National Park Hainich - Germany

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
2024-09-12 09:09:33

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1998
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
ICOS✔ (http://meta.icos-cp.eu/resources/stations/ES_DE-Hai)This site is a verified "ICOS" member.
EUROPARC✖The affiliation of this site with "EUROPARC" is not verified by the network on DEIMS-SDR.
LTER-D (Germany)✔ (LTER_EU_DE_009)This site is a verified "LTER-D (Germany)" member.
Projects
AGAME
Photos
Deadwood in the National Park Hainich. (picture: T. Stephan)
Deadwood in the National Park Hainich. (picture: T. Stephan)
Springtime with blooming wild garlic. (picture: T. Stephan)
Springtime with blooming wild garlic. (picture: T. Stephan)
Summer in the National Park Hainich. (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)
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)
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)
The Hainich is home of the retiring European wildcat. (picture: T. Stephan)
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 51.079407 Longitude: 10.452089

Size
ca. 7520.35ha
Elevation (average)
370.00msl
Elevation (min)
225.00msl
Elevation (max)
500.00msl
Related location(s)
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
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.
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
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Equipment
Maintenance infrastructure » Snow clearing frequency » Weekly
Observation devices » Temperature Controlled Container
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Paper
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Unstructured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Structured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial database (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Proprietary file format
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 4WD
Supporting infrastructure » Staff room at site » Unknown number of places
Supporting infrastructure » Lodging at site » > 10 beds
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » Cable based
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » Telephone line
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » Satellite
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » Radio transmission system (repeaters. receivers. centralstation)
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (within site) » No within site data transmission
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (within site) » Satellite
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Energy supply » Permanent Power Supply Location » Central station(s)
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Energy supply » Permanent Power Produced » More than 100 kW
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.
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Access Type
paved road
Permanent Operation
Yes
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
LTER Site Classification
Regular
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

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