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Hainich WILDForest

Hainich WILDForest

Hainich WILDForest

  • Author: Max Rossberg
  • Date Posted: Nov 8, 2017
  • Category:
  • Address: Nationalpark Hainich

Hainich WILDForest

The 1 570 ha Hainich WILDForest is embedded into the Hainich National Park, Germany. The Hainich National Park was founded in 1997, as the 13th national park in Germany and the only one in Thuringia. Over 90% of Hainich National Park does not have any economic use and nature returns to its roots there. In contrast to economic forests, the woodland in Hainich WILDForest may develop back into a natural and wild woodland in the heart of Germany, true to the motto of the German national parks “Let nature be nature”.

One of the main objectives of the park is the protection of native beech forest. Recently, the park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe.

European Wilderness Quality Standard Audit System

The 1 570 ha Hainich WILDForest was subject of a Quick-Audit in 2017 and meets the Silver Wilderness Quality Standard.

Wilderness information

  • Protected area: Hainich National Park
  • WILDForest: Hainich WILDForest
  • Wilderness Quality Standard: Silver
  • Country: Germany
  • Size of the protected area: 7 500 ha
  • Size of the WILDForest: 1 570 ha, with potential of enlargement of additional 1 500 ha
  • European Wilderness Quality Standard Audit:  2017
  • WILDForest Uniqueness: Large contiguous area of broadleaf and mixed forest
  • Number of visitors per year to the protected area: approx. 300 000
  • Number of visitors per year to the WILDForest: approx. 20 000

Biodiversity

In Hainich WILDForest people can find the largest contiguous deciduous forest in Germany, uninfluenced by mankind. It is not the typical German oak, but the beech tree that dominates here. An important source of biodiversity is the forest’s deadwood. Deadwood does not mean that there is no life in it, on the contrary. About one quarter of all forest inhabitants depend on deadwood for nesting places or food sources. Also bats often make their home under the peeling bark.  The area is home to the wolf, lynx, wildcats and badgers, together with the roe and red deer as well as the black woodpecker, chaffinch and pied flycatcher.

Wilderness Tourism Experience

The Hainich WILDForest is offering wide spectrum of activities, including a Wilderness experience. A very special adventure is the Canopy Walk. The Canopy Walk winds along a length of 530 m from the lower crown section up to the tops of the primeval woodland canopies. Besides the National Park Centre, the park offers programms like Wildcat Woodland for Kids, Primeval Woodland Wild Camp or walking and cycling tours.

Contact details

  • Hainich WILDForest
  • Address street: Bei der Marktkirche 9
  • Postal code city: 99947 Bad Langensalza, Germany
  • Phone: +49 361 57 3914 000
  • Website: http://www.nationalpark-hainich.de

WILDForest Brief

 

 

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