Kellerwald-Edersee National Park
Kellerwald-Edersee is a national park located in the north of the Kellerwald mountains in an area of 57.4 km2. In 2011, the beech forest was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List "Beech forests of the Carpathians and ancient beech forests of Germany."
History of the Kellerwald-Edersee
Previously, the lands of Kellerwald-Edersee were the hunting grounds of Prince Waldeck. In 1897, the adjacent forest was surrounded by a fence. In 1935 the fenced area increased to 47.46 km2 and in 1963 the area was declared an official Hessian state game reserve and “protected natural area”. In 1990, a forest and landscape protected zone appeared. In 1991, the Kellerwald National Park movement proposed the concept of a national park within the protected forest area and part of the area south of Kellerwald. In 1998, the protected nature area "Gatter Edersee" and the surrounding areas were declared an area under the influence of the Council Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora of the European Union.
The main goal of creating the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park is to protect the Beech Forest, unique in Western Europe in its volume and unaltered by man. According to the slogan “let nature be nature,” the natural conditions of the wild must survive here. Regulation of the population of wild animals is carried out in accordance with natural needs. In accordance with the medium-term development plan for the national park, the fence must be removed.
Flora and fauna of the park
The park has many rush and beech trees growing in acidic soil. Bedstraw and pearl barley beech forests are found in fertile soil. In addition, you can find oak forests, oak and hornbeam forests, as well as forests of cordate linden and large-leaved linden growing on screes and slopes. The rocky slopes near the Ederzee contain numerous petrophilic flora with the very rare Dianthus Grenoble.
There are 200 hectares between the forests with abandoned pastures and forest meadows along the streams. Mountain arnica, grass carnation, forest mytnik, kolniki and orchis grass grow here. In total, the park is home to over 500 fern and flowering plants. In addition, 326 species of mushrooms with large fruiting bodies are known, and 270 varieties of ferns grow in the park.
Among the animals you can often see red deer, European roe deer, and wild boars. In 1934, the striped raccoon was brought here, and in 1935, mouflons and fallow deer were introduced into these areas. In addition to them, 44 species of mammals live here, such as foxes, badgers, pine and stone martens, common ferrets, stoats, weasels, brown hares, and hedgehogs. In 2007, a forest cat was discovered, which was previously considered extinct. There are also 75 species of birds. The very rare black stork nests in the Kellerwald-Edersee, the eagle owl lives on the rock, and other species of owls are also found: tawny owls, long-eared owls, great-footed and pygmy owls.
Kellerwald-Edersee has many hiking trails. Among them are the nodes of the Kellerwald Trail (156 km long), which connects the mountain peaks and the territory of the Kellerwald-Edersee National and Nature Park with each other in a ring. Also in 2005, the 68 km Edersee Forest Trail was introduced, running around the Edersee through beech forest on the north bank and through the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park on the south bank. In the park you can find small villages with a distinct national flavor. The Kellerwald-Edersee park attracts travelers - various excursions are offered for them. The most famous route is "Waldeck Castle". Sightseeing routes along rocky slopes, cycling, trips to the Cistercian monastery of Haina are also very interesting for travelers.
