Niederhofer Forest
The Niederhofer Wald is located on the southern city limits of Dortmund . It is located on a northern slope of the Ardey Mountains at an altitude of 110 m to 210 m above sea level.
Local conditions
The forest area has a size of 168 hectares and is located in the middle of several districts. Their residential developments in the Benninghofen and Loh area extend directly to the forest. The rest of the environment consists of fields, grassland and roads. Wellinghofen borders in the north, Wichlinghofen in the west, Höchsten in the south and Benninghofen and Loh in the east on the extensive, partly natural forest area.
Geographically, the Niederhofer Wald belongs to the Nieder-Sauerland natural area. The area consists of near-natural beech forest, deciduous, pine and larch forests. The soil is acidic and poor in nutrients.
The Bachsiepen and their source corridors are mostly close to nature. The beech , alder and ash forests can be found along the streams, with greater biodiversity than in the mostly species-poor forest and forest areas. The entire forest area has an age class structure , with the different age classes mostly appearing flat. These are areas that were reforested after felling or were reforested from arable land or grassland at the beginning of the 1970s. The core of the forest are beech stands that are more than 180 years old and form indoor forests. In the eastern area of these old stocks there is the holly (Ilex aquifolium) in the shelter, which is under nature protection and is here on the edge of its natural expansion to the east.
history
The Niederhofener Holz - so the old name - belonged to Gut Niederhofen on its northern edge, a knight seat from the 13th century. Today it serves as a children's home. The well-preserved gatehouse with its baroque hood and two double doors from 1748 is an architectural monument.
During the Second World War there was an ammunition dump in the middle of the forest, which was blown up after the war. The 20 or so ruins of the bunkers can still be seen today and some of them have grown over. The spread of the splinters meant that most of the trees in the Niederhof forest area are contaminated with splinters. It is very difficult to use wood and the wood only achieves prices on the market for splintered wood, which are far below those for perfect wood. Wood recycling for these areas is not economical. For this reason, too, the Niederhof forest was able to develop in a partially natural way.
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 27.4 " N , 7 ° 30 ′ 29" E