Natural forest cell on fire
The natural forest cell Im Brand , as part of the Buchenwald Dedenborn nature reserve, lies in the area of the municipality of Simmerath near Dedenborn , is a forest area that is not managed according to the principle of the North Rhine-Westphalian natural forest cells . The size of the natural forest cell Im Brand is 14.6 hectares.
This natural forest cell is located in the Rureifel , on a southern slope above the town of Erkensruhr , near the upper end of the Rurstausees . The ridge of the high ridge Langerscheid forms at 480 to 500 m above sea level. NHN the upper limit of the natural forest cell. The terrain falls to the southeast to the valley of the Erkensruhr over several slope hollows and slopes at 450 m above sea level. NHN from. The climate is subatlantic, but the area is already in the rain shadow of some mountain ranges, which is why the annual precipitation of around 900 mm is lower than a few kilometers further west. The annual mean temperature is around 7.3 ° C. The fluctuations in temperature and precipitation over the course of the year are quite small. The area belongs to the northern Eifel , the rocks are clay slate , band slate as well as sandstone and mudstone . Above the rock layers is a top layer of flowing earth , which was created from the weathering of Lower Devonian rocks and loess loam . This solifluction layer is more than one meter thick. Above this there is a skeletal brown earth that reaches a layer thickness of 0.35 to 0.5 m. The topsoil, which is only 5 cm thick, is usually a little podsolized and has a high content of organic matter. The humus layer is mostly in the form of mold , more rarely mull-like . The nutrient content of the soil is usually only low, the pH value is in the strongly acidic range.
The stock can not be safe in the forest management plan from 1859 associate, likely he is to be equated with the "Harffer firebrand". At that time 5 to 30 year old beeches were recorded for this area. The forest was cultivated in the 18th century as a plenter forest for firewood production. Some old kilns can be found in the area of the natural forest cell. Also in 1859 a forest village "Langerscheid" is recorded, with somewhat older beeches that were supplemented by planting. In 1906 the area of today's natural forest cell can be referred to as a 65 to 80 year old beech population, to which the current forest can be traced back.
Today, the forest can be classified as a grass-rush-beech forest, the plant community belongs to the Luzulo-Fagetum typicum . The common beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) dominates the whole area, only a few specimens of the sessile oak ( Quercus petraea ) are added. The crown layer is almost closed, in the undergrowth there are only a few shrubs next to young beech plants. Raspberries ( Rubus idaeus ), blackberries ( Rubus fruticosus ) and mountain ash ( Sorbus aucuparia ) grow in some clear areas . The herbaceous ground vegetation consists mainly of white grove rims ( Luzula albida ), wood fescue ( Festuca altissima ) and wireworm ( Deschampsia flexuosa ). More rarely you can find flutter grass ( Milium effusum ), grove bluegrass ( Poa nemoralis ) and the worm fern ( Dryopteris filix-mas ).
The natural forest cell in the fire represents a relatively intact area of the flutter grass formation ( Milium effusum variant) of the widespread grove beech forest. It is therefore suitable for comparative ecological studies, for example with conifer stands.
supporting documents
- State Institute for Ecology, Landscape Development and Forest Planning (Hrsg.): Natural forest cells in North Rhine-Westphalia . Part I. 1975. pp. 22-215.
- Natural forest cell No. 02, on fire. Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed on February 1, 2016 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 15 ″ N , 6 ° 21 ′ 47 ″ E