Bavarian Forest National Park

About

The Bavarian Forest National Park (German: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first national park in Germany. Since its expansion on 1 August 1997 it has covered an area of 24,250 hectares. Together with the neighbouring Czech Bohemian Forest the Bavarian Forest forms the largest contiguous area of forest in Central Europe.

Especially protected are the Norway spruce–dominated highland forests, mixed mountain forests of European silver fir, European beech and spruce trees and water meadow spruce woods in the valleys. Although a few remnants of ancient forest remain, the National Park area is still heavily influenced by the former forestry industry. Since nature is now left to take its course again, there is no human intervention when there are catastrophic events such as large scale bark beetle infestation. This resulted in the death of a portion of the high elevation forests in the 1990s and triggered controversial discussions amongst the residents of the National Park, which highlighted differing attitudes to the wilderness. As the result of a compromise, bark beetle is now fought in the buffer area. The highest peaks in the National Park are the Großer Falkenstein (1,305 m (4,281 ft)), the Lusen (1,373 m (4,505 ft)) and the Großer Rachel (1,453 m (4,767 ft)). In addition to the forests, there are also ecologically valuable raised bogs with bog lakes such as the Latschensee and former high meadows, the so-called Schachten, which spread even further on the Czech side of the border in the Bohemian Forest. With over 700,000 visitors per year, the National Park is an important economic factor in the economically underdeveloped region of the Bavarian Forest.

The National Park runs along the main ridge of the Bavarian Forest from the Großer Falkenstein (1,305 m) in the northwest past the Großer Rachel (1,453 m) to the Lusen (1,373 m) in the southeast. According to the classification of the major natural regions of Germany it is part of the Rear Bavarian Forest (Hinterer Bayerischer Wald) in the Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest. On the other side of the border in the Czech Republic, the Bavarian Forest National Park is bounded by the Šumava National Park which is 68,064 hectares in area. The national park is located in the eastern part of Bavaria in the counties of Regen and Freyung-Grafenau along the border with the Czech Republic and covers an area of 24,250 hectares of forest covering the low mountain range of the Bavarian Forest. It borders on the municipalities of (from north to south): Bayerisch Eisenstein, Zwiesel, Lindberg, Frauenau, Spiegelau, Sankt Oswald-Riedlhütte, Neuschönau, Hohenau and Mauth. Parts of the National Park are located on the territory of the respective communities and parts also lie in unparished areas. There are many enclaves in the national park, especially around the edges:

Zwieslerwaldhaus at the foot of the Großer Falkenstein belongs to the municipality Lindberg. Schleicher and Kreuzstraßl belong to Lindberg. Neuhütte and Jägerfleck in Spiegelau Guglöd, belongs to St. Oswald-Riedlhütte Waldhäuser on the Lusen, is part of Neuschönau, the largest enclave in the national park Altschönau, is part of Neuschönau. Sagwasser-Säge and Weidhütte form a joint functional enclave belonging to Hohenau and which is joined to the rest of the country, but can only be accessed on a road passing through the national park. Glashütte is part of Hohenau. In addition, there are several other enclaves that comprise just one or a few small plots. These numerous enclaves, especially in the Altgebiet make the border very long there, and the buffer zone, where bark beetle control is allowed, extends far into the interior of the park (see below for more details).

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.