boards on the Tannendriesch.

Zoning and park management

According to the zoning planning for the national park, around 85% of its area belongs to the nature zone , for which there is process protection and in which no more human intervention takes place.

The development zone took 10% of the area in the park foundation. Here, natural developments are to be initiated or promoted through cautious control measures, or conditions remote from nature are to be gradually renatured. This includes, for example, the dismantling of inland gates, the removal of non-local trees such as Douglas firs , the conversion of purely coniferous forests, the removal of piping and the dismantling of hunting and forestry facilities. Once these goals have been achieved, the development zone will be transferred to the nature zone.

As part of the large-scale Kellerwald region project, the piping from numerous cellar forest streams was removed from 2010. Fords have been laid out where these streams cross hiking trails. The game gate was mainly removed between 2013 and 2015. It is now almost completely broken down. Since 2016, Douglas fir and spruce monocultures that do not naturally occur in the basement forest have been removed from the park area.

According to rough calculations, 92% of the area belonged to the nature zone in 2014. The development zone has therefore shrunk to 3%.

The permanent care and management zone makes up 5% of the parking area. These include, above all, valuable cultural landscape biotopes such as forest meadow valleys, Hutungen and Triescher, which are to be kept permanently open through mowing or grazing, especially with heather sheep .

Since currently the National Park no large predators such as lynx , wolf or brown bear live, it is necessary for the survival of wildlife species deer , fallow deer , roe deer , mouflon and wild boar by the hunt to regulate the browsing stress of the forest within reasonable limits and to keep to enable natural regeneration or to avoid damage from game in the surrounding fields. The hunt, referred to here as wildlife management, is based on ecological requirements and takes place at a reduced time. Types of hunting are driven hunts and coordinated hide hunting . The aim is to enable visitors to experience the animals during the day.

National park destination

The aim of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park is to put the European beech forest, which is unique in its size and proximity to nature, under permanent protection. According to the motto “let nature be nature”, the wilderness of tomorrow should develop here. The national park already meets the criteria of the IUCN (International Union for the Protection of Nature), according to which at least 75% of the area can be left to its own natural dynamics (process protection) without human intervention.

Another goal of the national park is environmental education and quiet relaxation, as well as research.

Tourism and hiking

TreeTopWalk - The treetop path on the Edersee near Edertal- Rehbach

Signpost in the national park

Several long-distance hiking trails lead through the Kellerwald or Kellerwald-Edersee National Park:

• including sections of the Kellerwaldsteig , an approximately 156 km long circular hiking trail that connects the mountains and places of the Kellerwald-Edersee National and Nature Park . It leads in the area of ​​the Frankenau national park to Quernst and then in the south of the area past the various Trieschers such as Damentriesch, Heiligenstocktriesch and Fahrentriesch into the Elsebach valley and then over the Hagenstein to Kirchlotheim , where it leaves the national park.
• In addition, the Urwaldsteig Edersee has existed since 2005 , which leads around 68 km around the Edersee, on its northern bank through the dry oak forests and through the national park south of the reservoir. Here it leads into areas where primeval forest relics and near-natural forests often occur. These are in particular the Hagenstein, the Hardt mountain, the Salzkopf, the Ringelsberg, the Wooghölle primeval forest area on the Arensberg, the Daudenberg with its block heap, the Dicke Kopf with the Borndellen forest area ( Quellenental ) and the Ochsenwurzelskopf.
• The 184 km long Lullus path leads over the Traddelkopf to the Bathildishütte in the middle of the national park, then it turns into the Banfebachtal, and then runs over the Fahrentriesch to Schmittlotheim on the same path as the Kellerwaldsteig.

The Kellerwaldsteig and the Lulluspfad run largely on forest roads, while the Urwaldsteig, on the other hand, often follows narrow paths that have been dismantled. In some places the latter is particularly steep.

In addition, some circular hiking trails lead from the numerous parking spaces for hikers in and through the national park. They are usually about ten kilometers long and named after animals or plants, for example there is a bat path and a mountain ash path.

On July 30, 2010, the TreeTopWalk - The Tree Top Walk on the Edersee - was opened in the nature park adjacent to the national park north-northwest of the Edertal district of Rehbach . It is 250 m long, up to 30 m high and offers a view of the Edersee . In front of the path is the 800 m long squirrel path that begins near the Edersee wildlife park .

A game observation pulpit was built a little south of the Quernst in 2018, allowing a view of the lonely forest valley of Wellenhausen. Especially during the rutting season in autumn can here in the evening and early morning deer are observed. The national park offers guided tours.

Transport connection and transport concept

Streets

You can reach the National Park Keller-Edersee on several state - or district roads , which from the west in a north-south direction in Edertal the park tangent federal highway 252 north from the lot and beyond the Edersees running B 251 , from just east in In the area of ​​the municipality of Edertal , turn off the B 485 , which runs past the park, and the B 253, which is a little south of the Kellerwald :

Approximately along the northern edge of the national park or along the south bank of the Edersee there are two unconnected access roads : from the west from Herzhausen on the B 252 via Harbshausen to Asel-Süd, the district road  59 (all to Vöhl ) and from the east from Hemfurth- Edersee via Rehbach to Bringhausen (all to Edertal ) the K 35; Hemfurth-Edersee is located on the intersecting state roads  3084 and 3086, which lead north past Affolderner See and Edersee to Herzhausen, so that you can bypass the Edersee north. At Schmittlotheim the L 3085 branches off to the southwest past the park, which in Frankenau crosses the L 3332 leading from there through the Wesebach valley to the municipality of Edertal on the B 485, so that you can bypass the park.

In connection with the designation of the national park, numerous new hikers' parking spaces with on-site information boards with the heading National Park were created on the outskirts of the surrounding villages ; there are also some older parking spaces at the edges of the park. They can all be used as starting and destination points for tours in the park area. Some hikers' parking spaces are now approached by collective call taxis .

The parking spaces created as part of the national park designation are or are located at:

• Kirchlotheim
• Kellerwald National Park Center near Kirchlotheim
• Heaven at Harbshausen
• Asel-South
• Kirchweg near Bringhausen
• Peterskopf near Hemfurth
• Rabenstein near Affoldern
• Dinkelsburg near Mehlen
• Trifthütte for little ones with an information butterfly
• Grill hut near Gellershausen
• Quernstgrund near Frebershausen
• Kellerwalduhr (near Talgang ) near Frankenau , also AST stop
• Koppe near Altenlotheim
• Elsebach near Schmittlotheim

train

The Kellerwald-Edersee National Park can now be reached again by train via the Warburg – Sarnau railway line. Since September 14, 2015, the Marburg - Frankenberg - Korbach - Brilon-Wald - Bestwig rail connection has been in regular service again, every day at two-hour intervals. Stops on the route that can be used as a starting point for hikes in the national park are Schmittlotheim and Herzhausen . The latter station is known as the National Park Station. The National Park Center can also be easily reached from here.

Until 2015, the national park was the only one in Germany that could not be regularly accessed by train. Due to the closure of the Frankenberg – Korbach section of the Warburg – Sarnau railway (1987), the stop in Vöhl-Herzhausen was no longer served.

In 2012, however, after years of discussion, it was finally decided to reactivate the Korbach – Frankenberg railway line. In previous years, some private initiatives and on the occasion of route festivals offered sporadic excursions to the Edersee during the weekend; partly in connection with special trips of historical trains. In 2009, such offers were implemented over three weekends. In 2010, the renovation of the line for the 120th anniversary was celebrated with the Burgwaldbahn on October 23 and 24. On the occasion of this event, the Marburg-Frankenberg-Herzhausen route was operated by special trains with different hauls. Also in 2011, 2012 and 2013 the trains from Marburg ran on Sundays and public holidays in the summer half year according to the schedule via Frankenberg to Herzhausen, so that the national park could be reached. In 2014 this was not possible due to the intensive repair work on the line to Korbach, but the railway offered rail replacement services to Herzhausen on Sundays and public holidays . The reactivated railway line was opened with a party on September 12 and 13, 2015. Trains have been running regularly since then.

In contrast to the Bavarian Forest National Park , for example, there is still no transport concept for car-free tourism in the national park area , despite the progress made in rail connections.

Stamp motif

On 11 February 2011, published 3 January 2011 was 1,45- € postage stamp with the motto "Illustrative representation of the forests and lakes of the National Park Keller Edersee" in the National Park Center Kellerwald presented to the public. The motif shows the view from Waldeck Castle to the Edersee at low tide with an exposed peninsula on the Hop Mountains, behind it, a little above the center of the motif, the dam wall of the reservoir outside of the National Park but in the Kellerwald-Edersee Nature Park.

literature

• Norbert Panek: Fears of the jungle. The arduous way to the "Kellerwald" National Park. Idea, concept, history . Self-published, Korbach 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-020673-3 .
• Norbert Panek: National Park Region Kellerwald-Edersee. With Kellerwaldsteig . Cognito, Niedenstein 2006, ISBN 978-3-932583-21-6 .
• Manfred Delpho, Wolfgang Lübcke: In the realm of the rustic beeches. Kellerwald-Edersee National Park . Cognitio, Niedenstein 2006, ISBN 978-3-932583-18-6 .
• Hugo Hücker, Gerhard Kalden: Nature Park and National Park Kellerwald-Edersee. Fascination with nature . Cognitio, Niedenstein 2004, ISBN 3-932583-12-4 .

Filmography

• In the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park , documentary film , 45 minutes, Germany, 2005, script and direction: Ina Knobloch, Manfred Praxl and Hiltrud Jäschke, production: MDR

Web links

Commons : Kellerwald-Edersee National Park  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Kellerwald-Edersee National Park  - travel guide

• Kellerwald-Edersee National Park (official website of the national park), at nationalpark-kellerwald-edersee.de
• National Park Center Kellerwald (official website of the National Park Center Kellerwald), at nationalparkzentrum-kellerwald.de
• Kellerwald-Edersee National Park (official website of Edersee Touristic GmbH), at kellerwald.de
• Kellerwald-Edersee National Park at the Friends of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park V., on nationalparkkellerwald.de
• Schnuckenprojekt at the Edersee (national park sheep farm project), on schnuckenprojekt.de
• Scary is the wrong word , In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), from August 31, 2008
• Kellerwald-Edersee National Park ( Memento from April 12, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )

References and comments

1. ↑ ^{a b c} National park size [5738 ha (57.38 km²)]: Ordinance on the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park , dated December 17, 2003 in the version dated December 20, 2010, see in § 1 - Declaration on the National Park , p. 2 , (3), on nationalpark-kellerwald-edersee.de (PDF; 1.3 MB)
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
3. ↑ Walter Zarges: The history of the Quernstkirche. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on August 23, 2016 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )   , on frankenau.ecity21.de
4. ↑ Dehnert's grave in the Kingdom of Heaven near Frankenau. in: Hessischer Gebirgsbote. 2/2004, p. 53.
5. ↑ Text board attached to the Bathildishütte.
6. ↑ Walter Zarges: The high forest on the Edersee , in: Frankenberger Hefte No. 7, Frankenberg 1999, ISBN 3-922225-46-2 , Norbert Panek: Kellerwald & Edersee, nature and culture guide, Niedenstein 2006, hiking guide Urwaldsteig Edersee, o. O. 2010
7. ↑ Wilderness on over 75 percent of the area - Kellerwald National Park is now IUCN certified. In: NABU. hessen.nabu.de, March 10, 2011, accessed on March 13, 2011 .  
8. ↑ National Park Center Kellerwald - Reopening ... in the history of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park ( Memento of the original from August 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 28, on nationalparkzentrum-kellerwald.de (PDF; 1.5 MB)  
9. ↑ Beech forests are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In: The world . June 25, 2011.
10. ↑ Old beech forests in Germany are a World Heritage Site , press release by the German Commission for UNESCO, June 25, 2011, on unesco.de
11. ↑ Registration "Old beech forests of Germany" as an extension of the world natural heritage beech forests of the Carpathian Mountains , p. 21 (PDF; 7.91 MB)
12. ↑ Julia Janzen: National park extension is postponed - not all areas acquired yet. In: hna.de. July 22, 2020, accessed July 31, 2020 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b c} Ewald Langer, Gitta Langer, Manuel Striegel, Janett Riebesehl, Alexander Ordynets: Fungal diversity of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park - indicator species of nature value and conservation . In: Nova Hedwigia , Volume 99 (2014), No. 1-2, pp. 129-144.
14. ↑ Mainly hornbeam, sand and down birch, mountain ash; in addition black alder, common hazel, sycamore maple, common ash, summer linden, very rare: mountain elm
15. ↑ Mainly European larch and Douglas fir.
16. ↑ Marcus Schmidt: How close to nature and how rich in species is the forest vegetation? , in: AFZ- Der Wald 17/2010, pp. 10–12.
17. ↑ Peter Meyer: National Park Kellerwald-Edersee on the way to the natural forest , in: AFZ- Der Wald 17/2010, pp. 7–9
18. ↑ ^{a b} Achim Frede: Natural forests in the Kellerwald-Edersee region , in: 2.  Hessisches Naturwaldforum Buche , Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-89274-295-1 , pp. 72–80
19. ↑ ^{a b} NABU topic: The Ruhlauber - indoor forest in transition ( memento from February 16, 2016 in the web archive archive.today ), in landscape experiences in the national park , on hessen.nabu.de
20. ↑ National Park Plan for the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park , on nationalpark-kellerwald-edersee.de, p. 98, as of December 2008 (PDF; 13.63 MB)
21. ↑ Concept of wildlife management , on nationalpark-kellerwald-edersee.de, as of September 9, 2011 (PDF; 76.3 kB)
22. ↑ Formerly Euler / Quernst
23. ↑ Large majority in favor of reactivating the Korbach-Frankenberg railway line. In: HNA. September 13, 2012, accessed November 14, 2013 .  
24. ↑ Niklas Luerßen: VCD welcomes the planned reactivation of the Korbach - Frankenberg railway line. In: zughalt.de. September 19, 2012, accessed November 14, 2013 .  
25. ↑ 2010 on the Kurhessenbahn website, on streckenfest-kurhessenbahn.de
26. ^ Federal Ministry of Finance - Postage Stamps - Postage Stamps February 15, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2016 .