The Lichtenfels Forest (german: Lichtenfelser Forst) is a forest northwest of the town of Lichtenfels in

Upper Franconia Upper Franconia (german: Oberfranken) is a ''Regierungsbezirk'' (administrative 'Regierungs''region 'bezirk'' of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle F ...

in northern

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Germany. The vegetation consists mostly of the

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

trees, with small areas mixed with forests of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

. During the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

the vast forest was the property of the

Banz Abbey Banz Abbey (german: Kloster Banz), now known as Banz Castle (german: Schloss Banz), is a former Benedictine monastery, since 1978 a part of the town of Bad Staffelstein north of Bamberg, Bavaria, southern Germany. History The abbey was found ...

. The northern edge of the forest in the 13th Century was inhabited by the Lords of

Sonneberg Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home to ...

. The places

Grub am Forst Grub am Forst is a municipality in the district of Coburg in Bavaria in Germany. It has ca 3,100 residents. The nearest large town is Coburg. The following villages are part of it: *Buscheller *Forsthub *Rohrbach *Roth am Forst *Zeickhorn Th ...

and its district Roth am Forst (which name is indicative of a settlement created by the clearing of the forest), Weißenbrunn am Forst and

Buch am Forst Buch am Forst is a village of 530 inhabitants (1 September 2021) in the district town (''Kreisstadt'') of Lichtenfels in the state of Bavaria in Germany. It is 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) northwest of Lichtenfels and at the western edge of the Lic ...

all owe their names to their locations on the outskirts of the Lichtenfels Forest. When the federal highway

Bundesautobahn 73 is a motorway in Germany. It connects Suhl to Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, an ...

was under construction, there were some protests by environmental conservation groups because the route was planned to cut through the Lichtenfels Forest; e.g. a lawsuit filed by ''

Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (; BUND, ) is a German non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to preserving nature and protecting the environment. The name means "German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation". ...

'' erman, “Confederation for the Protection of the Environment and Nature of Germany”against the regional government of Upper Franconia was turned down by the

Federal Administrative Court of Germany The Federal Administrative Court (german: Bundesverwaltungsgericht, ) is one of the five federal supreme courts of Germany. It is the court of the last resort for generally all cases of administrative law, mainly disputes between citizens and t ...

in 2004. The same protests were also made for the same reason against

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

’s high-speed track, the

Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway The Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway is a German high-speed railway, between Nuremberg and Erfurt. The line is listed in Germany's federal transport plan as ''Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit Nr.'' ("German Unity transport project no") ''8.1 ...

, which now runs across the Lichtenfels Forest between

Niederfüllbach Niederfüllbach is a municipality in the district of Coburg 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 Weißenbrunn am Forst.

References

{{coord missing, Bavaria Forests and woodlands of Bavaria Lichtenfels (district)