The Bavarian Forest Club (german: Bayerische Wald-Verein), or BWV, is a German club that promotes culture, local history and folklore, nature and landscape conservation, and walking in the

Bavarian Forest The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest (German: ' or ''Bayerwald''; bar, Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is con ...

. It has its head office in

Zwiesel Zwiesel ( cs, Svízel) is a town in the lower-Bavarian district of Regen, and since 1972 is a Luftkurort with particularly good air. The name of the town was derived from the Bavarian word stem "zwisl" which refers to the form of a fork. The for ...

and is registered in the register of clubs and societies in the district office at

Deggendorf Deggendorf () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards th ...

(VR 10158).

History

The founder of the club was Anton Niederleuthner, senior judge in

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

. The foundation of the club in 1883 goes back to his meeting with foresters in

Bodenmais Bodenmais is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany. It lies at one end of the Zeller Valley in the Bavarian Forest. The tourist attractions at the Silberberg mountain include cross-country skiing tracks as well as an alpi ...

. The Bavarian Forest Club was founded in Deggendorf Town Hall on 25 November 1883. The Bodenmais townsman, Bartholomäus Stölzl, was appointed as its first chairman. On 6 June 1885, Niederleuthner founded the Passau Branch, the club's first local branch. On 22 August he was elected the first president and made Passau the base of the club. He managed the club for over 20 years and founded over 40 other local branches. The club emblem used today goes back to Niederleuthner. A club magazine, ''Der Bayerwald'', was also launched. Its editor in the 1930s was the Nazi, Eugen Hubrich. The main goals of the club were the development of the Bavarian Forest as a hiking and holiday area, the creation of a dense network of hiking trails and the construction of refuge huts. Later they concentrated on the maintenance and waymarking of trails, the conservation of refuge huts and viewing towers as well as measures such as the protection of the ''

Schachten ''Schachten'' (singul.) are ancient areas of pasture in the Bavarian Forest in Germany, some of which are still used today. Description Similar to the alms or alpine pastures of the Alps, ''Schachten'' are treeless forest meadows. These open a ...

'', the historical grazing areas of the highlands. Until the founding of the

Bavarian Forest Nature Park The Bavarian Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Bayerischer Wald) covers an area north of the Danube as far as the border ridge with the Czech Republic. Its sponsor organisation is the ''Naturpark Bayerischer Wald'' whose head office is in ...

in 1967 and the

Bavarian Forest National Park 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 ...

in 1970, the Bavarian Forest Club was the only major institution that placed the culture and nature of the Bavarian Forest at the centre of its activities.

Today

In 2016, the club comprised 60 branches and had about 20,000 members. The individual branches own important buildings and refuge huts. For example, Kollnburg Castle and Neunußberg Castle are owned by the

Viechtach Viechtach is a town in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most p ...

branch, and the ''Lusenschutzhaus'' by the Grafenau branch. Important annual events include the ''Bayerwaldtag'' (Bavarian Forest Day) and the art exhibition, ''Zwieseler Buntspecht'', in Zwiesel. On the Oberbreitenau a youth education centre has been created in the Landshut House named after the

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

branch. On 26 October 2008, the club celebrated its 125th anniversary in the festival hall of the old town hall of Deggendorf. Minister of State, Josef Miller, gave the speech at the spot where the Bavarian Forest Club was founded on 25 November 1883. Since early 2016, the club has become a member of the German Hiking Association, to which it had already previously belonged until its departure on 31 December 2006. In the interim, the ''Interessensgemeinschaft Bayerischer Wald'', consisting of the Dreiburgenland and Ruderting- Neukirchen branches, was a member of the German Hiking Association from June 2008 to the end of 2013.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Heritage organizations Organizations established in 1883 Hiking organisations in Germany Organisations based in Bavaria Bavarian Forest Regen (district) 1883 establishments in Germany