Teutoburg Forest National Park
The Teutoburg Forest National Park has been a political discussion project in northern North Rhine-Westphalia since the end of the 20th century . Along with the Eifel National Park, it would be the second national park in the most populous federal state and the second smallest (after Jasmund ) national park in Germany .
Protective value
The Senne can be entered through the military use for over 100 years, only limited. Since neither industrial changes nor anthropogenic use can be found in this area, the landscape is still in a very natural state. Over the years a diverse and unique flora and fauna has been preserved there. This results in typical features for an extensive and varied landscape that was once found in large areas of Westphalia.
In order to preserve this biotope, there are considerations to integrate the area of the military training area into a national park Senne- Egge or Teutoburg Forest to be created after the discontinuation of military use, which is, however, in the uncertain future . The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation has classified the Senne as an “outstanding biotope” and declared the area to be a landscape area in North Rhine-Westphalia that meets the criteria of a national park. The planned area for the national park is covered with 5,127 hectares of beech forest habitat types. It lies in the districts of Lippe , Höxter and Paderborn and is sparsely populated and protected according to the EU's Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive .
In order to make the national park possible, BUND and NABU recommend setting up it exclusively on land. It would also be welcome if parts of the area that are currently still in use by the British armed forces could be included in the national park before they are withdrawn.
The internationally outstanding importance of the Teutoburg Forest for nature conservation lies in the connection of the forests with rocks and caves as well as the extensive sandy soils in the low mountain range. Old and near-natural beech forests, such as the Teutoburg Forest, are among the most threatened habitat types in the world according to the assessment of the nature conservation associations.
Development process
The North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament voted in a unanimous decision in 1991 in favor of the establishment of a national park after the end of military use. To support this idea and to coordinate the project on site, the Förderverein Nationalpark Senne e. V. was founded to accompany the planning. Appropriate designation of the area with the adjacent forests of the Teutoburg Forest and the Egge Mountains has, however, always failed due to resistance in the region.
In order to implement European legislation, the area of the military training area was designated as a protected area recognized by the European Union ( FFH ) in 2002 , which takes on the function of a central hub in the network of nature conservation priority areas.
The state government of Rüttgers (2005-2010) saw no chances of realizing the national park and instead promoted a biosphere reserve in the Weser Uplands . With the change to the state government of Kraft in 2010, the fundamentals changed: A second national park in North Rhine-Westphalia is mentioned in the government's coalition agreement.
The timing of the withdrawal of the British military has not yet been clearly stated. According to new plans, it should be completed by 2020. The British plan, however, to make the training area the focus of training for the British Army on the Rhine . To this end, new combat villages and a tank road are being built, which contradict nature conservation planning. Therefore, there are considerations to create a two-tier national park: initially without the military areas and then with the entire area after the soldiers have withdrawn.
In June 2012, the two largest German nature conservation associations, the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) and the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), asked North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft to give the green light for a second national park in North Rhine-Westphalia. In a joint letter, the heads of the associations, NABU President Olaf Tschimpke and BUND Chairman Hubert Weiger , called on the then red-green state government to campaign for the Teutoburg Forest to be declared a national park. In doing so, the state would make an important contribution to the protection of biological diversity.
As with all the establishment of national parks, there are fears among the population in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region . National park opponents see a threat to the wood and furniture industry. The associations pointed out that the furniture industry buys its wood globally. After the establishment of the national park of 109,000 hectares, over 102,000 hectares of forest would still be available for small local sawmills. The National Park opponents had joined forces in the citizens' movement Our Teutoburg Forest - No National Park Teutoburg Forest / Egge , BBUTW for short.
See also
Web links
- Information page of the Lippe district
- Friends of the Senne-Eggegebirge National Park
- Senne-Egge National Park / Teutoburg Forest NABU North Rhine-Westphalia
- Eckhard Fuhr: The long dead idea of a wild national park . In: Welt.de , October 25, 2012