Eifel National Park
Eifel National Park | |
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Nationalpark Eifel | |
Location | North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
Nearest city | Mechernich, Düren, Aachen |
Coordinates | 50°37′00″N 6°26′00″E / 50.6166667°N 6.4333333°E |
Area | 10,700 ha (26,400 acres) |
Established | 1 January 2004 |
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The Eifel National Park (German: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".[1]
Eifel National Park is part of the much larger High Fens – Eifel Nature Park, a cross-border protection between Germany and Belgium established in 1960.
General
The aims of the Eifel National Park accord with those set out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN. These require that at least 75 percent of the national park's area must be left to develop naturally – i.e. must not be given over to human use – within 30 years of the foundation of the park. Aims, mechanisms and executive bodies are laid down in the National Park Regulation (Nationalpark-Verordnung or NP-VO). The relatively young national park lies in the north of the Eifel region between Nideggen in the north, Gemünd in the south and the Belgian border in the southwest. The legal decree by the state that lays the foundation for the park has been in force since 1 January 2004.
The area covers about 10,700 hectares (26,000 acres), is bordered to the northwest by the
The Eifel National Park protects the
The Eifel National Park is home to over 7,100 animal and plant species of which 1,800 are classified as endangered on the
Exploitation of the forests, especially for the production of
The target of the national park is to reach protection and preservation without intervention on 75% of the area of the national park within 30 years of the creation of the national park, i.e. by 2034. 10 years after the founding of the national park 58% of the area is already realised. Forest development activities still take place particularly in the spruce-dominated south.[2]
Path network
Around 240 kilometres (150 mi) of paths are open to visitors of the Eifel National Park. Cyclists may use 104 kilometres (65 mi) of these and riders 65 kilometres (40 mi). When there is sufficient snow there are also five kilometres of cut trails for
Several paths are well-signed across the whole park. Specially established in the nature reserve and underpinned by associated literature are the circular 'themed' tours and the four-day Wilderness Trail (Wildnis-Trail).
Visitors can cross the whole park with its different landscapes in four challenging one-day stages. The Wilderness Trail is laid out so that it runs from Monschau-Höfen in the southwest in numerous bends to the northernmost point of the nature reserve to Hürtgenwald-Zerkall. Fallen logs, old giant trees and new offshoots give an insight today in several places of how in decades past it might have looked everywhere.
National Park gates
In order to receive visitors and provide tourist information the national park management has established four gates to the park. The gates are open daily and entry is free. In addition to basic information each information centre offers a different theme.
At the
Guided tours
The park offers regular, free guided tours with a trained ranger. Visitors may choose from at least eight different tours each week. Bookings are not necessary. En route the ranger will not just teach things, but also recount anecdotes and his or her own experiences. The circular walks are all suitable for blind people or those with impaired sight with their own guides as well as for families with children. The so-called ranger meetings (Rangertreffpunkte) are tailored to the ability and requirements of all participants.
In addition to the ranger tours and meetings there are irregular or seasonal events with trained forest guides, multilingual tours, walks with sign-language guidance, ranger-led boat trips, horse and coach trips and more. The monthly family days are particularly geared to children and parents and, during the local state school holidays, take place on Tuesdays and Fridays as well. Information about all these events and group bookings with the forest guides is available at the Eifel National Park Forestry Office (Nationalparkforstamt Eifel).
Minefield danger
Several parts of the national park will not be open to the public for a long time.
The areas of the park that were sown with glass mines are fenced off and marked with warning tape; entering them is strictly forbidden.
Films
- Im Nationalpark Eifel. Dokumentarfilm, 45 Min., Deutschland, 2005, von Ina Knobloch und Manfred Praxl, Produktion: MDR. Kurzbeschreibung des MDR
See also
Notes
- ^ "Start page | Eifel National Park". www.nationalpark-eifel.de. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ^ Eifelverein: Eifeltimes, 2014
References
- Pfeifer, Maria: Nationalpark Eifel, ThemenTouren Bd. 4, Mit dem Fahrrad durch den Nationalpark Eifel, 1. Auflage, J.P. Bachem Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-7616-2179-0
- Pfeifer, Maria: Der Wildnis-Trail im Nationalpark Eifel, ThemenTouren Bd. 3, Vier Tagesetappen zwischen 18 und 25 km, 1. Auflage, J.P. Bachem Verlag 2007, ISBN 3-7616-2154-X
- Pfeifer, Maria: Kurze Wanderungen im Nationalpark Eifel, ThemenTouren Bd. 2, 12 leichte Touren zwischen 2 und 7 km, 2. Auflage J.P. Bachem Verlag 2007, ISBN 3-7616-2010-1
- NRW-Stiftung/Eifelverein (publ.): Nationalpark Eifel, ThemenTouren Bd. 1, 10 Touren zwischen 5 und 18 km, 4. vollständig überarbeitete Auflage, J.P. Bachem Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-7616-2068-7
- Ulrike Schwieren-Höger: Natur- und Kulturführer Nationalpark Eifel und seine neun Städte und Gemeinden. Gaasterland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-935873-22-2
- NUA-Seminarberichte: Nationalpark Eifel – Eine Idee nimmt Gestalt an. NUA-Seminarbericht Band 8. 5. Jahrgang. Recklinghausen 2002.
- Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz (Hrsg.): Nationalparkplan des Nationalparks Eifel, Band 1: Leitbild und Ziele. Schleiden-Gemünd 2008.
- Förderverein Nationalpark Eifel (Hrsg.): Tier- und Pflanzenwelt im Nationalpark Eifel. J.P. Bachem Verlag, Köln 2006, ISBN 3-7616-2005-5.
- Förderverein Nationalpark Eifel (Hrsg.): Moose und Flechten im Nationalpark Eifel. J.P. Bachem Verlag, Köln 2007, ISBN 978-3-7616-2153-0.
- ISBN 978-3-921805-51-0.
External links
- Official Website (in English)
- www.foerderverein-nationalpark-eifel.de (in German)
- www.nationalparktor.de Private website on the Eifel National Park focussed on Heimbach (in German)
- www.lernort-vogelsang.de Information portal about the history of the former Nazi Ordensburg of Vogelsang in the middle of the Eifel National Park (in German)
- An entry by the International Dark-Sky Association