Wurzacher Ried

	Wurzacher Ried nature reserve IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
	Fruits of cottongrass (Eriophorum sp.) At the end of May
location	Germany , Baden-Wuerttemberg , Ravensburg district , Bad Wurzach
surface	17.988 km²
Identifier	4035
WDPA ID	6979
Geographical location	47 ° 55 ' N , 9 ° 53' E Coordinates: 47 ° 55 '14 " N , 9 ° 53' 8" E
Setup date	May 28, 1963
administration	Regional Council Tübingen

The Wurzacher Ried is one of the largest nature reserves and one of the most important moors in southern Germany. It was awarded a premium by the EU as a European bird protection and FFH area (“Natura 2000”). The moor area is north of the municipality of Bad Wurzach in Baden-Württemberg .

The retreat of the glaciers of the "Riss" period and the subsequent "Würm" period left behind a large lake basin, which began around 10,000 BC. Gradually became a moorland landscape. In the last 300 years or so, the moorland has been endangered by draining and peat cutting. For some time now, renaturation and waterlogging measures have been carried out to secure the ecological gem. The Wurzacher Ried, however, is predominantly a growing raised bog that is only wetted by rain. A fen thrives along the rivers and groundwater that exist in all peripheral areas. The largely untouched core area, which encompasses around a third of the total bog, is the largest contiguous and still intact raised bog in Central Europe.

expansion

The moorland forms an irregular quadrangle of approximately 8 × 4 kilometers, a total of approx. 18 km², extending from northeast to southwest. There are essentially three sections:

The majority of the "Haidgauer Ried" (also called Haidgauer Hochmoorschild) and mostly also the eastern, "Alberser Ried" form the largely untouched core area of the raised bog ( rain moor ).
The flowing and groundwater areas form fens . Here the “Haidgauer Ach”, the “Dietmannser Ach” and several brooks on the edge meander as natural streams through the reed.
The approx. 200 ha large, former peat cut area , a western branch of the raised bog, has been rewetted for the purpose of the planned renaturation in the last 20 years by the function of the drainage channels was canceled. The "Dietmannser Ried" in the far northeast, moats, puddles, silting peat cuttings, moor forests, as well as the extensively farmed "Riedwiesen" on all edges are the landscape elements that have been changed by humans in the last 300 years.

About eight kilometers to the south-west, separated from the Wurzacher Ried moorland by two terminal moraines of the Würm Glacier, lies the Rohrsee , which is particularly ornithologically highly regarded .

Quaternary evolutionary history

geology

Longitudinal section Wolfegg-Rot ad Rot, glacial stages of development

Wurzacher Ried, glacial prehistory: Foreland glacier

The history of the formation of the moor area goes back to the last three ice ages , when the Rhine glacier moved each time from the Alps far into the foreland. These ice ages of the Pleistocene comprise the last fifth of the Quaternary , which lasts around 2.6 million years , a geological epoch characterized by strongly fluctuating climates and consistently large ice ages . Above all, the second advance of the Rhine glacier of the Riss Cold Age carved out a deep tongue basin between the previously existing, old chain of hills ( Grabener Höhe , Ziegelberg). When the ice masses of the Riss complex advanced several times, two terminal moraines (outer wall and inner wall) were formed, which sealed off the tongue basin in the northeast, so that an ice edge reservoir formed in front of the tip of the glacier tongue . When the ice masses melted, however, meltwater repeatedly deposited gravel and other sediments , which heaped up the basin so that it lost considerable depth.

During the next great ice age, the Würm Ice Age, the Rhine Glacier again penetrated far into the Alpine foothills, its largest advance and later another advance, but came to a halt in front of the Wurzach tongue basin (i.e. south of the tongue basin). Both advances formed terminal moraines again (outer wall and inner wall). A completely enclosed depression was now created between the outer wall of the Würm Glacier and the inner wall of the Riss Glacier . The lake water level could only be regulated through the drainage channel of the Wurzacher Ach . The Eisrand reservoir of the Riss glaciation had become a terminal moraine reservoir in the Würm Age. Finally floating leaf plants and reed plants penetrated further and further into the lake. The silted up and herbaceous postglacial (in the warm period from approx. 8,000) more and more and became even flatter and less oxygenated.

biology

Blooming heather and bell heather. Typical bog forest: birch, Scots pine, Spirke and spruce

Peat bogs can store water

Due to high rainfall settled in the emerging fen (groundwater Moor) various peat mosses . These can absorb and store a lot of rainwater and continue to grow on their decay products. So layer after layer piled up; the fen raised and arched, the lower layers solidified. The compacted layers weathered under lack of oxygen. The near-surface water became more important for the plant cover than the groundwater, and their growth was gradually controlled only by precipitation. When absorbing nutrient salts from the stored water, mosses acidify the water, so that they produce acidic and nutrient-poor soil conditions and more and more peat. Only specialized plant communities can thrive on these soils. The groundwater remained separated under an increasingly thick, dense layer of peat and finally isolated the plant cover completely from the groundwater. Woods and plants that rely on high nutrient supply could not survive in the raised bog area. Over the past 5,000 years, an average of 5 to 6 m of peat has grown. In the former peat cutting areas there are open water areas, silting peat cuttings with " swinging lawns " and wet swamp forests in the smallest of spaces . For a long time, peat was an important regional fuel. The initially manual, later mechanical-industrial, mining changed around a third of the huge moor area drastically. Dismantling directly in front of Wurzach gave rise to the approximately 10 hectare “Riedsee”. The mining of peat as fuel was stopped at the beginning of the 1960s, the mining of any kind was finally stopped in 1995.

Renaturation through rewetting

Historical peat cutting on the Torfstecherweg

Silting up peat cuttings with swinging lawn

The mechanical peat cut took place mainly between 1920 (due to post-war shortage of fuel) to 1962. The area, which is characterized by alternation of unpeeled ridges of bog and wide peat cuttings, was drained by a main drainage ditch, the so-called “peat canal”, 12 wide, vertical collecting trenches and an abundance of cross-connecting slot drains. The renaturation goal for the moor ridges was to raise the water levels as high as possible in the pitted areas to the surface. For this purpose, wooden sheet piling and peat dams were built to seal all drainage ditches. In many cases, bunker soil was found that, when reapplied and watered, could initiate the new development of a typical raised bog plant cover. The Haidgau peat cut area (approx. 250 ha) has been systematically rewetted since 1996. Success checks were able to determine good successes, but also continued unanswered questions about renaturation.

Habitats

Marsh rosemary fruits
typical high moor
dweller, large-fruited cranberries
Reddish peat moss
"Medium sundew" in bloom

Grass snakes mating
Educational trail raised bog, flowering Scheidiges cottongrass
Common snipe
Bog birch , red pine , Riedweiher (edge area)

Hochmoor specialists

The average annual temperature is 6.8 ^o C below the national average, the amount of precipitation with approx. 1090 mm above the national average. These relatively extreme climatic values are ideal for raised bogs. Microclimates in the bog basin are even more extreme. That is why fog occurs here more often than usual in Upper Swabia . The Wurzacher Ried offers very differently structured, diverse living spaces. The raised bog areas are largely treeless and only populated by a few specialists who can thrive in the acidic and nutrient-poor environment; Typical are cotton grass , swamp rosemary , cranberries and, above all, various peat mosses (see pictures of peat moss subspecies ). Also, blueberry and cranberry are found here. Sundew also occurs occasionally . At the margins of which can Moorbirke and Rotföhren thrive, often is also the buckthorn .

Nutrient-rich fen

In the fens and transitional bogs - bog areas that are not separated from running water and groundwater - there is, on the other hand, a great diversity of species . Various types of sedges predominate at the water's edge , while an abundance of flowering plants and orchids can thrive in the less humid areas . The fringes of the moorland are in part still used extensively for agriculture; for these " litter meadows " the pipe grass is typical and constitutive. The biodiversity of insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds (including lapwing , corncrake and snipe ) is very large in this habitat.

The "Haidgauer spring lakes" are located at the southwest corner of the nature reserve in the low moor area. These are the limestone and mineral-rich karst springs or spring lakes typical of spring pots with a diameter of a few to approx. 20 m, the water of which - in contrast to the dark bog waters - is very clear and bluish-green.

Due to this great structural diversity, the reed is home to flora and fauna with a high proportion of rare or even endangered species according to the “Red Lists” .

European bird sanctuary

For the breeding and resting area of numerous bird species, compare: Wurzacher Ried (bird sanctuary)

Special appreciations

In 1989 the Wurzacher Ried was awarded the European Diploma for the first time as one of the largest still intact raised bog areas in Central Europe . An appreciation that underlines the international importance of this nature reserve. This was linked to the requirement to draw up a management plan for an ecological development concept (rewetting).

All development and maintenance measures are coordinated and supervised by the "Nature Conservation Center Wurzacher Ried". The financing is shared by the state of Baden-Württemberg, the district of Ravensburg and the city of Bad Wurzach. A multimedia adventure exhibition shows many ecological details that would remain hidden to the untrained eye when visiting the reed. The complex, multimedia use and the special acoustic commentary for children are extremely successful!

experience nature

Today the Wurzacher Ried is a much-visited destination for day trippers and those inquisitive. The "Torfbähnle", which drives through the reed on certain weekends and is accompanied by a moderator with explanations about the history and use of the reed, is popular. A peat educational trail enables exemplary insights.

credentials

↑ Unfortunately, the largely untouched part was cut through by a narrow, drained strip with a path (today the federal highway 465) from the southern town of Wurzach to the north since the 17th century.

↑ These are the Middle to Upper Pleistocene Ice Ages Hoßkirch complex, Riss complex , and Würm complex .

↑ The considerable glacial accumulation and erosion forms that arise during advances and retreats of the Würm Ice Ages - ice accumulation basin sediment , terminal moraine , ground moraine , dead ice hole , low terrace gravel and other typical phenomena - can still be clearly demonstrated in the landscape because this was the last ice age before our time . The facial and morphological forms of the older ice ages have been covered over a large area.

↑ Dieter Gremer: Renaturation project Wurzacher Ried 1989-1993. 1995, p. 92.

↑ Peter Poschlod et al. a .: Long-term observations and success control in rain bogs in the foothills of the Alps after peat extraction and rewetting. 2009, p. 49: "The so-called bunker soil, the upper rooted and non-piercing horizon, diaspores (spores," potted "trunks or twigs) of the main peat builder in the Alpine foothills, but also other peat mosses", can - even if they are no longer in the vegetation were present - be able to germinate or sprout again under suitable conditions and thus initiate peat growth again.

↑ Dieter Gremer: Renaturation project Wurzacher Ried 1989-1993. 1995.

Web links

Commons : Image material on the Ried - collection of images, videos and audio files

Nature Conservation Center Wurzacher Ried, "Extreme Moor"

Profile of the nature reserve in the LUBW's list of protected areas

literature

OF Geyer, MP Gwinner: Geology of Baden-Württemberg. 3. Edition. Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-510-65126-X .
Dieter Gremer: Renaturation project Wurzacher Ried 1989–1993. 1995. (PDF)
J. Eberle, B. Eitel, D. Blümel, P. Wittmann: Germany's South from the Middle Ages to the present. Spectrum Akad. Verlag, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8274-1506-6 .
Peter Poschlod, Udo Herkommer, Christina Meindl, Ulrike Schuckert, Andreas Seemann, Anja Ullmann, Teresa Wallner: Long-term observations and success control in rain bogs in the foothills of the Alps after peat removal and rewetting. In: Vegetation Management and Renaturation. (= Laufen special articles . 2/09). Bavarian Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Laufen ad Salzach 2009, ISBN 978-3-931175-87-0 .

[1] Unfortunately, the largely untouched part was cut through by a narrow, drained strip with a path (today the federal highway 465) from the southern town of Wurzach to the north since the 17th century.

[2] These are the Middle to Upper Pleistocene Ice Ages Hoßkirch complex, Riss complex , and Würm complex .