The Göhrde State Forest () is the largest contiguous

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These ...

region in

North Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

. It lies in the districts of

Lüchow-Dannenberg Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany, which is usually referred to as Hanoverian Wendland (''Hannoversches Wendland'') or Wendland. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen and Lüneburg and the ...

and

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

Description

The Göhrde includes the entire unincorporated area of Göhrde, parts of the municipality of

Göhrde Göhrde is a municipality in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The municipality was named after the Göhrde State Forest, which has an area of about , famous for its oaks, beeches and game preserves. The Göhrde Hunt ...

(both in Lüchow-Dannenberg district) as well as parts of the municipalities of Nahrendorf and Boitze (

Lüneburg district Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic city, Hamburg, and belongs to that city's wider metr ...

). The forest is also part of the Elbufer-Drawehn Nature Park and is located on a plateau with an average height of 80 metres above NN (roughly from 50 to 110 m NN) in the northwestern area of the

Drawehn The Drawehn is a partly wooded and partly agricultural region of hills in the northeastern part of the German state of Lower Saxony, lying between the districts of Lüneburg and Uelzen in the west and Lüchow-Dannenberg in the east. It is named a ...

. Because the Göhrde region has no rivers it was never settled. The state forest of Göhrde is about 75 km² in area and at its heart has some very old stands of trees. Many of these giant trees (especially

English Oak ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soil ...

s) have been designated as

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities, or cultural significance. They can be natural geological and geographical features such as w ...

s and are protected. The main species of tree in the woods, which lie on the mostly sandy soils and rolling terrain, are the

Scots Pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

Common Beech ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech, is a large, graceful deciduous tree in the beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large ...

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

and

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

. The long-stemmed oaks are important for

silviculture Silviculture is the practice of controlling the growth, composition/structure, as well as quality of forests to meet values and needs, specifically timber production. The name comes from the Latin ('forest') and ('growing'). The study of forests ...

and belong to the most profitable in Germany, due to their closely spaced annual rings, that are produced by the warm, sunny climate and low levels of rainfall. In the ''Breeser Grund'' (Breese Bottom) in the south of the Göhrde a ''

Hutewald Silvopasture (''silva'' is forest in Latin) is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct forms ...

'' of some has been preserved with old isolated oaks and heath landscapes.

Fallow Deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

and

Mouflon The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, and the Caspian region, including eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran. It is also found in parts of Europe. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domest ...

live in the forest. The ''Breeser Grund'' is an EU

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

which is especially worth protecting as are the beech woods in the Göhrde (''Buchenwälder in der Göhrde'') southeast of the village of Göhrde itself.

History

The Göhrde was once a favourite hunting ground of the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Later the Kings of

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

also hunted here and – to 1918 – the German emperors. The buildings of the old

Göhrde Hunting Lodge The Göhrde hunting lodge () is a former hunting lodge in Göhrde, Lower Saxony in Germany. The Göhrde State Forest was once a favourite hunting ground of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Later the kings of Hannover also hunted here and � ...

still stand in the village of

in the heart of the state forest. The castle itself was demolished in 1827. The remaining buildings house the Göhrde Training Centre (''Bildungszentrum Göhrde''). In September 1813 the

Battle of the Göhrde The Battle of the Göhrde took place during the War of the Sixth Coalition on 16 September 1813 between French and Coalition troops at Göhrde, Germany. The French troops were defeated and withdrew to Hamburg. Site The battle occurred near ...

was fought there. On the northern edge of the forest in the village of Breese am Seißelberge is Göhrde station, on the

Wendland Railway The Wendland () is a region in Germany on the borders of the present states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Its heart is the Land Hannover, Hanoverian Wendland in the county of Lüchow-Dannenberg in ...

, which was named after the forest. Because the emperors of Germany used to alight at this station as they travelled to their hunts in the forest it was also locally known as the ''Kaiserbahnhof'' (Emperor Station).

Literature

*Ernst Andreas Friedrich: ''Naturdenkmale Niedersachsens''. Hannover, 1980. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gohrde State Forest Lüchow-Dannenberg Special Areas of Conservation in Germany Forests and woodlands of Lower Saxony