Erlenkamp nature reserve

The Erlenkamp nature reserve with a size of 13.3  ha is located east of the compensation basin of the Sorpesees in the urban area of Sundern (Sauerland) . The area was designated as a nature reserve (NSG) with an area of ​​10.9 ha for the first time in 1993 with the Sundern landscape plan by the district council of the Hochsauerlandkreis . When the landscape planner Sundern was reorganized, the NSG was again identified and enlarged. The NSG borders directly on the compensation basin of the Sorpesees to the southwest. Buildings border on the west and the landscape protection area Sorpewiesen Lange Erlen to the north . To the northeast is an industrial area and to the east is the Sundern nature reserve .

Area description

The NSG is an open wet meadow protection area in the Sorpe Valley . The massively developed lower Sorpe river, which was moved to the edge of the valley, forms the southern border of the NSG. In the north-west, the relief-rich, often springy sub-slope areas have also been partially included in the NSG delimitation. The value is given by the moist to wet grassland complex that runs along the depths of the valley and is extraordinarily large for the natural area. The damp to wet location is presumably exclusively the result of the pressure water exiting in swelling channels on the western lower slope. The shallow trenches created for drainage have not been maintained for a long time, are no longer open to water, and are mostly barely recognizable. The wet grassland complex of the NSG is today predominantly grazed extensively. This is how a diverse mosaic of partially springy wet to wet pastures was created. Since grazing cattle often avoid the heavily wet areas, parts of the area almost give the impression of moist high herbaceous meadows. Plants such as meadowsweet , various types of rush and large sedge dominate these tall herbaceous corridors. The few areas that are mowed occasionally or exclusively can be referred to as water- ground common ground.

At the lowest point in the north there is a natural bleak with reed beds and a small Schnabelseggenried . The great floristic importance of the NSG is proven by the occurrence of rare plant species such as water- ground common ground, devil's bite , beak sedge, marsh marigold and spotted orchid . The faunistic importance is illustrated by the occurrence of the hygrophilic marsh insect, which is threatened with extinction in the Sauerland . Only a few individual trees are loosely distributed in the NSG as wood structures. Towards the Sorpe, the grassland is predominantly much drier and also used extensively as hay meadows. Intensive meadow use takes place on the also drier southwestern upper slope.

Protection purpose

The NSG is intended to serve as a large, contiguous, open, increasingly extensively used meadow grassland complex. Also protect breeding, food and habitat for rare and endangered bird species as well as for amphibians, grasshoppers, butterflies and dragonflies. As with all nature reserves in Germany, the protection designation pointed out that the area became a nature reserve “because of the rarity, special character and beauty of the area”.

See also

• List of nature reserves in the Hochsauerlandkreis

literature

• Hochsauerlandkreis - Lower Landscape Authority (ed.): Landscape plan Sundern , Meschede 1993.
• Hochsauerlandkreis: Landscape plan Sundern - reorganization . Meschede 2019.

Web links

• "Erlenkamp" nature reserve in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hochsauerlandkreis - Lower Landscape Authority (ed.): Landscape plan Sundern , Meschede 1993, p. 38.
2. ↑ Landscape plan Sundern - reorganization, p. 78 ff. (PDF) Retrieved on May 5, 2019 . 

Coordinates: 51 ° 21 '34.5 "  N , 7 ° 58' 21.3"  E