Naturpark-Blick bei Osterode am Harz
Naturpark-Blick bei Osterode am Harz

The Nature Park Harz

 

The most northern low mountain range of Germany is for a long time one of the most popular travel regions and shows between the summit positions of the Brockenplateau (1.141 m above sea level) and the hill chains of the foothills a regional variety as it is hardly to be found somewhere else on relatively narrow space.
Foliage, mixted and coniferous forest, deep valleys, wild rivers and mountain grasslands create unique experiences close to nature. Nearly untested natural landscapes and reports of a long settlement history lie close together. The Nature Park is one of the richest regions in Germany concerning the flora what is to be let back beside the different height positions (from the plain tract in the foreland up to the tree border of the Upper Harz) in particular on different climatic influences (Atlantic in the west and continental in the east). Accordingly the animal world shows a high richness in species. Typical representatives are the wildcat, fire salamander, dipper, mountain stift or the "Logo-bird" of the Nature Park: the owl.

The primary goal of the Regionalverband Harz is the development of an integrative Nature Park in the Harz in the federal states Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Actually there are still the following four Nature Parks:

 

Nature Park Founding year Federal state Size in sq. km.
Nature Park Harz 1960 Lower Saxony 800
Nature Park Harz/Saxony-Anhalt 2003 Saxony-Anhalt 1.660
Nature Park Südharz 2010 Thuringia 267
Nature Park Harz/Saxony-Anhalt (Mansfelder Land) 2012 Saxony-Anhalt 256