The WeltWald Harz (120 hectares) up to 2009 Arboretum Bad Grund, also known as Exotenwald and sometimes called the Arboretum des Forstamtes Grund or the Forstaboretum der Niedersächsischen Landesforstverwaltung, is an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

located along the B 242 federal highway near the

Hübichenstein The Hübichenstein is an unusual rock formation in the Harz mountains, 50 meters in height, located on highway B242 about one kilometer northwest of Bad Grund, Lower Saxony, Germany. In 1897 it was crowned with a monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I, in ...

, northwest of

Bad Grund Bad Grund (Harz) is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western Harz, approx. 7 km west of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, and 10 km north of Osterode am Harz. Bad Grund is also the name of ...

, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is open daily without charge. The arboretum was established in 1971 by the ''Niedersächsisches Forstamt Riefensbeek'' (Riefensbeek office of the Lower Saxon Forestry Commission), with first plantings in 1975. By 1987 a total of 84,890 trees and shrubs had been planted on 65 hectares, including

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

(30 species),

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

(25), maple (14), birch (10), and oak (8). Today it contains about 600 species of woody plants from Asia, Europe,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and Siberia, organized by geographic region, with a number of walking paths.

Conception

The aim of the Lower Saxon Forestry Commission is to study the suitability of the local climate and growing conditions for these non-native tree species. This should enable the habitat requirements of these species to be determined for future crop trials. In laying out the arboretum, especial care was taken to ensure that no unstable monocultural stands were created, instead entire woodland communities from the individual climatic regions with the complete range of tree and shrub species were planted. To form a clear picture of the development of the trees, they are included in a long-term monitoring and measurement scheme. Their height is determined every five years. Furthermore, various types of biotic and abiotic damage are identified as well as the plant-specific processes during the course of a year. In order to test their suitability as future commercial tree species, trees are constantly removed for timber from the various woodland communities.

Location

The arboretum belongs geologically to the Upper Harz. The southern and western parts are in the Clausthal Culm fault zone (''Kulmfaltzone'') consisting of greywacke and

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

from the Carboniferous period. The northeastern part is in the territory of the

Corallian limestone The Corallian Group or Corallian Limestone is a geologic group in England. It is predominantly a coralliferous sedimentary rock, laid down in the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic. It is a hard variety of "coral rag". Building stones from this geo ...

block of the Iberg complex. The soils that have developed from the geological source materials, are mainly base-poor, silty and loamy silicate-weathered soils. The water balance ranges from moderate to fairly fresh and the nutrient supply from moderate to fairly good. The arboretum lies in the transition zone from the

submontane Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

to montane zones, its elevation ranging from 305 to 448 metres above Normalnull, sea level. Its natural woodland communities would be wood-rush beech forests. The terrain aspect ranges from 0 to 30 degrees. The average temperature is 7.5 °C and the average annual precipitation is 1,070 mm. Of that, 308 mm falls during the main growing season.

Events

In addition to diverse woodland communities, the Bad Grund Arboretum offers visitors various special exhibitions. During Advent, foliage and Christmas trees from the region are sold here. Twice a year an international Nordic Walking race takes place in the grounds of the Arboretum. The details of this are available from the Lower Saxon Forestry Commission Office (''Niedersächsische Forstamt'') at Riefensbeek. The office is also responsible for the organisation of guided tours, for example during the period of Indian summer, Indian Summer in autumn or during the rhododendron flowering season in spring.

Hiking

There is also a checkpoint (no. 129) for the Harzer Wandernadel hiking network in the arboretum.

References

Sources

* Heinke Ramisch, "Das Arboretum des Forstamtes Grund", ''Unser Harz'' 35 (9) : 163–167, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, 1987.

External links

Arboretum Bad Grund

BGCI entry

Arboretum map

Arboretum map
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