A municipal forest or municipal woodland is a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

owned by a town or city. Such woods often have a higher density of leisure facilities like

play park A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

s, restaurants and cafes,

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding horses, riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now s ...

cycle path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

s and

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

s. Unlike an

urban forest An urban forest is a forest, or a collection of trees, that grow within a city, town or a suburb. In a wider sense, it may include any kind of woody plant vegetation growing in and around human settlements. As opposed to a forest park, whose eco ...

, which is located largely or entirely within an urban area and may be privately owned, a municipal forest is publicly owned and may well be outside the city or town to which it belongs. Most urban forests will be municipal forests, but many municipal forests are non-urban.

Europe

Germany

In Germany municipal forests are usually

corporate forest A corporate forest is a forest or woodland area owned by a corporate body rather than a state or individual. For example, in Germany, a corporate forest (german: Körperschaftswald) is, in accordance with Section 3, Paragraph 2, of the Federal Fore ...

s in accordance with Section 3 of the Federal Forest Act (§ 3 ''Bundeswaldgesetz''). Among the best known municipal forests in Germany are the Tiergarten (210 ha) in Berlin, the Berlin City Forest (28,500 ha) which includes the

Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...

(ca. 3,000 ha) and Köpenick Forest (ca. 6,500 ha), the

Frankfurt City Forest The Frankfurt City Forest or ''Frankfurter Stadtwald'' is a forest district in the south of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. There are also other forest areas spread out through the city. Basic Facts The forest is about 48 square kilometres and the la ...

(3,866 ha), the

Dresden Heath The Dresden Heath (german: Dresdner Heide) is a large forest in the city of Dresden, Germany. The heath is the most important recreation area in the city and is also actively forested. Approximately 6,133 hectares of the Dresden Heath are desig ...

(6,133 ha) and the

Rostock Heath Rostock Heath (german: Rostocker Heide) is a wood and heathland region northeast of the German city of Rostock. It has a total area of about 6000 hectares and, since 1252, has been owned by the Hanseatic city of Rostock. As a result of its o ...

(6,004 ha), which are some of the largest in the world. The Duisburg City Forest, together with the Broich-Speldorf Forest in

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compan ...

, the Sportpark Duisburg and the Duisburg Huckinger Mark form a contiguous forest area of about 3,000 ha. The

Leipzig Riverside Forest Leipzig Riverside Forest (German: ''Leipziger Auenwald'') is one of the largest lowland Riparian forests in Central Europe, which lies mostly within the city limits of Leipzig city in Germany. The natural reserve is partially covered with hard ...

is one of the largest surviving

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, sink or reservoir. Etymology The term riparian comes from the Latin word '' ...

s in Central Europe.

List of municipal forests in Germany

* Berlin City Forest (28,500 ha) with

, Köpenick Forest and other woodland areas in and around Berlin *

Brilon Brilon (; Westphalian: ''Brailen'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany, that belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis. Geography Brilon is situated on the Brilon Heights at an altitude of about 450 m on the upper reaches of the r ...

Municipal Forest (7,750 ha) *

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

, Municipal Forest (ca. 7,500 ha) *

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

Municipal Forest (7,000 ha) *

(6,133 ha) *

(6,000 ha) * Villingen-Schwenningen Municipal Forest (5,841 ha; ''in toto'' 8,114,5 ha) *

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Municipal Forest (5,600 ha) *

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

Municipal Forest (5,200 ha) *

Boppard Boppard (), formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality (since the 1976 inclusion of 9 neighbouring villages, ''Ortsbezirken'') in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNE ...

Municipal Forest (4,360 ha) *

(3,866 ha Stadtwald. ''in toto'' 5,785 ha) *

Fürstenwalde Fürstenwalde/Spree (; Lower Sorbian: ''Pśibor pśi Sprjewje'') is the most populous town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, Germany. Geography The town is situated in the glacial valley (''Urstromtal'') of the Spree river north of the R ...

Municipal Forest (4,677 ha woods with 90% pine forest and 10% deciduous) *

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

Municipal Forest (3,093 ha) * Weißenburg Municipal Forest (2,806 ha) *

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

Municipal Forest (2,772 ha) *

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

Municipal Forest (2,256 ha){{cite web, title=Information der Stadt Bielefeld, website=Bielefeld.de, url=http://www.bielefeld.de/de/un/stw/, access-date=2014-03-30, language=de *

Salzwedel Salzwedel (, officially known as Hansestadt Salzwedel; Low German: ''Soltwedel'') is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salz ...

Municipal Forest (1,400 ha) *

(1,163 ha of forest. ''In toto'' ca. 2,500 ha) * Lauerholz in Lübeck (960 ha) *

Steigerwald The Steigerwald is a hill region up to in the Bavarian-Franconian part of the South German Scarplands between Würzburg and Nuremberg. It is part of the Keuper Uplands, and within it, it is continued to the north-northeast and right of the river ...

in Erfurt (800 ha) *

Eilenriede The german: Eilenriede, italics=unset (literally 'alder marsh', meaning 'marsh populated with alder trees') is a municipal forest in Hanover, Germany. It is the largest urban city forest in Germany, one of the largest in Europe, and is nearly ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

(650 ha) *

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

City Forest (600 ha) *

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the t ...

Municipal Forest (560 ha) *

Eschweiler Eschweiler (, Ripuarian: ) is a municipality in the district of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany on the river Inde, near the German-Belgian-Dutch border, and about east of Aachen and west of Cologne. History * Celts (fir ...

Municipal Forest (350 ha) *

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Municipal Forest (205.3 ha) * Marienhölzung in Flensburg (200 ha) *

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

Municipal Forest (120 ha) * Seelhorst in

(100 ha)

France

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...

in Paris *

Bois de Vincennes The Bois de Vincennes (), located on the eastern edge of Paris, is the largest public park in the city. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by Emperor Napoleon III. The park is next to the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of the King ...

in Paris

Austria

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (german: Wienerwald) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area w ...

(105,645 ha, of which 8,650 ha are in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) *

Lainzer Tiergarten The Lainzer Tiergarten is a 24.50 km² (6,054-acre) wildlife preserve in the southwest corner of Vienna, Austria, 80% of it being covered in woodland. It dates back to 1561, when Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I created it as a ...

(2,450 ha) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Lobau The Lobau () is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube in Donaustadt and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used ...

(2,300 ha) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

* Viennese Prater (600 ha)

Switzerland

* Stadtwald (1.200 ha) und

Sihlwald The Sihlwald is a forest and nature reserve in the Sihl Valley of the Swiss canton of Zürich. It is a rare example of a large-scale and original forest, situated on the eastern slopes of the Albis hills to the west side of the Sihl river. Alth ...

(1.000 ha) in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

(

Schweiz ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

)

United States

Jefferson Memorial Forest The Jefferson Memorial Forest is a forest located in southwest Louisville, Kentucky, in the Knobs region of Kentucky. At , it is the largest municipal urban forest in the United States. The forest was established as a tribute to Kentucky's vete ...

References

Urban forests Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

Forest management