Pillnitz Elbe Island
| Pillnitz Elbe Island | ||
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| Waters | Elbe | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 0 '15 " N , 13 ° 52' 16" E | |
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| length | 1 km | |
| width | 200 m | |
| surface | 20 ha | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
The Pillnitzer Elbinsel (historically also Pillnitzer Heger ) is one of two river islands that the course of the Elbe has in the territory of the German state of Saxony . It is named after the Dresden district of Pillnitz .
location
The island is located on the south-eastern edge of the state capital Dresden , approximately at Elbe kilometer 42 (the counting starts at the Czech border). Its length measures almost 1000 meters, the widest point about 200 meters. The main stream of the Elbe flows around it on the right, and on the left by a narrow, non-navigable tributary. The water palace of Pillnitz Castle is located on the right bank of the river at the level of its downstream tip (the confluence of the two Elbarme) .
The neighboring districts of the island are Pillnitz in the northeast , Söbrigen in the southeast , Zschieren in the southwest and Kleinzschachwitz in the west .
History and nature
Around 1830 there were still around 18 Elbe islands in Saxony. In accordance with the local conditions in the unregulated river at that time, their vegetation was composed of the species spectrum of the softwood floodplain , unless it was influenced by use , probably often only in the form of bushes and herbaceous vegetation and rather scattered with higher trees. On the Pillnitz Island, too, for centuries the use of grassland was considered more appropriate than the use of wood, so that a sharply contoured, large meadow emerged within what used to be a narrow wooded border along the shore.
The islands' modest and uncertain economic returns could not outweigh their disadvantages as permanent obstacles to shipping. In the end, almost all of them fell victim to the river expansion from the middle of the 19th century. The Pillnitz island was preserved, but its outer contours were considerably redesigned to stabilize the flow and the river bank zones were paved with stone. At the same time, the deepening of the river bed caused the island to rise above the mean water level and brought it back into the focus of forestry. In the second half of the 19th century, all kinds of plantings were made, some with an experimental, sometimes also park-like character, which clearly shaped the tree species combination of the island forest in the direction of hardwood floodplains. Although this resulted in interesting, even “primeval forest” -like stands, there were also considerable problems with the location. Both circumstances probably contributed to the abandonment of the final use and the island was declared a nature reserve as early as 1924 . Since then, the forest has developed largely unaffected by direct human interference. The meadow, on the other hand, was used sporadically well into the 20th century, not until 1989 for the definitely last time.
Regardless of the origin, which is not completely unspoilt, the habitats and communities on the Pillnitz Island have very good prerequisites for natural further development due to their relatively protected situation from disturbance and pressure from use. Today, over 400 plant species inhabit the diversity of the biotopes from the high forest to the open pioneering corridors of the floodplains, including the black poplar, which is threatened with extinction in Saxony . Due to its quiet location, the island is an important nesting, living and resting area for around 50 species of birds. In addition to spectacular mammal species such as otters and beavers, common species such as deer, wild boar and fox also use the unique refuge.
natural reserve
The Pillnitzer Insel has been a nature reserve since 1924, making it one of the oldest in Saxony. During the GDR era, at least the wooded area had the status of a total reserve. A new version of the Protection Ordinance 2006 merged it with the Gauernitz Elbe Island, located about 30 kilometers downstream, to form the nature reserve " Elbe Islands Pillnitz and Gauernitz ". In addition, the Pillnitzer Insel is part of the landscape protection area “Dresden Elbwiesen und -alterme” as well as the FFH area “ Elbe Valley between Schöna and Mühlberg ” (EU registration number DE4545-301) and the bird protection area of the same name (DE4545-452) in the European protected area and biotope network system Natura 2000 .
Dresden Elbe Valley
The Elbe Island is an important part of the Dresden Elbe Valley's cultural landscape and complements it with the wooded slopes of the Elbe, the vineyards , especially in Pillnitz and the Elbe meadows .
literature
- Rosemarie Bahr: Pillnitz Elbe Island, a valuable nature reserve. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter Heft 5/1960, pp. 298–308.
- Friedemann Klenke: 75 years of the Pillnitz Elbe Island nature reserve. In: Messages of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz e. V. Issue 1, 1999, pp. 47-54.
- August von Minckwitz: History of Pillnitz from 1403. 1893.
- Josef Ostermaier: The Elbe island near Pillnitz . in: Mitteilungen des Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz , 8 (1919) 7/9, Dresden 1919, pp. 162-179 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Pillnitz district on Dresden-und-Sachsen.de ( Memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Herbert Ehrlich: same expansion between Dresden and Pirna - designs and reality. In: Messages of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz e. V. Heft 3, 1994, pp. 22-28, ISSN 0941-1151 .
- ^ Friedemann Klenke: 75 years of the Pillnitz Elbe Island nature reserve. In: Messages of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz e. V. Issue 1, 1999, pp. 47-54, ISSN 0941-1151 .
- ↑ Technical basics on total reserves and natural forest cells in Saxony. In: Sächsisches Landesamt für Umwelt und Geologie (Hrsg.): Materials for nature conservation and landscape management. 1999, p. 35.
- ↑ Saxon Official Gazette No. 4 of January 26, 2006, pp. 121–123.