Palatinate Forest

Palatinate Forest Pfälzerwald ( Palatine German)
The Palatinate Forest in southwest Germany and northeast France (delineated in red)
Geography
Location	Palatinate, Germany
Administration
Established	1998
Website	www.pfaelzerwald.de

The Palatinate Forest (/pəˈlætɪnɪt/; German: Pfälzerwald [ˈpfɛltsɐvalt] ^ⓘ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park (German: Naturpark Pfälzerwald) covering 1,771 km² and its highest elevation is the Kalmit (672.6 m).

Together with the northern part of the adjacent

.

Geography

Topography

The Palatinate Forest, together with the

).

Boundaries

While the boundaries of the Palatinate Forest are comparatively clearly defined to the north and east, the transition to neighbouring landscapes to the west and south is less sharp.

To the north, the Palatinate Forest is adjoined by the

The hill country between the Haardt and the Upper Rhine Plain, where

runs through this zone of hills.

The

Landstuhl Bruch

west of Kaiserslautern.

To the west of the Großer Hausberg, the Westrich Plateau separates from the Palatinate Forest at the sharp southern boundary of the Landstuhler Bruch in a comparatively smooth transition. It reaches comparable heights in the transition area, but as a

system to the Upper Rhine.

To the south, the narrow

Burgundian Gate

beyond the Vosges forms an orographically clear border on the left bank of the Rhine.

Structure

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Palatinate Forest can be divided into three areas.

• The Northern Palatinate Forest, bounded by the extensive northern Palatine hill landscape and reaching southwards to a line from
  Bad Duerkheim

• 
  Hardenburg Castle near Bad Dürkheim
• 
  Lake Eiswoog, Ramsen
• 
  St. James' Church, ruins of Höningen Abbey (1120–1569)
• 
  The countryside near

  Eisenberg

• The Middle Palatinate Forest from the Isenach stream and the line Kaiserslautern–Bad Dürkheim to the Queich stream and the line from Pirmasens to Landau

• 
  Highest peak: Kalmit (673 m)
• 
  The Haardt, the boundary with the wine growing region
• 
  The forest in early spring
• 
  The region is much appreciated by motorcyclists

• The Southern Palatinate Forest, the so-called Wasgau, from the Queich stream and the line from Pirmasens to Landau to the French borderline in the south.

• 
  Neuscharfeneck Castle
• 
  The Hochstein sandstone rocks near Dahn are a destination for rock climbers
• 
  Altdahn Castle
• 
  The Teufelstisch ("devil's table") near Hinterweidenthal

The Palatinate Forest is a major (3rd level) natural region within the Palatine-Saarland Scarplands (a 2nd order major region) and runs south as far as the Col de Saverne, i.e. far into French territory, where it continues as the Vosges ridge. This often goes unrecognized as a result of the French border; hence the French southern part of the natural region is often, wrongly, counted as part of the North Vosges.^{[citation needed]}

The important subdivisions of these

]

The most important subordinate landscapes are listed with the aid of a map; the map only showing the names of well-known landscapes and only the more significant landscape boundaries.[2]^[3][4][5][6]

• Palatinate Forest
  • Lower Palatinate Forest (Northern Palatinate Forest)
    • Otterberg Forest (up to around 380 m)
    • (Sembach Plateax)
    • Stumpfwald (only over 400 m near the southern boundary)
    • Queitersberg (Quaidersberg, Quaitersberg; 394 m); eastern outskirts of Kaiserslautern
  • Central Palatinate Forest (only significantly separate landscape subdivisions shown)
    • Diemerstein Forest (up to around 450 m)
    • Leininger Sporn (up to 516 m)
    • High Palatinate Forest (main plateau of the Frankenweide; up to 610 m)
    • Haardt
      (up to 673 m)
  • Wasgau
    • Western Wasgau (up to 513 m)
      • Bitche Forest Lowland
    • Dahn-Annweiler Felsenland
      • Stürzelbronn-Schönau Felsenland (up to 581 m)
      • Dahner Felsenland (up to 577 m)
        • Dahner Felsenland in the narrower sense
        • Annweiler Felsenland^[7]
      • Annweiler-Albersweiler Outskirts ("Trifelsland")^[8]
    • Eastern Wasgau
      • Upper Mundat Forest^[9]
        (up to 562 m)
      • Hochwald (up to 529 m)
      • Lembach Graben
    • Southern Wasgau (up to 526 m; drains into the Moder)

The name Pfälzerwald was first used in 1843 – when the Palatinate was part of the

Prior to 1850, there was no overall name for the Palatine's bunter sandstone mountains[13] Historical territorial factors, rather than geographical ones, governed perceptions at the time. By contrast, the Celts and Romans viewed the entire mountain range west of the Rhine as a single unit, making no distinction between different parts of the region that, today, is the Palatinate Forest and the Vosges. The range was named after the Celtic forest god Vosegus and is recorded in many Roman manuscripts as "silva vosegus" or "mons vosegus".^[13] It was from this linguistic root that, during the Middle Ages, the name Vosges emerged in the French-speaking area and Wasgen or Wasigenwald, later also Wasgau, in the German-speaking region.

So while the term Wasgen continued, for a long time, to refer to the entire range on the west bank of the Rhine, at the beginning of the 20th century, it gradually became restricted to the Alsatian part of the sandstone mountains, whilst the term Pfälzerwald ("Palatinate Forest") became increasingly used to refer to the Palatine part. This led to the Palatinate Forest and Vosges being defined as separate and distinct landscapes. However, in recent decades, in the context of European integration (the Schengen Agreement), there has been an increasing trend to regard the entire mountain complex as a single geographical entity again.^[14] Evidence of this changed attitude can be seen, for example, in the establishment in 1998 of the first cross-border biosphere reserve, the Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Whilst there are traces of human activities in the more habitable regions of what is now the Palatinate, taking place since the Neolithic period (5,500-4,500 BC), and especially in Celtic (800 to 10 BC) and Roman (10 BC to 450 AD) times, the mountains on the west bank of the Rhine were practically uninhabited and covered by dense, ancient forest until the end of the Migration Period (about 600 AD).

Salian

empire

After the

Abandoned villages, over-exploitation and depletion (14th-18th centuries)

This development took place in the

Immigration, re-impoverishment, first commuters (late 18th to early 20th century)

After large population losses during the

) outside the region.

Deindustrialisation and tourism (20th and 21st centuries)

Hauenstein

In the 20th century, the general economic

(e.g. public transport), and, in many cases, the villagers now no longer worked locally, but in more distant regional centres, such as Ludwigshafen and Kaiserslautern.

By contrast local industries in the mountains became rarer or were closed, as can be seen in the example of the footwear industry. Since its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s,

At the same time, the forested highlands has gained increasing importance in the second half of the twentieth century as a place for recreation and leisure activities of special ecological status. This is reflected in various touristic concepts and activities to offer the native population additional work and income opportunities and to assist in counteracting the structural changes described above.

Whereas the Palatinate Forest was earlier seen mainly as a source of raw materials and energy supply, today, in addition to its recreation and leisure function, its ecological importance as a "special protected landscape" has come to the forefront. This change in attitude found visible expression, inter alia, through the establishment of the Palatinate Forest Nature Park and, later the Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve.

The Palatinate Forest Nature Park was created in 1958 as the third nature park in Germany. In accordance with the requirements of the originator of the nature park concept, Alfred Toepfer, the Palatinate Forest was to be a place of recreation and exercise for the stressed office workers of the cities in the Rhine valley which were then suffering badly from air pollution. The nature park expansion programme envisaged 95 car parks, 13 camp sites, seven observation towers and five open-air pools.

In fact, 62 woodland car parks were created in the first seven years as well as 530 benches and as many waste bins. A total of 370 km of walking routes were added or created and 45 signed circular walks laid out. The management of the nature park took over the Palatinate Forest Club (PWV). The 20 open shelters, built for walkers in log house style, were named "Fischer Huts" after the managing director of the Palatinate Forest Club, Ludwig Fischer.

In the mid-1960s, the PWV came to the conclusion that the work required could not be done by volunteers and handed the management of the nature park to the Palatinate provincial government. By 1974, 3.7 million euros had been spent on improving recreational opportunities.

Around 1975 the expansion of recreational facilities was viewed as complete and attention switched to the care of

.

On 20 July 1982 the Palatinate Forest Nature Park Association (Verein Naturpark Pfälzerwald) was founded as a support organization. The members of the association are those counties and independent towns whose territories are covered by the nature park as well as the Palatinate regional association, various rambling and sports clubs and environmental organizations. Many social organisations are involved in the work of the nature park, ensuring the independence of academic and regional individual interests. The association's goal is to develop the nature park and its eponymous biosphere reserve equally and to maintain its uniqueness and beauty as well as its national recreational value. Since 1997, the head office of the association has been in

.

The Palatinate Forest Nature Park was recognized in 1992 by

In 2007, the state of Rhineland–Palatinate issued an ordinance by which the UNESCO guidelines for the design of biosphere reserves would be implemented specifically for the Palatinate Forest Nature Park.[23] This laid down a zoning scheme as its main focus, which envisaged three zones with different objectives and protection functions:

• Core areas

  Securely protected sites for conserving biological diversity where there is a "least possible influence on the course of natural processes", i.e. complete protection of typical ecosystems is ensured.

• Buffer zones

  The buffer zones are used for "ecologically sound farming practices" that conserve landscape character. They are intended to complement and link the core areas.

• Transition areas

  The main focus is on the promotion of "model projects for sustainability" that, for example, may include the development of sustainable tourism concepts or the environmentally friendly production of regional products.

The "quiet zones" (Stillezonen) also covered in the law are intended to ensure a "recreation in the stillness", but are not part of the UNESCO guidelines for biosphere reserves. The concept originates rather from the old protected area regulation for the Palatinate Forest Nature Park (1984) and therefore overlaps with the other three zones.

Core, buffer and transition zones are representatively distributed over the area of the biosphere reserve. As part of this, some 16 core zones were defined, together covering about 2.3 percent of the area.^[24] The source region of the Wieslauter (2,296 ha) being the largest of the core area in the biosphere reserve, with its mixed stands of primeval beech, oak and pine.

The Palatinate Forest is primarily characterised by a block of

Development history

Formation of the bunter sandstone

In the

Laying down of the bunter sandstone

Devil's Table near Hinterweidenthal

At the beginning of the

At the same time the sides of the newly created lowlands were uplifted, in the case of the Palatinate Forest, to a height of about 1000 metres.

These processes, which continue today, have had four important implications for the present landscape of the low mountain region:

• The removal of approximately 800 metres of surface rock (dogger, lias, keuper and muschelkalk), thus exposing the bunter sandstone
• The tilting of the sandstone layers
• the formation of swells and troughs
• The breaking the bunter sandstone into individual fault blocks and the formation of faults

In the later Paleogene (34 to 23.8 million years ago) and

(2.8 to 0.01 million years ago) erosion processes once more dominated. In particular, it was the weathering and removal processes that occurred during the various cold and warm periods that determined the final topographical shape of the Palatinate Forest. Characteristic of this is a system of deeply incised valleys, especially in the north and centre, diverse mountain shapes and bizarre rock formations.

Gneisses and slates form the bedrock of the Palatinate Forest today, but they are generally covered by younger rock formations, cropping out only in a few places on the eastern edge of the mountains.^[29][30]

These rock strata cover the bedrock and consist, in addition to sandstone, of shale and marl. They generally have a softer consistency and therefore form broad valleys and erosion surfaces in the northern Palatinate Forest (the Stumpfwald) as well as in the southeast. The southern Palatinate sandstone formations of the Zechstein are divided into four strata having a total thickness of about 80 to 100 metres.

The rock unit of bunter sandstone is divided into three strata:

• Lower Bunter

  The Lower Bunter is the typical rock of the Palatine Forest and covers large areas of the low mountain range to a depth of 280 to 380 metres. The sandstones contain much quartz and little feldspar and mica, so that they weather into sandy soils, poor in nutrients that are scarcely used for agricultural purposes. In all there are three subdivisions – the Trifels, Rehberg and Schlossberg beds – in which several rock zones of differing thickness are combined.

• Middle Bunter

  In the Middle Bunter, too, various rock zones with thicknesses of about 80 to 100 metres may be identified. The most striking are the Karlstal beds, which mainly occur at the surface as silicified blocks of rock, and the upper rock zone and the primary conglomerate, which also consist of silicifie^{[check spelling]} coarse sandstones and scree. At the top of this formation is the "violet boundary layer" (violette Grenzschicht), which mainly consists of fine, mica-rich sediments.

• Upper Bunter

  Intermediate beds and

  Holzland

  ).

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Weathering and erosion of the different rock strata of the Palatine Forest with their variable hardness have resulted in a low mountain landscape with a dense, deeply incised system of valleys and wide variety of hill shapes. The hard and resistant rocks of the Lower and Middle Bunter have produced a scarpland relief, whose cuestas characterize the landscape, especially in the north and east, whilst the southeastern part of the Palatinate Forest is dominated by rather isolated types of hill separated by erosion surfaces.

In the bunter sandstone mountains a wide variety of hill shapes may be observed, depending on the various rock strata of which they are composed. Typical of the northern and central Palatinate Forest are prominent hill "blocks" (Bergklötze) and elongated trapezium-shaped ridges, frequently with rocky summit areas (e. g. the

, 661.8 m) whilst, in the western part of the range, plateau-like hill formations with clearings predominate. In the southeastern Palatinate Forest, by contrast, the sediments of the Rotliegendes and Zechstein (erosion surfaces), and especially resistant Trifels and Rehberg beds (conical hills) influence the appearance of the countryside.

Over the millennia, the weathering and erosion of the sandstone, with its varying degrees of hardness, have produced bizarre rock formations, e. g.

tend to be found more in the central Palatine Forest.

Detailed topographic description

The highest points in this low mountain range occur in the central Palatinate Forest, and mainly in the east.^[31]

Here, in a single, contiguous ridge is a series of peaks exceeding the 600 metre mark, of which the Great

or Kaiserslautern-Mölschbach without dropping below the 450 metre contour line.

North of the line from Hochspeyerbach to Speyerbach the highest points are the 570.8 m high Drachenfels and the Hoher Stoppelkopf (Stoppelkopf; 566.2 m). In the triangle formed by the Isenach to the north and German Wine Route to the east are other hills over 500 metres in height. The most prominent are Neustadt's northern local hill (Hausberg), the Weinbiet (554.0 m), and the Eckkopf (516.0 m) near Deidesheim. North of the Isenach only the Rahnfels (516.5 m) breaks through the 500 metre contour. In its continuation to the north its descends from 400 to 300 metres above sea level.

South of the Queich the countryside changes due to the somewhat different geological situation (see

are the highest points in the southwest.

Tabular overview

The category structure of the list is based on the concept for the natural region division of the Palatine Forest. The important summits of the range are annotated with their corresponding landscape subdivision and arranged according to their height in metres (m) above sea level (NHN). The nearest settlement is given for lesser known hills or those for which there is no Wikipedia article.

Lower, or Northern, Palatine Forest		Central Palatine Forest			Southern Palatine Forest or German Wasgau
Stumpfwald	Otterberg Forest	Haardt	Frankenweide	other regions	Wasgau Felsenland	other regions
Leuchtenberg (491.5 m) (south of Carlsberg )	Heidenkopf (419.6 m) (east of Schneckenhausen)	Kalmit (672.6 m)	Mosisberg (ca. 610 m)	Schafkopf (617.8 m)	Rehberg (576.8 m)	Hohe Derst (560.5 m) (west of Dörrenbach)
Steinkopf (484.0 m) (south of Carlsberg)	Andreasberg (401.0 m) (südeast of Schneckenhausen)	Kesselberg (661.8 m)	Weißenberg (609.9 m)	Steigerkopf (Schänzel) (613.6 m)	Wegelnburg (570.9 m)	Bobenthaler Knopf (53.9 m)
Kieskautberg (460.6 m) (south of Carlsberg)	Eulenkopf (399.6 m) (südwest of Potzbach)	Roßberg (637.0 m)	Eschkopf (608.3 m)	Sankt Martin )	Hohenberg (551.9 m)	Schletterberg (ca. 523 m) (north of Waldhambach)
Heidenberg (446.2 m) (südeast of Alsenborn)	Queitersberg (394.0 m)	Hochberg (635.3 m)	Hortenkopf (606.2 m)	Rotsohlberg (607.1 m) (west of Sankt Martin)	Förlenberg (533.1 m) (west of Leinsweiler)	Krummer Ellenbogen (514.7 m) (east of Niederschlettenbach)
Hohe Bühl (443.6 m) (west of Carlsberg)	Backofen (389.2 m) (northwest of Drehentalerhof)	Hohe Loog (618.7 m)	Schindhübel (ca. 571 m)	Hermeskopf (581.3 m) (north of Ramberg )	Schlüsselfelsen (524.0 m) (east of Schönau )	Großer Eyberg (513.0 m)
Schorlenberg (402.0 m) (east of Alsenborn)	Bruchberg (388.6 m) (north of Otterberg)	Blättersberg (613.2 m)	Bloskülb (570.2 m)	Drachenfels (571 m)	Maimont (515.0 m) (south of Fischbach)	Treutelsberg (503.7 m) (west of Klingenmünster)
Bocksrück (400.6 m) (west of Sippersfeld)	Gersweilerkopf (378.9 m) (east of Erlenbach)	Teufelsberg (597.6 m)	Blosenberg (558.9 m) (west of Hofstätten)	Großer Adelberg (567.4 m) (north of Annweiler)	Wetterberg (512.7 m) (west of Leinsweiler)	Großer Mückenkopf (484.9 m) (north of Fischbach)
Eiskopf (397.0 m) (east of Alsenborn)	Großer Ohligkopf (377.6 m) (east of Otterberg)	Orensberg (581.2 m)	Katzenkopf (553.3 m) (north of Wilgartswiesen)	Hoher Stoppelkopf (566.2 m)	Kappelstein (498.0 m) (south of Nothweiler)	Stäffelsberg (480.8 m) (west of Dörrenbach)
Klauserkopf (384.0 m) (north of Ramsen )	Einsiedlerberg (370.0 m) (northeast of Drehentalerhof)	Weinbiet (554.0 m)	Staufelkopf (552.0 m) (northwest of Wilgartswiesen)	Almersberg (564.1 m) (north of Rinnthal)	Jüngstberg (491.1 m) (east of Wieslautern)	Hohe List (475.8 m) (east of Eppenbrunn)
Pfrimmerberg (377.1 m) (east of Sippersfeld)	Sulzberg (368.9 m) (east of Erlenbach)	Eckkopf (516.0 m)	Spitze Boll (540.1 m) (südwest of Hermersbergerhof)	Rahnfels (516.5 m)	Wolfshorn (476.7 m) (west of Schwanheim )	Erlenkopf (472.1 m) (south of Eppenbrunn)

Characteristic of the Lower and Middle Bunter are

valleys, in which the valley floor is wide and they are therefore especially well suited for the construction of ponds, or woogs, reservoirs and small lakes (see below).

Hydrological balance

A typical feature of the Palatinate Forest is its abundance of water, that has led to a highly developed system of streams, rivers and wetlands (see below). The sandy soils caused by erosion are very very permeable to water, so that rainwater quickly seeps into the ground and is then stored in the different rock zones as

Lakes and reservoirs

The conditions described above have also led to the formation of a great number of

in the northeast.

Rivers

The Palatinate Forest is drained by four great catchment systems and also by smaller catchments or individual streams. The four large systems are the

and the Krebsbach.

The following river systems drain the Palatine Forest. They are listed in clockwise direction, beginning in the west (in brackets the overall catchment area^[33]):

• Schwarzbach (1151.5 km²)
  • Rodalb (116.2 km²)
  • Schwarzbach
  • Moosalb (188.2 km²)
• (Wald-)Lauter (275.6 km²)
• Alsenz (327.7 km²)
• Pfrimm (246.4 km²)
• Eisbach/Eckbach
  • Eisbach („Altbach“, 130.2 km²)
  • Eckbach
    (217.8 km²)
• Isenach (294.9 km²)
• Speyerbach (595.8 km²)
  • Hochspeyerbach (119.3 km²)
  • Speyerbach
  • Modenbach (84.1 km²)
• Queich (271.2 km²)
  • Wellbach (59.3 km²)
  • Queich
  • Eisbach (49.8 km²)
• Michelsbach/Otterbach
  • Klingbach (130.2 km²)
  • Erlenbach (109.1 km²)
  • Otterbach (119.2 km²)
• Lauter (382.3 km²)
  • Wieslauter
  • Salzbach (Lauter) (52.4 km²)
• Saarbach
  (805.5 km²)
• (Moder (1720 km²) – catchment area goes to immediately on the state border)

The river system of the Schwarzbach is the only one in the forest that drains into the river Moselle. The Waldlauter and Alsenz drain into the Nahe (the Lauter via the Glan), all the other systems, arranged from north to south, drain directly into the Rhine.

The

Features

Haardt sandstone

On the eastern edge of the mountains, a light yellow, bleached sandstone may be found in several places. This used to be quarried near Bad Bergzabern, Frankweiler and Hambach in large quarries and is still being quarried today near Leistadt and Haardt. The reddish iron oxide was released by hot fluids that rose up through the fault zone between the Palatine Forest and the Rhine Graben, and so bleached the sandstone.

53 million years ago tensions in the earth's crust and mantle (see Laying down of the bunter sandstone), so that magma was able to rise and break out onto the surface along the fractures. During an initial explosive phase an explosive funnel (Sprengtrichter) formed which filled with loose volcanic material. This was followed, during a second phase, by more magma rising to the surface in a less active and effusive (non-explosive) form, so that, in the pipe of the volcano, dark, vertical or inclined basalt columns were formed. These rock deposits may be clearly seen today on the site of an old Hartstein quarry.

Woodland is the dominant landscape element of the Palatine Forest as its name suggests, making up 82 percent of its total area and as much as 90 percent in the central region.^[34][35]

At the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, the region of the Palatine Forest was covered with tundra-like vegetation, amongst which, initially, undemanding tree species such as pine and birch were able to spread as the climate gradually warmed up (the "pine-birch" period). As climatic conditions improved these species were followed by hazel, oak and lime (the "hazel and oak period"). From the 3rd millennium a more Atlantic-influenced climate evolved, which was cooler and wetter, so that now beech characterised the forest scenery. The oak and beech mixed woods, typical of the current period, emerged, the pines being forced back into those areas that were either less favourable, very wet or very dry places, but remained part of the natural woodland.^[36]

This ecological balance was permanently destroyed, however, by the colonization and clearing of woodland that took place during the Middle Ages. Clearance by burning, the use of land for the production of straw and the unrestricted exploitation of the forest for raw materials and fuel led, little by little, to the devastation of wide areas of woodland, something that reached its peak in the 17th and 18th centuries (see

Current situation

Predominant tree species by percentage	1959	2008	Trend
Pine	44	34	−
Beech	28	35	+
Spruce	11	9	−
Oak	7	9	+
Larch	4	3	−
Douglas fir	2	6	+
Sweet chestnut	1	1	=
Silver fir	1	1	=

The beech is not only the most abundant tree species in the Palatinate Forest historically, but also today, with a current share of 35 percent. With the exception of the eastern mountain edge (the

]

In addition to beech, the oak is another characteristic tree of the Palatinate Forest, albeit botanically speaking they are mainly

]

Despite the decline in its share of the total tree population from 44 to 34 percent in 2008, the

]

The

]

By contrast, spruce, Douglas fir, larch, and Weymouth pine are not native to the forested mountain range. Spruce prefer cool, shady locations and are therefore often found in valleys, hollows and on the lower slopes of hills, while the Douglas fir is found in widely differing locations due to its high adaptability. The sweet chestnut was not originally an indigenous tree species, but was naturalized by the Romans in the area of the present-day Palatinate. Since it prefers a mild climate (see temperature) like the grape vine it is found on the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest, the Haardt, in pure or nearly monocultures and represents about 4 percent of the forest area there.^{[citation needed]}

Orange peel fungus

in a clearing in the Palatine Forest

In the species-poor oak, beech and pine woods the ground flora mainly consists of acid-soil loving (

Fauna

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The large mixed forests of the mountain range with their various

are also found in the Palatinate Forest.

This is also true for a number of rare

chaffinch

, which overwinter here and occupy the woods in large flocks. They used to be hunted with blowpipes at night during the so-called Böhämmer Hunt (Böhämmer-Jagd), until this sport was ended by the 1936 Conservation Act.

The forest is home to a sizeable population of

may often be seen in the sands of the bunter sandstone (Rehberg beds). Their larvae build funnel traps in the sand and feed on ants and other animals that fall into it using their pincer-like mandibles.

Thanks to the sparse population of the forest and the filter action of bunter sandstone, many springs and streams in the hills have retained their natural water quality, so that they remain healthy habitats for many species of

Sights

Although the Palatinate Forest is still sparsely populated and has many unspoilt regions, it still has a rich, regional, historical and cultural heritage, that is reflected in a great number of sights of which only a small selection can be covered here.

Castles

The Palatinate Forest has a large number of castles and stately houses.

arose. Today it is where replicas of the can be viewed, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Palatinate.

On the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest, in the borough of Neustadt an der Weinstraße above the village of the same, is Hambach Castle, which was the scene of the Hambach Festival in 1832 and has since been seen as a symbol of democracy. Several kilometres further south, near Edenkoben, is the Villa Ludwigshöhe, built in the mid-19th century and used as a summer residence of the Bavarian king Ludwig I.

.

The lords of the

.

One unusual group of castles are the castles of Dahn near the eponymous town. This group comprises the castles of Altdahn, Grafendahn and Tanstein, which were built at different times, but erected immediately one after another on a rocky ridge.

The castle information centre at Lemberg Castle not only informs visitors about the multi-faceted, detail of the history, architecture and life in a medieval castle, but also gives a comprehensive overview of the other rock castles in the present-day border region with France.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Karlstal valley, through which run the upper reaches of the Moosalb river near the town of Trippstadt, stands out as a result of its natural, virgin scenery. The Trippstadt village of Johanniskreuz is the centre point of the Palatine Forest and used to be a spa. The 200‑ to 300‑year‑old oak and beech mixed woods, which surround the little hamlet and give it an autochthonous character, are renowned (see Flora). They have long been managed sustainably, following sustainability principles and are especially well known for their valuable stands of furniture-quality oak. It is therefore not surprising that the House of Sustainability was established in Johanniskreuz in 2005 (viz. Information centres/Museums)

Other ancient forest-like cells of natural woodland may be found in the source region of the (Wies)-

.

Characteristic of the highly diverse landscape of the southern Palatinate Forest are over 200 rock formations of all shapes and sizes

, which nest in the rocks and are under strict conservation measures (including access restrictions for climbers and walkers).

Well-known rock formations in the

on the Brechenberg near Eppenbrunn in the southwestern corner of the Palatine Forest near the Franco-German border. This is a roughly two kilometre long rock terrace, the largest of its kind in the forest and on which there is clear evidence of the erosion and weathering processes typical of bunter sandstone (e. g. honeycomb weathering).

In order to open up this rock landscape to walkers, in recent years a range of

, certain rock terraces may also be reached on foot (e. g. the Buhlsteine, Heidenpfeiler and Rötzenstein) or with the aid of ladders provided care is taken (e. g. the Hühnerstein near Hauenstein).

Information centres and museums

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Information centres

The biosphere reserve has three information centres with different emphases, in which the visitor can learn about the geology, climate, fauna and flora, history and culture of the bunter sandstone mountains with the aid of exhibitions as well as events of all kinds. Ecological considerations are given primacy. On the German side, these include the

, and water and biosphere experience walks. In ), in which the visitor can learn, in ways similar to those at the German centres, about the natural world of the Vosges sandstone mountains; in addition, there is also an emphasis on the social and cultural aspects of the region.

Only a small selection can be mentioned here of the many museums with a direct link to the Palatine Forest that may be found in the Palatinate alone (see detailed coverage by the Rhineland-Palatinate Museum Association, Museumsverband Rheinland-Pfalz).^[42]

The

in a comprehensive permanent exhibition with vivid displays of the particular features of these bunter sandstone mountains.

The

Salian Empire

), the wine museum with its cultural history of wine and the family-friendly, hands-on exhibition of Drachenfels Castle, in which life on a medieval rock fortress in Wasgau can be relived.

The Dynamikum in Pirmasens is the first science museum or science centre in Rhineland-Palatinate. In April 2008, an interactive museum was founded in the building of the old Rheinberger shoe factory. Under the theme of "movement", 150 interactive experimental stations demonstrate fundamental physical, mathematical and biological laws. The museum is particularly aimed at younger visitors to help make them aware of scientific principles.

The Max Slevogt Art Gallery in Villa Ludwigshöhe contains, inter alia, paintings by Impressionist masters that reflect the rich colours of the southern Palatinate countryside, which may be experienced, for example, at Slevogthof Neukastel above Leinsweiler. A particularly good overview of the rocks and rock castles of Palatine and Alsace Wasgau is conveyed by the "impressions" of artist, Emil Knöringer, who seeks to emphasise the richness of the red sandstone landscapes through the medium of art.^[43]

Examples of industrial heritage include the

in Neustadt which has numerous exhibits.

The German Shoe Museum in Hauenstein documents the manufacture of shoes, in earlier times a very common activity in the Pirmasens area, and set it within the larger industrial and socio-historical context. In the building of a former shoe factory, old shoe-making machinery and other manufacturing technology may be viewed and the changes in shoe production experienced vividly (see the history of settlement)

Interesting insights into the sorts of old trades and crafts that used to be found in the Palatinate Forest, are provided by several museums, including the

; this uses a variety of exhibits to illustrate the industrial and social development that has taken over the past few centuries in the Ramberg valley.

In the ore mine of St. Anne's Gallery in Nothweiler visitors can join a guided tour of important mining activities and so witness the extremely tough working conditions of past centuries. This insight may then be enhanced in the Information Centre of the visitor mine.

Over 400 wild animals of 15 European species may be found on the extensive terrain of the Südliche Weinstraße Wildlife Park, and there are also various children-oriented activities. A comparable attraction is the Kurpfalz Park near Wachenheim in the northern Palatine Forest.

The

and which is planned to re-open are two aerial cableways on the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest.

The Palatinate Forest is an attractive region for

.

In 2005, the

, was developed in the centre of the region.

Climbers appreciate the red sandstone rocks in the Dahner Felsenland.

Since the beginning of the last century, the Palatine Forest has developed into a very popular walking region, thanks to its natural landscape attractions, its cultural heritage and good infrastructure, primarily created by the Palatine Forest Club. It offers over 100 managed walking huts and similar facilities^[44][45] run by volunteers of the Palatine Forest Club^[46] and the Friends of Nature. The walking support centres are often only accessible on foot and mainly open at weekends.

The mountain range is criss-crossed by a dense network of signed trails,^[47] over 12,000 kilometres in overall length, most of which were established by volunteers of the Palatine Forest Club, who continue to maintain them. These include several important international and national long-distance paths that link the forest to the European and national networks of long-distance trails.

Well known examples include the Palatine St. James Way (waymark: scallop on blue field), the Pirmasens – Belfort long-distance path (waymark: yellow bar) or the Franconia-Hesse-Palatinate (Franken – Hessen – Kurpfalz) long-distance path (waymark: red cross). These main walking routes are complemented by a multitude of regional footpaths of varying length (both linear and circular trails), which include themed walks (e. g. forest educational trails), rock trails (e. g. the Rodalber Felsenweg), river and lakeside trails (e. g. the Brunnenweg near Heltersberg etc.) and the so-called "premium" or "predicate" trails initiated by the Palatine Tourist Board (e. g. Pfälzer Waldsteig or Felsenland Sagenweg etc.). Cross-border hikes are also easily possible in the bunter sandstone hills, because the Palatine Forest Club and its French counterpart the Vosges Club (French: Club Vosgien) have developed almost identical waymarking systems since their foundation over 100 years (e. g. dots, bars, crosses and diamonds of different colours) and in the border region have developed a dense common network of footpaths. In doing so, both clubs have been careful to ensure that, where possible, the routes do not follow "forest motorways" but use narrow footpaths and mountain paths.

Thanks to its rich tapestry of countryside the Palatine Forest has a large number of very varied viewing points:

In the northeastern part of the range the following destinations are worth mentioning: the Eckkopf Tower (near Deidesheim), Bismarck Tower (near Bad Dürkheim) and the observation tower on the Weinbiet. The visitor has a good all-round view, especially to the north and east that reaches as far as the Odenwald. In the central and southern part of the range, examples of good viewing towers include the Schänzel on the Steigerkopf, the Rehberg and its tower near Annweiler and the Stäffelsberg Tower near Dörrenbach. The summit pyramid of the Rehberg is especially well known for its panoramic views (see the image in the section above). Representative of the central Palatine Forest are the tower on the Schindhübel near Iggelbach, the one on the Eschkopf and especially the Luitpold Tower near Hermersbergerhof, which offers the most extensive panoramic view of the Palatine Forest by far. According to precise geometric research by Lang^[48] over 350 hill and mountain tops may be seen from this point.

The best known rock formations are the

. On the Kirschfelsen ("Cherry Rock", near Annweiler Forsthaus) seating has been installed from which the visitor can enjoy a "natural opera" as if in an open-air theatre. The Buhlsteine rocks near Busenberg have an alpine feel, as does the Hühnerstein near Hauenstein, which has been made accessible with ladders and railings and may be climbed with appropriate care.

Castles

Whilst the Rietburg above Rhodt offers an "observation platform" over the Rhine plain, the rock castles of the Wasgau, e. g. the castle trinity of Trifels, Anebos and Scharfenberg near Annweiler and Lindelbrunn near Vorderweidenthal, enable the variety of the Palatine bunter sandstone hills to be experienced. A 360° panorama of the German and French Wasgau is offered by the Wegelnburg, the highest castle ruins in the Palatinate, near Schönau, and from Gräfenstein Castle near Merzalben the visitor has a good view of the core zone of the biosphere reserve in the western Palatine Forest (see the Castles section).

• Südliche Weinstraße Wildlife Park

External links

• Biosphere Reserve Palatinate Forest - Vosges du Nord

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palatinate Forest.

49°17′33″N 7°52′36″E / 49.29250°N 7.87667°E / 49.29250; 7.87667