Plästerlegge nature reserve - Auf'm Kipp

Plästerlegge - on the tip

Steep slopes of the Plästerlegge nature reserve - Auf'm Kipp in Bestwig. The 20 meter high waterfall can be seen in the background.

The Plästerlegge waterfall as part of the nature reserve in March 2013

The Plästerlegge waterfall in winter

Moor area in the nature reserve

The nature reserve Plästerlegge - Auf'm Kipp is a 28.48 hectare nature reserve (NSG) east of the village of Wasserfall in the Sauerland. 14.7 hectares of the nature reserve are in the city of Olsberg and 13.78 hectares in the municipality of Bestwig . The area is characterized by its hillside location, rocky terrain and deep sieves. Special micro-climatic conditions prevail in the gorge. The nature reserve is divided into the sub-area around the waterfall or its gorge and the sub-area Berg Auf'm Kipp.

Origin of name and status

The name is derived from the Plästerlegge waterfall of the same name and from the Auf'm Kipp mountain . As a nature reserve with the name Plästerlegge, the area was designated for the first time by ordinance on July 29, 1952 by the Arnsberg district government with 11.7 ha in the municipality of Ramsbeck . On January 23, 1968, the ordinance was renewed by the district government. With the municipal reorganization in 1975, the nature reserve (NSG no. HSK-452) came to the municipality of Bestwig. On December 16, 2004, a nature reserve Plästerlegge - Auf'm Kipp (NSG-Nr. HSK-260) with 14.7 hectares was designated in Olsberg city area by resolution of the district council of the Hochsauerlandkreis , when the landscape plan Olsberg was decided. The Plästerlegge nature reserve remained unchanged. By resolution of the district council of the Hochsauerlandkreis on December 14, 2007, a nature reserve Plästerlegge - Auf'm Kipp with 13.78 hectares was designated on Bestwiger municipality area when the Bestwig landscape plan was adopted. When it was redesignated, the nature reserve was enlarged from 11.7 ha to 13.78 ha.

The nature reserve Plästerlegge - Auf'm Kipp is largely part of the FFH area (Fauna-Flora-Habitat) DE-4716-302, ravine forests near Elpe , with 90 hectares in size. It became part of the FFH area because it identifies the priority habitats of ravine and mixed slope forests (No. 9180) and degraded raised bogs (No. 7120) that are still capable of being renatured according to the EU's Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive . The FFH area also includes the nature reserve Auf'm Riese with 47.13 ha in the Bestwiger municipality and in the Olsberg city area with the Steinmarkskopf-Hardenberg nature reserve with 16.6 ha.

nature

The two main features of the area are the waterfall and the mountain top. The forests in the area largely correspond to the natural vegetation. On the Auf'm Kipp ridge (outside the nature reserve) there is a ledge up to ten meters high. There is a small saddle moor in the Olsberg area. In this bog there is a vegetation mosaic made of rushes and marshmallows . At the marshy drain there is a birch break forest and a bog-spruce forest.

The Plästerlegge has been affected for a long time by human activities in the waterfall village. In the 1920s, the waterfall was described as "even in dry summers ... still relatively rich in water". In the catchment area of the Plästerlegge, water was withdrawn from the stream and channeled into the sewer system, for example.

According to the NSG ordinance, natural rejuvenation of softwood and all softwoods - so far only spruce trees - are to be removed in the nature reserve. At the source tributaries and their catchment areas, agricultural use is to be expanded in order to improve the water quality and increase the amount of water. In the catchment area, the current spruce stock is also to be replaced by hardwood, especially beech, since hardwood has less water vapor and thus more water remains for the pestle.

plants and animals

The forest in the nature reserve consists largely of a mixed stock of red beech and the hardwoods sycamore maple and sycamore elm . There are also English oak and hornbeam . The great silver leaf is found in large numbers in the forest ; therefore it is a rare silver leaf canyon forest . Some of the trees are over 165 years old. The bog birch is also found in the bog .

There are also some rare plant species that are sometimes on the red list of endangered plants and animals. The experts describe the occurrence of the two-flowered violet as special , which otherwise does not occur in North Rhine-Westphalia.

On the high rock cliffs made of Middle Devonian shale in the spray area of the waterfall, special site conditions prevail with consistently high humidity and low air temperatures. Because of these special site conditions, including exposure, slope, subsoil and shade, rare species of the wall- diamond society, lichens and mosses occur. These ice-age floral elements, which are rare nationwide, were able to survive here, while they otherwise died out apart from a few other special locations.

Among the botanical features in the area include the numerous ferns such as Fragile bladderfern , Asplenium viride , Asplenium Trichomanes , Lady Fern , Small Dornfarn , Common Male Fern , Thorny shield fern and ostrich .

Several rare types of moss such as Kranzmoos , Oeders Krummfußmoos , Large Bandmoos , Reddish Seidenglanzmoos and Tamarisk water sack moss have been identified.

Another rare plant species are sarcoscypha coccinea , Middle witchweeds , Alpine enchanter's nightshade , Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage , Langblättriger White Fork Teeth , Cardamine impatiens , White Butterbur , Haller cress , bitter smock , marsh marigold , Meadow Knotweed , Carex nigra , Eriophorum vaginatum , Rosebay Cottongrass , crowberry and vaginal cottongrass.

The species of wood warbler , gray wagtail , blackcap and black warbler have been identified as breeding birds .

Hiking trails

The nature reserve is traversed by various hiking trails, including the SGV long-distance hiking trails X10 and X16 as well as the Bestwiger Panoramaweg and the Bergmannsweg. In the nature reserve it is forbidden to leave paved and marked paths and to let dogs run free.

literature

Siegfried Haas: The Plästerlegge - a natural spectacle. Yearbook Hochsauerlandkreis 1999. Podzun-Verlag, Brilon 1999.
Hochsauerlandkreis - Lower Landscape Authority: Olsberg landscape plan . Meschede 2004, pp. 19-24 and 41-42.
Hochsauerlandkreis - Lower landscape authority: Landscape plan Bestwig (PDF; 915 kB). Meschede 2008, pp. 31–32 and 144–146.