Lüneburg Heath Nature Park (German: ''Naturpark Lüneburger Heide'') is a nature park, a form of protected environment, located in the Lüneburg Heath in northern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It has an area of . The centre of the nature park is the Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve with an area of .

Geography

The nature park belongs to the former province (''

Regierungsbezirk A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts ' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...

'') of Lüneburg and, after its expansion in 2007, extends into the districts of Harburg,

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 ...

and Heidekreis. The Lüneburg Heath Nature Park is bordered in the north by Buchholz, in the east by

, in the south by Soltau and in the west by Neuenkirchen. It lies roughly south of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, 70 km east of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and 90 km north of

Hanover 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 ...

. It was established as early as 1922, initially with of nature reserve. In 1993 this area was increased to . By the beginning of 2007 the area of the nature reserve almost coincided with the area of the nature park. On 14 February 2007 the park was expanded to . The areas added included various protected areas (''Landschaftsschutzgebiete'').

Legal status

The park is one of 98 nature parks in Germany. They were established under section 22, paragraph 4 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG). They comprise about 25% of the total land area of Germany and are linked by the ''Verband Deutscher Naturparke'' (Association of German Nature Parks).Verband Deutscher Naturparke
/ref> Note that this is a separate category from the 14 ''Nationalparke'' (national parks) of Germany, under paragraph 24 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. ''See

List of national parks of Germany The following are the 16 national parks of Germany, sorted from North to South: Germany also has 14 biosphere reserves, as well as Nature parks (Germany), 98 nature parks. Including the national protected areas, about 25% of Germany's area is ...

.''

Nature reserves

There are some 20 nature reserves ('' Naturschutzgebiete'' or ''NSG''s) in the park. NSGs with an area of more than 100 hectares are: * Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve 23,440 ha * Upper Wümme Depression 1,415 ha * Kiehnmoor 440 ha * Upper Fintau valley 416 ha * Valley of the Kleine Örtze 330 ha * Schierbruch and Forellenbach valley 250 ha * Brambostel Moor 105 ha

Protected areas

There are more than 50 protected landscapes (''Landschaftsschutzgebiete'' or ''LSG''s) in the park. LSGs with an area of more than 500 hectares are: * Garlstorfer Wald and the surrounding area 10,383 ha *

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

-Oerrel 3,476 ha * Sottorfer Busch 2,589 ha * Eichenhaine (The Schweineweide) 2,239 ha * Schwindebeck 1,750 ha * Rosengarten Kiekeberg Stuvenwald 973 ha * Woods on the edge of the Raubkammer 824 ha * Riensheide 759 ha * Lohbergen 550 ha * Klecker Wald 517 ha

Natural monuments

* Glacial erratics, a "century stone" (''Jahrhundertstein'') near Soderstorf * Lime trees, oaks,

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

, Norway Spruce, Juniper,

Myrica gale ''Myrica gale'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae native to parts of Eurasia and North America. Common names include bog-myrtle, sweet willow, Dutch myrtle, and sweetgale. Description ''Myrica gale'' is a deciduous shrub g ...

near Wesseloh,

Holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

near Soderstorf * Deposited rocks (''Wanderblöcke'') at Heimbusch and near Egestorf (see glacial erratics) * Source of the Schwindebach, a

clay pit A clay pit is a quarry or Mining, mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement. Quarries where clay is mined to make bricks are sometimes called brick pits. A brickyard or brickwor ...

near Lieste and a "bottomless pit" near Soltau * Schwalinger Flatt near Neuenkirchen (flat marshy lake from the ice age)

References

External links

Lüneburg Heath Nature Park Association (''Verein Naturparkregion Lüneburger Heide'')

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luneburg Heath Nature Park Lüneburg Heath Nature parks in Lower Saxony Cultural landscapes of Germany