Ruhrtal nature reserve near Laer

NSG Ruhrtal near Laer

The Ruhr in the NSG

The Ruhr Valley nature reserve near Laer with a size of 160.7 hectares is located northwest of Laer Castle in the urban area of Meschede . The area was first designated as a nature reserve (NSG) by the Arnsberg district government in 1979 , and in 1994 it was enlarged and re-designated by the Hochsauerlandkreis with the Meschede landscape plan. The nature reserve Ruhrtal bei Laer has been part of the FFH area Ruhrtal bei Laer and Schneisenberg (No. DE-4615-301) with 197 hectares since 2004 with the nature reserve Schneisenberg .

Area description

Laer tower ruins in Buchholz

In the NSG there is a section of the Ruhr valley and red beech forests on hills adjacent to the south. The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway , which runs along the valley, separates a wide upper ditch from the main valley. Parts of the NSG in the valley floor are used as a water catchment area. Due to the damming of the Ruhr in sections at the level of the water extraction system and the withdrawal of water from the upper ditch, the course of the river has a differentiated sequence of deep and shallow sections. The Ruhr is accompanied by woody banks and narrow strips of floodplain forest. In some cases, there are also broad fringes of high perennials and flowing water channels along the river. The valley level is occupied by large, ruderalized smooth oat meadows that are largely unused. Extensively cared for wet meadows are also found north of the Ruhr Valley Railway. In the NSG there is an individual occurrence of the ostrich fern in a wet forest strip along the Ruhr. The forested Ruhr edge heights of Stesserburg with 326 m above sea level belong to the NSG south of the Ruhr. NN and Buchholz with 373 m over. NN. The two mountains drop steeply with height differences between 80 and 125 m into the curved Offenland valley. The mountains in the are predominantly planted with structurally rich mixed beech forests. There are also small areas of hardwood-rich hillside debris and ravine forests. Occurrences of the stag's tongue fern are on the Ruhr slope of the Buchholz.

Around 600 m west of Laer Castle is the Laer tower ruin , also known as the watch tower , on the Buchholz mountain in the NSG . It is an early example of a neo-Gothic building in Westphalia. Two kilometers to the west is from the ruined tower Laer the Iron Age hill fort Stesser castle on the eponymous mountain.

Protection purpose

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

• Westphalian Office for State and Building Maintenance: Meschede landscape plan . Arnsberg 1994, pp. 35-36.

Web links

Commons : Ruhrtal nature reserve near Laer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Nature reserve "Ruhrtal bei Laer" (HSK-016) in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Vormweg: The neo-Gothic in the Westphalian church building. Lindenberg im Allgäu, 2013 p. 25
2. ↑ Handbook of Historic Places in Germany. Vol. 3, North Rhine-Westphalia. Stuttgart, 1970, p. 704.

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 45.9 "  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 36.4"  E