National Park Hainich - Germany

DEIMS.iD

https://deims.org/5b409a72-2a45-4238-a501-e24f1a2900db

Basic Information

Site Name

National Park Hainich

Short name

DE-09-HA

Country

Germany

Web Address

http://www.nationalpark-hainich.de/ueberblick/english.html

Site Manager

Manfred Grossmann

Site Description

Hainich is a large deciduous forest area in Thuringia and is situated in central Germany not far from the town of Eisenach with the famous Wartburg Castle. With a total area of ca. 16.000 hectares (13.000 hectares of which is forest), Hainich is the largest continuos area of deciduous forest in Germany. On the 31.12.1997 the southern part of Hainich, with an area of 7.500 hectares, was declared Germany’s 13th National Park. Since then it has been seen as a place of relaxation close to nature that is open to sustainable tourism. The area has gone through an amazing development which is quite unique. Since 2011 Hainich is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany".

Last modified

2021-11-23 11:11:43

General Characteristics and Status

Site Status

Operational

Year Established

1998

Observed properties

Affiliation and Network Specific Information

Affiliation

Photos

Deadwood in the National Park Hainich. (picture: T. Stephan)

Springtime with blooming wild garlic. (picture: T. Stephan)

Summer in the National Park Hainich. (picture: T. Stephan)

The Betteleiche is a famous landmark of the National Park Hainich. (picture: J. Fischer)

A Treetop Walk allows visitors to explore the National Park from above. (picture: T. Stephan)

The Hainich is home of the retiring European wildcat. (picture: T. Stephan)

Geographic

View in site map

Elevation (average)

370.00msl

Elevation (min)

225.00msl

Elevation (max)

500.00msl

Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]

Site Details

Ecosystem and Environmental Characteristics

GEO-BON Biome

Fresh water lakes

Terrestrial

Biome

Mixed Forest

Ecosystem Type

Forest

Grasslands

Lakes

Biogeographical Region

Continental Bio-geographical Region

EUNIS habitat

Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E)

Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E) » Dry grasslands (E1)

Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E) » Sparsely wooded grasslands (E7)

Heathland, scrub and tundra (F)

Heathland, scrub and tundra (F) » Hedgerows (FA)

Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)

Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G) » Broadleaved deciduous woodland (G1)

Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G) » Mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland (G4)

Air Temperature: Average Annual

8.23°C

Precipitation Annual

625.90mm

Geology

The geological underground is characterized by shell limestone formations. The majority of the area is occupied by the upper shell limestone. Middle and lower shell limestone are to be found mainly in the area of ??the western enclosure of the Hainich to Werratal. On a small scale in the National Park also occures keuper, sandstone and the Permian. The eastern slope of the Hainich is covered with loess coverings, which increase in thickness towards the Thuringian Basin. In the area of ??the south-west slope several tectonic disturbances occur.

Vegetation

On the well nutrient-supplied, fresh to dry locations on the eastern side of the Hainich the natural vegetation is predominantly barley-beech forests in alternation with woodruff-beech forests. On the west roof, which has a more atlantic character, mountain-seeweed-forest-barley-beech forests, on south- and west-exposed, drier upper slopes, would also grow small orchid-beech forests.
Currently, 70.4% of the area of ??the National Park is forest. Beech forests account for the largest share here, at 3.084 ha, followed by ash forests (987 ha, of which more than 2/3 are pioneer forests). Oak forests occur on 348 ha. Other deciduous forest biotopes (eg maple and lime forests) and coniferous forests are only represented with small areas. In the open country, mesophilic grassland (824 ha), (semi) dry grasslands (553 ha) as well as fallow shrubs, perennials and grasslands (558 ha) have the largest proportion of acreage; In addition, almost 200 hectares of shrubbery are added.

Soils

Depending on the skeletal content and the influence of loess clay, particularly rendzina and brown earth-rendzina have developed as soil types in pending limestone. As far as clay cover occur, Terra fusca (with transitions to brown earth), Pararendzina and Kalkpelosole are also found here. All soils in the National Park are rich trophies.

Hydrology

In the eastern part of the National Park, elongated, shallow, south-west to north-eastern brook valleys with temporary streams are characteristic. Leaching processes in the subsoil (especially in the middle shell limestone) have also resulted in numerous smaller sinkholes in this area. Some are (or were) vermoort, others are filled with water. The rivers in the western part are also temporarily water-bearing source streams; natural standing waters or moorland formations are missing here.

Type, Design and Scale

Site Type

Stationary land-based site

Design of Experimentation

partly experimentation

Scale of Experimentation

plot scale

Design of Observation

mainly observation

Scale of Observation

plot within catchment

Equipment

Permanent Power Supply

Yes

Equipment notes

Basically, solid utilities, accommodation and major attractions are not in, but are located directly on the National Park. However, the facilities mentioned in the following destinations appear to be unproblematic for the National Park due to their location. To the south of Kammerforst was created the forest playground Wildkatzenkinderwald with an environmental education facility, which can be reached via the car parks Zollgarten (south of Kammerforst) and Rüspelsweg (west of Flarchheim).
At the Turnerbank a barbecue area was built.
Four huts are available to the hiker in the National Park (Totenkopf, Ihlefeld, Rennstieg am Otterbühl and the Craulaer Kreuz car park). At the Thiemsburg, especially with the opening of the treetop walk in 2005, the largest tourist attraction in the National Park and a concentration point for the visitors emerged. Here are also the National Park Center, a lodging, a restaurant and toilets. On the Ihlefeld a mobile supply device is offered.
In the National Park, observation and observation pulpits were erected at three selected locations: Silbersee, Zollgarten, Wartburgblick.

Operation

Accessible All Year

Yes

All parts of Site Accessible

Access Type

paved road

Permanent Operation

Yes

Data Management

General Data Policy

Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers

Reprints of articles using the dataset must be provided to the data provider

Legal permission for dataset use is obtained

Network related information

LTER Site Classification

Regular

Related External Resources

There is a total of 1 datasets for this site available on the eLTER Digital Asset Register (DAR). Click here to get an overview of these datasets.

Additional data

There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:

Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity Change	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Precipitation Change	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure Change	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave Radiation	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind Speed	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air Temperature	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air Temperature	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air Temperature	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.