The Düben Heath Nature Park (german: Naturpark Dübener Heide), which covers large areas of the eponymous

Düben Heath The Düben Heath (german: Dübener Heide) is a landscape in Germany in eastern Saxony-Anhalt and northern Saxony, between the rivers Elbe and the Mulde, on the northern edge of the Leipzig Bay. It is bounded in the west by the town of Dessau, i ...

, was the first

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...

in Germany that resulted from a citizen's initiative and not from a government office. Around 1990, in order to prevent the further spreading and advancement of

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

mining in the neighbourhood, the first citizens' initiatives were established for the protection and conservation of nature in the area. The park is covered by a very varied, rolling

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

land formed as a result of the

Saale glaciation The Saale glaciation or Saale Glaciation, sometimes referred to as the Saalian glaciation, Saale cold period (german: Saale-Kaltzeit), Saale complex (''Saale-Komplex'') or Saale glacial stage (''Saale-Glazial'', colloquially also the ''Saale-Eiszei ...

. It is a traditional excursion and recreation area in the relatively sparsely wooded heart of Central Germany. Its area is roughly evenly divided between the states of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

, about midway between

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

in the northeast and Leipzig in the southwest. Other major towns in the immediate vicinity are

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

Bitterfeld Bitterfeld () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2007 it has been part of the town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It is situated approximately 25 km south of Dessau, and 30 km northeast of Halle (S ...

and

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces first ...

. In the north and northeast the nature park is bounded by the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the Middle

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

. On its western perimeter are the towns of Bitterfeld and

Gräfenhainichen is a town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography The town was the seat of the offices of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Tor zur Dübener Heide until it was disbanded in January 2011. It lies a ...

and the

River Mulde The Mulde () is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and is long. The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde (running through Zwickau) and the Freiberger Mulde (wit ...

. The interior of the park is accessible on the B 2 federal highway. It extends south as far as the B 87 with the towns of

Eilenburg Eilenburg (; hsb, Jiłow) is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Nordsachsen in Saxony, approximately 20 km northeast of the city of Leipzig. Geography Eilenburg lies at the banks of the river Mulde at the southwestern edge o ...

and

Bad Düben Bad Düben (), until 1948 Düben is a town in the district of Nordsachsen in Saxony in Germany. It is situated at the southern end of the Düben Heath Nature Park (Düben Heath), between the rivers Elbe and Mulde, which runs through the city cente ...

. Geologically it is a landscape of

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...

s and sandurs, composed predominantly of coniferous forest, mixed forest, lakes, bogs and grassland. The main species of tree is the pine. The park covers about 770 square kilometres in toto and has a population of 68,400 (as at 31 Dec 2000) with a density of 89 inhabitants per km². 66% of the area is forest, 29% is used for agriculture, 2% are urban areas, 2% is

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

and 1% is used by

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

and

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

. There are about 1,000 kilometres of designated cycle paths and hiking trails. The nature park is supported by the Düben Heath Association (''Verein Dübener Heide''). The association, founded on 28 September 1930, was re-established on 31 March 1990. It is a member of the Association of German Nature Parks and the Association of German Mountain and Rambling Clubs. File:Dübener Heide beeches2.JPG, Open beech forest File:Dübener Heide pond.jpg, Pond File:Bad Schmiedeberg Blaues_Auge.jpg, '' Blaues Auge'' near

Bad Schmiedeberg Bad Schmiedeberg is a small town in the Wittenberg district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It lies within the Düben Heath Nature Park. History The town was first mentioned in 1206 as ''Smedeberg''. In 1350, it was granted town rights. Geography ...

External links

Home page of the nature park

Presseler Heath woodland and moor region - the most beautiful part of the Düben Heath
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duben Heath Nature Park Nature parks in Saxony-Anhalt Nature parks in Saxony Nature parks in Germany Nordsachsen

See also

External links