Nuhnewiesen nature reserve

Nuhnewiesen nature reserve from the northeast in summer

Nuhnewiesen nature reserve from the southwest in March

Whinchat in the Nuhnewiesen nature reserve

The Nuhnewiesen nature reserve with a size of 167.7 hectares is located southeast of Hallenberg . It was designated as a nature reserve (NSG) by the Hochsauerlandkreis on September 15, 2004 with the Hallenberg landscape plan. The NSG is part of the European bird sanctuary Medebacher Bucht and the FFH area Nuhnewiesen, Wache and Dreisbachtal (DE 4817-306).

Area description

The majority of the Nuhnewiesen take up extensively used wet meadows and pastures. In the area there are, among other things, the grassland types mountain mowing meadows, smooth oat meadows and Silgenwiesen . The river Nuhne still has underwater vegetation in the NSG. Bird species such as red-backed shrike , whinchat and meadow pipit breed in the reserve . With 40 to 50 breeding pairs, the whinchat has one of its three largest breeding occurrences in NRW in the Nuhnewiesen. Only in the Wetterbachtal nature reserve and in the Buchheller headwaters nature reserve in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district are there roughly equal populations in NRW. Bird species such as black stork , red kite and kingfisher are regular food guests.

Protection purpose

According to the nature reserve designation, the area was designated as a nature reserve in order to contribute to the safeguarding of the ecological network Natura 2000 of the EU in the sense of the Habitats Directive and also to the preservation and development of communities and habitats of wild, partly endangered species, animal and plant species. The preservation and near-natural development of the richly structured, grassland-shaped Nuhne Valley with the near-natural river course should also be secured. Furthermore, the preservation and natural development of the extensively used wet grassland in the nature reserve should be ensured. 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”.

Protective measures

At the request of the Association for Nature and Bird Conservation in the Hochsauerlandkreis (VNV), the state of North Rhine-Westphalia purchased land in the Nuhnewiesen in the 1990s. The purchased meadows of the area have been used extensively or continue to be used extensively since then, and fallow strips were created. From 2005 to 2009 a LIFE project of the European Union ran in the bird sanctuary Medebacher Bucht . The project sponsor on site was the Biological Station Hochsauerlandkreis . An observation tower for visitors was built in the Nuhnewiesen. One of four nature trails in "Highlights" in Medebach Bay was laid out in the Nuhnewiesen.

As provided for in the 2004 NSG designation, arable land was converted into grassland and non-indigenous woody plants ( blue spruce ) were removed.

literature

Petra Salm, Birgit Beckers, Antonius Klein, Katharina Koch, Holger Krafft, Hans Obergruber: Discover the natural treasures of South Westphalia: 50 selected areas for nature lovers. Working Group on Biological Environmental Protection, 2014.

Hochsauerlandkreis - Lower Landscape Authority (ed.): Landscape plan Hallenberg , Meschede 2004, pp. 23–28 u. 69-70.

Werner Schubert: Unused and unloved - On the successful rescue of the Sauerland wetlands (PDF; 1.85 MB) Irrgeister 2006/23. Pp. 23-26.