The Harz (Lower Saxony) Nature Park (german: Naturpark Harz (Niedersachsen)) or just Harz Nature Park lies in the districts of

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

(in the area of the former

Osterode am Harz Osterode am Harz, often simply called Osterode (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Ostroe''), is a town in south-eastern Lower Saxony, Niedersachsen on the south-western edge of the Harz mountains. It was the seat of government of the Landkr ...

district) in

South Lower Saxony South Lower Saxony (german: Südniedersachsen) refers to the southern part of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. The region so described is neither historically nor geographically clearly defined to the north within Lower Saxony. It cuts acr ...

. The nature park in the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

was founded in 1960 and is covers an area of around 790 km². It is run by the Harz Regional Association. The nature park includes the

Upper Harz The Upper Harz (german: Oberharz, ) refers to the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, th ...

minus the Lower Saxon parts of the

Harz National Park Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and I ...

. Its eastern and southeaster boundary is part of the

German Green Belt The German Green Belt (''Grünes Band Deutschland'' in German) is a project of Bund Naturschutz (BUND), one of Germany's largest environmental groups. The project began in 1989 facing the 870-mile (1.393 km) network of inner-German border fe ...

. It borders on the

Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park The Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park (german: Naturpark Harz/Sachsen-Anhalt) is situated n the districts of Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The nature park which lies in the Harz Mountains was founded in 2003 and has ...

to the east and the

South Harz Nature Park The South Harz Nature Park (german: Naturpark Südharz) is located in the county of Nordhausen in north Thuringia, Germany. The act designating this nature park in the Harz Mountains came into force on 31 December 2010Thüringer Verordnung ü ...

to the southeast, the entire Harz being a single, large protected area (''Großschutzgebiet''). In the Harz and thus in the nature park, which is characterised by a rich variety of

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

, are extensive forests, plateaus that are partly used by agriculture, deeply incised valleys with wild river courses and waterfalls, as well as storage ponds and

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s. In many places there are signs of a long history of settlement. In addition, there are winter sports areas and the Harz as a whole is a major hiking area. The highest point in the Harz Nature Park (Lower Saxony) is the

Wurmberg Wurmberg is a municipality in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Wurmberg is located on the so-called Platte, a Karst mountain range in the northern Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Municipality The municipality Wur ...

().

References

External links

''Naturparke im Harz''
mit ''Naturpark Harz'' (Niedersachsen) at harzinfo.de {{Authority control Geography of Lower Saxony Nature parks in Lower Saxony Goslar (district) Göttingen (district)

See also

References

External links