Marienfließ nature reserve

Coordinates: 53 ° 21 '2.5 "  N , 12 ° 10' 14.9"  E

Marienfließ nature reserve​

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Retzow Heath

Marienfließ nature reserve is the name of two connected nature reserves in northern Brandenburg and southern Mecklenburg . They have been designated as a special protected area according to the European Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive. The area was used by the Group of the Soviet Armed Forces in Germany until 1991 .

Location and parts

Former bomb site (2003)

The area is located south of Retzow , Klein Dammerow, Wahlstorf and Redlin . A country road runs almost parallel to the southern border on which Krempendorf , Stepenitz and Jännersdorf are located. The nature reserve is located in the Parchim-Meyenburg sand areas .

The people of Mecklenburg refer to the northern part as Retzower Heide, although the paths to Marienfließ (“in Prussia”) are marked. It is named after the village of Retzow, a district of Ganzlin . The Retzower Heide was a contiguous forest area until 1945. The area covers 609 hectares and was designated on April 27, 1994. Most recently, the area was in the care of 25-30 Russian soldiers. Her relationship with the locals was good. After the German reunification "forgotten", they received presents from them at Christmas 1991 and 1992. There are hardly any traces of the barracks and farm buildings.

The Brandenburg part was already used by the army (Wehrmacht) . From 1945 to 1992, Soviet troops used the training area. The forest was cleared and the brown soil degraded with metal plates . There was no surface sealing . The practice area was last enlarged in 1980. With 3000 ha it was three times the size of the Retzow Heath. Today the Brandenburg part of the nature reserve covers 1,186 hectares. The Nature Conservation Ordinance came into force on October 9, 1999.

Military history

The current state of the area is largely shaped by the history of military use, which dates back to before the Second World War. The first military facilities were a camp near Stepenitz and a smaller airfield near Redlin . In 1936–1938, 20–40 hectares were cleared for a Wehrmacht airfield near Redlin .

Red Army

Russian bomb scrap (1993)

Observation Tower (1994)

The Red Army took over the area in 1945 and used it as a training ground until 1991. The area covered a total area of ​​approx. 3,000 hectares and had two sub-areas: the Retzow field airfield with an adjoining air-to-ground firing range (Bombodrom) in the east and the Redlin-Jännersdorf tank firing range in the west. In the eastern part, parachuting was also practiced at times . Attempts had previously been made to set up an airfield for the Red Army, which failed because of the Allied resistance . The field runway for the aircraft (located entirely in Mecklenburg) was created from March 1952 to June 1953. The clearing of the land began on Retzow-Priborner Weg and was driven towards the west. From the beginning of 1952 to 1953, peat from Ganzlin was brought in on a specially built field railway to cover the barren areas. In the 1960s, a Soviet helicopter squadron was relocated to Parchim, whereupon a training area for helicopters was set up next to the field runway . For target exercises, forest areas south of the runway were cleared in order to set up north-south facing dummy runways so that moving targets (especially vehicle dummies) could be fired from the air. The Bombodrom was still managed for forestry in 1953 and was used by the Parchim hunting association until the 1960s. Both uses were stopped a little later. The Marienfließ forester's house was cleared after 1958 and gradually demolished. Target circles were set up in the Bombodrom and city bombardments were practiced. It also served as an alternative area for the neighboring Wittstock military training area , especially during major fires or major maneuvers by armies of the Warsaw Pact states .

The western part of the property was used as a tank firing range after 1945. The barracks, which have since been dismantled for the members of the tank division, were built between 1950 and 1952. The fire line of the tank shooting range was north of the Jännersdorf location. The shooting was in the east. Initially, the shooting range extended to Stepenitzer Weg. The arms race and the further developed defense technology soon made an expansion necessary in an easterly direction up to the Bombodrom. It was not until 1981 that the Kyritz State Forestry Company cleared a large area of ​​around 400 hectares of forest, so that the shooting range reached its final total length of approx. 7 km. The shooting took place on three practice tracks, east of the Försterweg the target pull tracks with target structures (especially tank dummies) were installed. Driving with tracked vehicles on the west-east main road (Kommandeursweg), which is still preserved today, was prohibited. Wooden posts with distance information were driven in every 100 meters. According to the unanimous statements of the responsible district forester, the tank firing range (like the field runway) burned every summer. If the grass or bushes grew too high (visibility was obstructed), a fire was started in February / March by either setting fire to the areas or setting fire to them. Due to the military training operations, spontaneous fires occurred almost every year, and sometimes large fires. Extinguishing work was usually limited to knocking out the fire with spades. Occasionally, however, fire fighting was also carried out by setting counterfire, and in some cases firebreaks were driven with the tanks . The first nature conservation activities go back to the time of political change and peaceful revolution in the GDR .

eviction

As early as October 1990 - while it was still being used as a practice area - a district council resolution was passed to designate the areas in what was then the district of Lübz as a landscape conservation area (LSG) or nature reserve. 1990–1992 the Russian armed forces also withdrew from Retzow. On May 31, 1992 the application of the district nature conservation officer Walter Kintzel to secure heathland in the south of the Lübz district as a nature reserve (NSG) was submitted. The then State Office for Environment and Nature Lübz, the Federal Office for Nature Conservation and the Ministry of the Environment Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania proposed that 800 hectares of dry grass and 100 hectares of heather and gorse be protected as NSG . Thereupon numerous investigations were carried out to illustrate the need for protection and the need for protection and to prepare for the expulsion procedure of a transnational NSG. The Mecklenburg part was temporarily secured in 1994 and finally secured in 1996 under the name of Marienflleß. A cross-departmental final vote on the designation of an NSG of the same name on the Brandenburg area took place in May 1998 in the State Environment Agency, the final designation was carried out by ordinance of the Brandenburg Environment Ministry of 29 July 1999.

conversion

Fallow, the strip in the middle was the runway (2003)

→ Main article : Conversion (urban planning)

Although the military had withdrawn, most of the areas remained closed to the public. The reason was the dangers emanating from the residual ammunition. A lot of other things also remained in the landscape: old vehicles, dilapidated barracks accommodation, old tires, tanks, rubble, scrap and much more. The Association for the Promotion of Appropriate Living Conditions (FAL e.V.) began to develop ideas and concepts relating to the former military area after the Russians left. In 1994, on the basis of its regional development concept, the association was able to raise funds from the European KONVER funding program in the millions. From April 1994 to June 1996, 69 job seekers, mostly long-term unemployed from the area, found work and employment in this context, mostly in so-called job creation measures (ABM). In addition to infrastructural measures to develop new activities such as the reconstruction and conversion of the listed distillery in Ganzlin and the also listed manor house Klein Dammerow, extensive demolition and disposal measures were carried out in the area of ​​the former military training area.

For the project "Rehabilitation of formerly used military areas - Sandheide Retzow Stepenitz and development of new activities", a grant was approved as part of the financing as part of the operational program "Konver I", so that 48% was provided from national funds. The administrations responsible for realizing the project were involved:

1. the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of Economics of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as those responsible for the provision of the approved EU funds
2. the Schwerin labor administration by providing wages and material resources for the AB measures, as well as wage subsidies according to § 249 h AfG
3. the Ministry of Social Affairs of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by providing the wages for the supplement to § 249 h AfG and for the regular employees
4. the State Office for Environment and Nature (StAUN) Lübz
5. the FAL e. V. as recipient of EU funds, responsible for project implementation and the provision of the necessary own funds

The following were removed and disposed of:

• Demolition of barracks and a. Structural facilities: 18,000 m³ of enclosed space, 20,641 m³ of building rubble, 195 t of scrap
• Disassembly and disposal of 40 fuel tanks of 30,000 liters each
• Removal of 12,000 old tires
• Removal of corrugated asbestos and asbestos pipes 3,081 m³
• Extensive garbage clearance took place on around 10 hectares. Landfill waste 267 m³

Change to FFH area

→ Main article : Directive 92/43 / EEC (Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive)

Ecological importance

Retzow Heath

The current state of the area is assessed as good. The remote location of the areas has a beneficial effect. The protected areas can only be accessed on signposted paths in the ammunition-free eastern part. A 2 km long nature trail provides information about the special features of the area. Guided tours are offered all year round by the Lehm + Backsteinstraße information office in Ganzlin . Carriage rides are worthwhile.

The FHH area is largely surrounded by coniferous and mixed forests. Only in the northwest and in the west are arable land. The area of ​​the FHH area is part of the former Jännersdorf military training area, on which the Jännersdorf solar park was built. Wolfram Hennies from Perleberg writes about the significance :

“Due to the military use and the associated repeated fires, the large-scale mechanical keeping open of the soil and the constant removal of the emerging tree growth as well as the lack of agricultural or forestry use, the soil was able to retain its naturally low trophic level. In the transition between the open land biotopes and the adjacent pine forests, pre- forests have developed that represent transition biotopes . In addition, there are valuable small bodies of water and remnants of acidic oak forests in the FFH area . The barren site conditions and the military training operations led to the formation of a highly specialized flora. Particularly striking is amongst the heather . Between the heather vegetation, in the area of ​​open sandy areas, you can find grasses such as wiryweed , fescue and red ostrich grass . In addition, regular herbs such as hawkweed and spring park as well as a well-developed layer of moss are characteristic. Due to the unique location conditions, numerous heat-loving insect species find favorable living and development opportunities here. These include species such as red-winged wasteland insect , couch moth and dune tiger beetle . Bird species such as red-backed killer , goat milker , black pipit , hen harrier , crane and woodlark also benefit from this abundance of insects . The protection of sand lizards , natterjack toads and moor frogs also deserves attention. "

- Wolfram Hennies

Protection purpose

Retzower Heidebrennen (2010)

1. Preservation and development of large-scale, largely unused and nutrient-poor open land biotopes in the area of ​​the Parchim-Meyenburg sand areas. They are characterized by extensive gorse heaths in various forms as well as large, poor grasslands , for example carnation grass , ostrich grass and silver grass .
2. Preservation of the animal species adapted and bound to these habitats.
3. Preservation and development of the transition areas between open areas and forests with their encroachment, pre-forests and forest edges, also as a habitat for species in the transition zone, the development of near-natural mixed forest stands and the preservation and development of the biotope network to the habitats of adjacent protected areas ( Quaßliner Moor , Stepenitz lowland).
4. Sustainable safeguarding of the natural change of the landscape in its character, diversity and beauty.

See also

• List of FFH areas in Brandenburg
• Soviet Union Air Force
• Nature conservation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

literature

• Environment Ministry Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Hrsg.): Marienfließ 279 in: The nature reserves in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Demmler-Verlag, Schwerin 2003, p. 666 f.
• Udo Steinhäuser: NSG Marienfließ - 20 years of nature conservation on a former military training area , in: Nature conservation work in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 55th year, issue 1/2013, pp. 1–13.

Web links

Commons : Marienfließ nature reserve (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description of the area of ​​the Marienfließ nature reserve in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state portal ( memento from October 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Wolfram Hennies: The FFH area Marienfließ. In: Plauer Zeitung. Vol. 120, No. 10, October 19, 2016, p. 4.
2. ^ Ordinance on the Marienfließ nature reserve, Mecklenburg part.
3. ^ Ordinance on the Marienfließ nature reserve, Brandenburg part.
4. ↑ List of nature reserves in Brandenburg, Ministry for the Environment, Health and Consumer Protection Brandenburg ( Memento from March 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ ^{a b} Management Plan Natura 2000 Brandenburg for the FFH area Marienfließ, 2014
6. ↑ Hermann Pries carriage rides