Easter head (Usseln)
| Easter head | ||
|---|---|---|
 The Easter head as seen from Heimberg in the west-southwest |
||
| height | 708.5 m above sea level NHN | |
| location | at Usseln ; District of Waldeck-Frankenberg , Hesse ( Germany ) | |
| Mountains | Rothaar Mountains | |
| Dominance | 0.5 km → Sähre | |
| Notch height | 21 m ↓ to the seed (N) | |
| Coordinates | 51 ° 17 ′ 21 ″ N , 8 ° 40 ′ 19 ″ E | |
|
||
The Osterkopf near Usseln in the north Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg is 708.5 m above sea level. NHN high mountain in the Rothaargebirge and Upland . Its high elevations are characterized by a unique high heath landscape and are under nature protection .
geography
location
The Osterkopf is located in the northwestern part of North Hesse in the northeastern foothills of the Rothaargebirge in the Diemelsee Nature Park . It rises north of Usseln (eastern district of Willingen ) and south of the Sähre , the southern branch of which is the Osterkopf. An upper section of the Diemel flows past to the west and its small tributary Mülmecke to the northeast . The federal road 251 runs south through Usseln , from which one can get to the south and south-east flank of the Osterkopf on side roads; from there its summit can be reached on paths and trails.
Natural allocation
The Osterkopf belongs in the natural spatial main unit group Süderbergland (No. 33), in the main unit Rothaargebirge (with Hochsauerland ) (333) and in the sub-unit Upland (333.9) to the natural area Inneres Upland (333.90).
Watershed
The Diemel-Eder / Fulda / Weser watershed runs over the Osterkopf : the water of all short streams that flow to the northeast reaches the Weser via the Mülmecke and Diemel, and the water from the rivers that run to the east flows via Neerdar and Wilde Aa ("Aar"), Orke , Eder and Fulda in the Weser.
Origin and development of the Easter head
Easter head is a cone in the isolated standing mountain air district North West Germany and in the region of the air HochSauerland . The weather here is determined by southwest and northwest wet sea air masses. A large part of the air humidity is already raining down on the upstream mountain ranges of the Sauerland to the west, but the mean annual precipitation is still very high at 1,100 to 1,350 mm. The altitude explains the large amount of precipitation, the majority of which falls in winter. The ground is covered with snow for up to 100 days a year. Due to the open terrain in front of the northwest side of the mountain, the wind speeds are increased so that the wind keeps the vegetation short and even removes parts of the humus cover . In winter, when there is severe frost, gusts of ice drive the ice crystals over the heather, so that the vegetation is constantly thinned and conditions prevail like in the Scandinavian tundras . The mean annual temperature here is only 6 ° C - a value that is also found in southern Scandinavia. The Easter head is covered in high fog on around 50 days a year. Biologists assume that the north-western slope of the Osterkopf has been a "wind heather" since the last Ice Age, so from a temporal perspective the original condition and vegetation has largely been preserved.
In particular, the occurrence of the alpine bear lap , which still has one of its few areas of distribution here, speaks in favor of the fact that these parts of the Easter head have been free from forests since the ice and post-ice tundra periods in Central Europe. The other areas of the mountain may have been light beech forests in the past, but the beech is already reaching its limit in the low mountain ranges at this altitude. However, the need for firewood led to clearing here early on. In the High Middle Ages, agriculture was apparently practiced up to the hilltop. After the abandonment of this use, the heather was able to spread from the northwest slope over the entire mountain.
Since there was hardly enough straw for stable litter in the upland , large parts of the heather were plagued in the following centuries , that is, the top layer of the soil was chopped off with the vegetation in "turf" and, after drying, moved into the stables. These areas were only overgrown with lichen , moss and grass after two years , after three years the cranberries came, which remained until about the 20th year after the pest. In the time that followed, the original heather growth prevailed again and only then could this place be plagued again. As a result, the Hochheide also constantly rejuvenated in the places that were not exposed to constant wear and tear by the weather like the wind heather on the northwest slope.
After the Second World War , however, this use of the heath was soon abandoned. In the following decades, the heather on the Easter head receded more and more. The heathland was no longer rejuvenated; in the places that were not fully exposed to the wind, the blueberry bushes often prevailed; the heather itself grew taller, it fell into bushes, the vegetation did not renew itself. In addition, there was the settlement of spruce and pine trees , which came to the heathland from neighboring reforested areas through the flight of seeds. Spruces and pines were only planted in the Sauerland from the second half of the 18th century and are not originally native woody plants. However, they are superior to the beeches in extreme locations, so that they could spread on the heathland when the young trees were no longer subject to regular removal due to the lack of constant pests.
Especially the east side of the mountain turned into a pine forest with remnants of heather in a short time. Only at the beginning of the 1970s did the Usseln population become aware of the uniqueness of the existing heather areas and their flora , although the impetus for this certainly came largely from outside.
For example, biologists and plant specialists drew attention to the peculiarities of the heather in guided tours and lectures on site. The possibility of the heather retreating further was also pointed out. In 1976 there were plans to reforest parts of the Easter head directly below the knoll on a large scale with spruce. Because of the unique value of the bare Usselner hilltops, according to many, these plans were overturned. Another reason was that the originally non-indigenous spruce covered almost every mountain of Lüdenscheid in the west, from the Soester Börde in the north to the Thuringian and Franconian Forest in the east and south.
In 1978, maintenance measures began on the heathland, carried out by local members of the Sauerland Mountain Association with technical support from the North Hesse nature conservation group. Pine and spruce were felled after and after in large parts of the eastern summit area in particular and burned on the spot. For the first time since the Second World War, the tree growth could be pushed back again. At the same time, the Usseln department of the Sauerland Mountain Association and regional committees pushed ahead with the designation of a nature reserve on the Osterkopf. This led to success: on January 7, 1982, the Osterkopf nature reserve near Usseln (see section Protected areas ) was designated by ordinance of the Kassel administrative district . Since then, the heather has been safe from afforestation.
The central question, however, was and remained whether and how the substance and extent of the heathland could be preserved. In addition to the overgrowth caused by tree species that were not part of the site and the lack of regeneration of the heather through litter use, other reasons for the overgrowth and aging of the heather plants played a role. Perhaps the pollution caused by precipitation was also responsible for the plants' lack of resistance.
In 1986, a maintenance plan was finally drawn up on behalf of the higher nature conservation authority, which put the following measures up for discussion: tearing off by hand or by machine, pushing off the litter, mowing with the rotary mower, light milling, controlled burning, grazing and mowing. A combination of these measures should bring about the main goal, nutrient discharge. So it should be prevented a humus formation by rotting of the old substance. However, the maintenance plan speaks of a lack of or little experience and test results of previous use of these maintenance measures. On the test areas of the Sauerland Mountain Association on the Kahler Pön , on which six plots were treated differently in 1975, the vegetation of which was still separated from the surrounding area in 2003, the traditional plucking of the heather had had the greatest success. Ultimately, however, all these maintenance measures should work together to preserve and expand the heather at the Easter head.
In recent years, the trees and shrubs have been gradually removed from large parts of the nature reserve at the Osterkopf, leaving individual weather trees, crippled pines typical of the heather with their branches disheveled by the west wind, and juniper bushes . In some places the entire upper humus layer was removed. At certain intervals the grazing was carried out by flocks of sheep, which especially extended to the adjacent grasslands . Particularly in the northwest area of the heath the west wind was again fully granted access to the hilltop by upstream plantations were cut down.
In the meantime it is noticeable that the overall picture has changed, the decline in heather areas has been halted, the Osterkopf presents itself again as a largely bare hilltop with individual typical trees. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the heather plants are partially settling again on the exposed areas.
Protected areas
In the high altitudes of the Easter head lying nature reserve Osterkopf in Usseln ( CDDA -No 82295;. 1982 reported; 35 ha in size), the coextensive as Fauna Flora Habitat -region Osterkopf in Usseln reported (FFH No. 4718-301.) is.
Opportunities for viewing
From the summit of the almost completely unforested Osterkopf, the view can be enjoyed not only over parts of the Waldeck Upland, but also over parts of the Diemelsee Nature Park. In very good visibility conditions you can see the Brocken in the Harz Mountains .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
- ↑ Martin Bürgener: Geographical Land Survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 111 Arolsen. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1963. → Online map (PDF; 4.1 MB)
Web links
- Interesting facts about the Osterkopf - Usseln's local mountain , at osterkopf.de