The Darß Forest (pronounced "Darss", german: Darßwald) is a wooded region on the western coast of the peninsula of

Darß The Darß or Darss is the middle part of the peninsula of Fischland-Darß-Zingst on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The peninsula's name is of Slavic origin. There is a large forest in the ...

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 populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

coast. There are no settlements in the forest. Villages on the outskirts are

Ahrenshoop Ahrenshoop is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula of the Baltic Sea. It used to be a small fishing village, but is today known for its tourism and as a holid ...

and Born in the south and Wieck and

Prerow Prerow is a municipality in the district of Vorpommern-Rügen in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This Baltic seaside resort on the Darß peninsula is located about halfway between the historic Hanseatic towns of Rostock and Stralsund. ...

in the east. The Darß Forest covers an area of 5,800 hectares and is part of the Western Pomeranian Lagoon Region National Park. The area around Darßer Ort and the northwestern part of the forest belong to conservation zone 1. Here, the land may not be used for human exploitation and the aim is to allow the areas to develop naturally.

History

This area was formed during the development of a graded shoreline from rows of beach berms, which are recognisable today as a system of embankments (locally known as ''Reff'') and damp depressions (''Riegen''). Three thousand years ago the sea level was higher, so that old

cliffed coast A cliffed coast, also called an abrasion coast, is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a flat or alluvial coast. Formation In coastal areas in whic ...

lines like the ''Alte Meerufer'' ("Old Seashore") may be found within the Darß Forest itself. In the past, much of the area covered today by the Darß Forest comprised pastureland. Oddly formed beech trees are evidence of that. The periods of occupation of Pomerania by Danes and French led to deforesting in the Darß Forest. The wood of felled yew trees was used, for example, to line the interior of the Danish palaces of

Amalienborg Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo Rococo (, ...

and Rosenborg. Prussian foresters reforested the areas affected with fast-growing softwoods such as spruce, larch and Douglas fir. Much later, the pines were tapped for resin during GDR times. During the Middle Ages, the Darß Forest was used by the Pomeranian dukes as a hunting ground. Subsequently the forest became a state hunting ground by the Swedish king in the 19th century, by

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

in the 20th century, and by hunters of the SED leadership during GDR times. The result was and is an unusually high level of game, especially

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

and

Roe Deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

. A

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...

population was established in the 1930s but died out in 1945. The ridges and troughs (''Reffen'' and ''Riegen'') of the Darß Forest run predominantly from east to west. The tree species of the higher ridges are

Scots Pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

English Oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widely ...

and

Common Beech ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though more ...

. The lower-lying troughs are covered with

Alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

Bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

covers much of the ground and, together with the high density of game, prevents the natural rejuvenation of the tree population.

External links

ZEIT-Serie über die Landschaften Ostdeutschlands. Folge 1: die Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft (1996)

Informationen zum Darßwald auf der Seite des Nationalparks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darss Forest Vorpommern-Rügen Fischland-Darß-Zingst Forests and woodlands of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania