The Red Moor (german: Rotes Moor) is a raised bog in the

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

part of the

Rhön Mountains The Rhön Mountains () are a group of low mountains (or ''Mittelgebirge'') in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end o ...

in Germany. It lies within the eponymous nature reserve in the

Rhön Biosphere Reserve The Rhön Biosphere Reserve includes the entire central area of the Rhön Mountains, a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia. Aim In 1991 the Rhön was recognised at international level by UNESCO as a biosph ...

and is part of the Europe-wide conservation system,

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

. The Red Moor has an area of 50 hectares and is the second largest raised bog in the

High Rhön High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

after the

Black Moor Black Moor may refer to: * Black Moor (musical group), a heavy metal band * Black Moor (Rhön), a wetland habitat in Germany * Black Telescope goldfish, known as black moor, a variant of telescope eye goldfish * " Harap Alb", a 1877 Romanian-lang ...

(66.4 hectares). For 175 years, until 1984, peat was cut here. The interior of the raised bog is severely damaged, especially as a result of the many years of

peat cutting Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

. Its perimeters are however still largely undisturbed areas that are better and more typically developed than the Black Moor, 8 kilometres away. In 1979 large-scale

renaturalisation Land restoration, which may include renaturalisation or rewilding, is the process of ecological restoration of a site to a natural landscape and habitat, safe for humans, wildlife, and plant communities. Ecological destruction, to which land resto ...

measures began.

Geography

The Red Moor is the largest raised bog in Hesse, followed by the moor in the Breungeshain Heath (4 ha) on the uplands of the Vogelsberg. In the Rhön it is the second largest bog after the

; others being the Great Moor (''Großes Moor'', 8 ha) and Little Moor (''Kleines Moor'', 2 ha) on the

Stirnberg Stirnberg is a mountain of Bavaria, Germany. File:Stirnberg - Ausblick vom Nordwesthang.jpg, View from the northwestern hillside of the Stirnberg in the Rhön mountains Mountains of Bavaria Mountains and hills of the Rhön {{Bavaria ...

, and the ''Moorlein'' on the Rasenberg. As a result of centuries of peat extraction, which lasted until the 1980s, only an area of about five hectares is left as a core zone. The Red Moor is divided into two areas: The Great Red Moor (''Großes Rotes Moor'', formerly 32 hectares of raised bog – today just under 11 ha) and the Little Red Moor (''Kleines Rotes Moor'', formerly 7 hectares of raised bog – today 1.7 ha).Stiftung Hessischer Naturschutz (Hrsg.): ''Naturschutzgebiet Rotes Moor im Biosphärenreservat Rhön.'' p. 21. It lies about five kilometres southeast of the

Wasserkuppe The is a mountain within the German state of Hesse. It is a large plateau formation at an elevation of and is the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Great advances in sailplane development took place on the mountain during the interwar peri ...

on the B 278 federal highway between the village of Ehrenberg (part of Wüstensachsen) on the Hessian side and the town of

Bischofsheim an der Rhön Bischofsheim may refer to the following towns: *Bischofsheim, Hesse Bischofsheim is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany with a population of more than 13,000. Geography Location Bischofsheim lies south of the Main and e ...

on the Bavarian side of the state border. The bog measures about a kilometre from north to south and 600 metres from west to east. Its lowest point at the southern end of the moor is about 804 metres above sea level and it climbs towards the north to about 830 metres ASL. The moor is bounded by the surrounding mountains which, running clockwise, are the Mathesberg (831.8 m) to the north, the Ottilienstein (846.4 m) to the northeast, the

Heidelstein The Heidelstein, between Bischofsheim an der Rhön in the Bavarian county of Rhön-Grabfeld and Wüstensachsen in the Hessian county of Fulda, is a mountain, high, on the state border in the mountains of the High Rhön, part of the German Centr ...

(925.7 m) to the east, the Kesselstein (799.2 m) to the south, the Mostberg (807.4 m) to the west and the Feldberg (815.2 m) to the northwest. Rotes Moor, Birkenwald

The Red Moor lies in the southern part of the Red Moor Nature Reserve which covers an area of 314.7 hectares. This reserve, designated in 1979, the name of which is taken from the raised bog, lies mostly above the 800 metre contour, but elevations range from 720 to 835 metres above ''Normalnull''. It is one of the oldest and largest nature reserves in Hesse and lies between the Wasserkuppe and the Heidelstein on the gently rolling saddle of the

. It measures 3.5 kilometres from north to south and 0.6 to 1.2 kilometres from east to west. There are other smaller wetlands with thinner layers of peat in the nature reserve formed around three hollows, each the source of a stream. The stream draining the lowest point of the moor is the ''Moorwasser'' ("bog water"). It flows south into the Schwarzbach, which discharges into the

Brend The river Brend is a right-bank tributary of the Fränkische Saale ''(Franconian Saale)'', in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated in the district Rhön-Grabfeld. Its source is in Oberweißenbrunn, which is part of the town Bischof ...

at Bischofsheim its waters making their way via the

Franconian Saale The Franconian Saale (german: Fränkische Saale) is a 140 km long river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right-bank tributary of the Main, in Lower Franconia. It should not be confused with the larger Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale), whi ...

to the drainage basin of the Rhine. Within the moor itself, the ''Moorwasser'' separates the Little Red Moor to the southeast from the Great Red Moor to the northwest. Above the tailstream of the artificial embankment built in 1973 is a small reservoir. Another source stream, the ''Feldbach'', flows westwards into the

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

. A third stream, the ''Grumbach'', flows northwards into the Ulster, a tributary of the Werra. The Werra and Fulda later converged to form the Weser. The reserve thus lies on the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the Rhine and the Weser.

Tourism

The Red Moor ist well developed for tourists and is a popular destination in the Rhön. It is open to the public and wheelchair friendly. Guided walks through the moor are conducted several times a week. About 500 metres east of the information pavilion of the Red Moor, on the road from Wüstensachsen to Bischofsheim an der Rhön, there is a large car park and the ''Haus am Roten Moor'' (House by the Red Moor), built in 2003–04, with toilets, a kiosk and information boards. The timber-framed house was opened on 3 September 2004 and has an area of about 150 square metres.NABU Landesverband Hessen
/ref> The main entry to the Red Moor Cross Country Skiing Centre is also from this car park.

References

Literature

* Stiftung Hessischer Naturschutz (publ.): ''Naturschutzgebiet Rotes Moor im Biosphärenreservat Rhön.'' 1997, . * Willy Kiefer: ''Die Moore der Rhön.'' Verlag Parzeller, Fulda, 1996, . * Joachim S. Hohmann: ''Landvolk unterm Hakenkreuz. Agrar- und Rassenpolitik in der Rhön. Ein Beitrag zur Landesgeschichte Bayerns, Hessens und Thüringens.'' Frankfurt am Main etc., 1992, . * Max Mölter: ''Die Hochrhönstraße.'' 5th edition, Verlag Parzeller, Fulda, 1986, . * Heribert Kramm: ''Die Hochrhön.'' Verlag Parzeller, Fulda, 2006, . * U. Bohn: ''Die Vegetation der Hohen Rhön – Gesellschaftsinventar, Bewertung, aktuelle Gefährdungen, Erhaltungsmaßnahmen.'' Natur und Landschaft, Bonn-Bad Godesberg, 1981. * G. Große-Brauckmann: ''Moore in der Rhön als Beispiele für Entstehung, Entwicklung und Ausbildungsformen von Mooren und ihre Probleme heute.'' In: ''Naturkunde Osthessen.'' Fulda, 1996. * LIFE-Projekt Rhön der EU (publ.): ''Naturschätze der Rhön: Hochmoore.'' Kaltensundheim, 1997. * Jürgen Holzhausen, Ernst Hettche: ''Hochmoore im Biosphärenreservat Rhön.'' Verlag Richard Mack, Mellrichstadt, 1996, . * S. Reimann, G. Große Brauckmann, B. Streitz: ''Die Pflanzendecke des Roten Moores in der Rhön.'' In: ''Naturkunde Osthessen.'' Fulda, 1985.

External links

*
Rhönlexikon – Red MoorRed Moor Cross Country Skiing ParkAerial round trip over the Red Moor
Video clip (12MB, 1:35min, WMV) b
http://www.osthessen-news.de Aerial photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Moor (Rhon) Bogs of Hesse BRotesmoor Nature reserves in Hesse Rhön Mountains Fulda (district) Landforms of Hesse