1.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
2.
National park
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A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
3.
Lower Saxony
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Lower Saxony is a German state situated in northwestern Germany and is second in area, with 47,624 square kilometres, and fourth in population among the sixteen Länder of Germany. In rural areas Northern Low Saxon, a dialect of Low German, and Saterland Frisian, a variety of Frisian, are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining. Lower Saxony borders on the North Sea, the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Netherlands. Furthermore, the state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen, the other, its city of Bremerhaven. In fact, Lower Saxony borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland, the states principal cities include the state capital Hanover, Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Hildesheim, Wolfenbüttel, Wolfsburg and Göttingen. The northwestern area of Lower Saxony, which lies on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia, in the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland, a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plains, is almost invariably flat except for the hills around the Bremen geestland. Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Uplands, the Weser Uplands, between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills, a range of low ridges. Thus, Lower Saxony is the only Bundesland that encompasses both maritime and mountainous areas, Lower Saxonys major cities and economic centres are mainly situated in its central and southern parts, namely Hanover, Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, Hildesheim and Göttingen. Oldenburg, near the coastline, is another economic centre. To the north, the Elbe river separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the banks just south of the Elbe are known as Altes Land. Due to its local climate and fertile soil, it is the states largest area of fruit farming. Most of the territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover with several states in 1946. Lower Saxony has a boundary in the north in the North Sea. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a body for the enclave area. To the southeast the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands, in northeast Lower Saxony is Lüneburg Heath
4.
Saxony-Anhalt
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Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked federal state of Germany surrounded by the federal states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. Its capital is Magdeburg and its largest city is Halle, Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of 20,447.7 square kilometres and has a population of 2.34 million. Saxony-Anhalt should not be confused with Saxony or Lower Saxony, also German states, Saxony-Anhalt is one of 16 Bundesländer of Germany. It is located in the part of eastern Germany. By size, it is the 8th largest state in Germany and it borders four fellow Bundesländer, Lower Saxony to the north-west, Brandenburg to the north-east, Saxony to the south-east, and Thuringia to the south-west. In the north, the Saxony-Anhalt landscape is dominated by plain, the old Hanseatic towns Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Stendal, and Tangermünde are located in the sparsely populated Altmark. The Colbitz-Letzlingen Heath and the Drömling near Wolfsburg mark the transition between the Altmark region and the Elbe-Börde-Heath region with its fertile, sparsely wooded Magdeburg Börde. Notable towns in the Magdeburg Börde are Haldensleben, Oschersleben, Wanzleben, Schönebeck, Aschersleben, the Harz mountains are located in the south-west, comprising the Harz National Park, the Harz Foreland and Mansfeld Land. The highest mountain of the Harz is Brocken, with an elevation of 1,141 meters, in this area, one can find the towns of Halberstadt, Wernigerode, Thale, Eisleben and Quedlinburg. The wine-growing area Saale-Unstrut and the towns of Zeitz, Naumburg, Weißenfels, the metropolitan area of Halle forms an agglomeration with Leipzig in Saxony. This area is known for its highly developed industry, with major production plants at Leuna, Schkopau. Finally, in the east, Dessau-Roßlau and Wittenberg are situated on the Elbe in the Anhalt-Wittenberg region, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt is Magdeburg. It is the second-largest city in the state, closely after Halle, from 1994 to 2003, the state was divided into three regions, Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg, and, below the regional level,21 districts. Since 2004, however, this system has replaced by 11 rural districts. In April 1945 the US Army took control of most of the western and northern area of the future Saxony-Anhalt, group Control Council, Germany appointed the first non-Nazi officials in leading positions in the area. So Erhard Hübener, furloughed by the Nazis, was reappointed Landeshauptmann. By early July the US Army withdrew from the former Prussian Province of Saxony to make way for the Red Army to take it as part of the Soviet occupation zone, the previously Saxon Erfurt governorate had become a part of Thuringia. For the earlier history see the articles of these entities before 1945
5.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Nature reserve
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Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws, early reservations often had a religious underpinning, such as the evil forest areas of West Africa which were forbidden to humans, who were threatened with spiritual attack if they went there. Sacred areas taboo from human entry to fishing and hunting are known by ancient cultures worldwide. The worlds first modern nature reserve was established in 1821 by the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton around his estate in Walton Hall and he spent £9000 on the construction of a 3 mile long,9 ft tall wall to enclose his park from poachers. He tried to encourage birdlife by planting trees and hollowing out trunks for owls to nest in and he also invented artificial nest boxes to house starlings, jackdaws and sand martins and unsuccessfully attempted to introduce little owls from Italy. Drachenfels was protected as the first state-designated nature reserve in modern-day Germany, in Australia, a nature reserve is the title of a type of protected area used in the jurisdictions of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. The term “nature reserve” is defined in the relevant statutes used in those states and territories rather than by a national statute. As of 2014,1767 out of a total of 10339 protected areas listed within the Australian National Reserve System used the term “nature reserve in their names, in Brazil, nature reserves are classified as ecological stations or biological reserves by the National System of Conservation Units. Their main objectives are preserving fauna and flora and other natural attributes, visits are allowed only with permission, and only for educational or scientific purposes. Changes to the ecosystems in both types of reserve are allowed to restore and preserve the balance, biological diversity. Ecological stations are allowed to change the environment within strictly defined limits for the purpose of scientific research. A wildlife reserve in Brazil is also protected, and hunting is not allowed, there are 30 nature reserves in Egypt which cover 12% of Egyptian land. Those nature reserves were built according to the laws no, 102/1983 and 4/1994 for protection of the Egyptian nature reserve. Egypt announced a plan from to build 40 nature reserves from 1997 to 2017, to protect the natural resources. The largest nature reserve in Egypt is Gebel Elba in the southeast, denmark has three national parks and several nature reserves, some of them inside the national park areas. The largest single reserve is Hanstholm Nature Reserve, which covers 40 km2 and is part of Thy National Park, in Sweden there are 29 national parks. The first of them were established in 1909, in fact, Sweden was the first European country that established 9 national parks. There are almost 4,000 nature reserves in Sweden and they comprise about 85% of the surface that is protected by the Swedish Enironmental Code
8.
Harz
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The Harz is a Mittelgebirge that has the highest elevations in Northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart, the Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz with an elevation of 1,141.1 metres above sea level. The Wurmberg is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony, the Harz has a length of 110 kilometres, stretching from the town of Seesen in the northwest to Eisleben in the east, and a width of 35 kilometres. The following districts fall wholly or partly within the Harz, Goslar and Osterode am Harz in the west, Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz in the north and east, and Nordhausen in the south. The districts of the Upper Harz are Goslar and Osterode, whilst the Lower Harz is on the territory of Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz districts. The Upper Harz is generally higher and features fir forests, whilst the Lower Harz gradually descends into the area and has deciduous forests interspersed with meadows. The dividing line between Upper and Lower Harz follows approximately a line from Ilsenburg to Bad Lauterberg, which separates the catchment areas for the Weser. Only on the perimeter of the Upper Harz, which is also called the High Harz. Its highest peak is the Brocken, its peaks are the Heinrichshöhe to the southeast. Other prominent hills in the Harz are the Acker-Bruchberg ridge, the Achtermannshöhe, in the far east, the mountains merge into the East Harz foothills, which are dominated by the Selke Valley. Part of the south Harz lies in the Thuringian district of Nordhausen, the Harz National Park is located in the Harz, the protected area covers the Brocken and surrounding wilderness area. Approximately 600,000 people live in towns and villages of the Harz Mountains, because of the heavy rainfall in the region the rivers of the Harz Mountains were dammed from an early date. Examples of such dams are the two largest, the Oker Dam and the Rappbode Dam. The clear, cool water of the streams was also dammed by early mountain folk to form the various mountain ponds of the Upper Harz waterways. The 17 dams in the Harz block a total of twelve rivers, because the Harz is one of the regions of Germany that experiences the most rainfall, its water power was used from early times. Today the dams are used to generate electricity, to provide drinking water, to prevent flooding. Modern dam-building began in the Harz with the construction of the Söse Valley Dam, the dams of the Upper Harz lakes are some of the oldest dams in Germany that are still in operation. → See List of dams in the Harz The largest rivers in the Harz are the Innerste, the Oker and the Bode in the north, the Wipper in the east, the Innerste merges into the Leine and its tributaries are the Nette and the Grane
9.
Herzberg am Harz
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Herzberg am Harz is a town in the Göttingen district of Lower Saxony, Germany. Herzberg is situated on the rim of the Harz mountain range. Natural monuments in the area include the Unicorn Cave, the Karst Trail. The town centre is located on the Sieber river, about 32 km northeast of Göttingen and 90 km southeast of the state capital Hanover, the municipal area comprises the villages of Lonau, Pöhlde, Scharzfeld, and Sieber. Herzberg Castle in the Duchy of Saxony was first mentioned in a 1143 deed, a hunting lodge at the site was already erected from 1024 to 1029 by King Lothair II. It was seized by the Saxon Welf dynasty in 1144 and in 1158 became a property of Duke Henry the Lion with consent of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The castle was part of the Grubenhagen estates of the Welf duke Henry I of Brunswick he received in 1291, a settlement below the castle was first documented in 1337. The Brunswick rulers of the Grubenhagen principality resided here from 1486 until the line became extinct in 1596, Herzberg first developed as a centre of cloth and linen manufacturing. In the 18th and 19th century important industries included brewing, the founding and turning of metal, agricultural machinery, Herzberg received town privileges in 1929, when it was part of the Prussian Province of Hanover. Herzberg is the location of a club that promotes the international auxiliary language Esperanto, in 2006, the city council decided to advertise Herzberg as Esperanto-Stadt
10.
Bad Lauterberg
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Bad Lauterberg is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx,15 km southwest of Braunlage, and 20 km southeast of Osterode am Harz. Bad Lauterberg is known inter alia for the liqueurs, Schierker Feuerstein and Harzer Grubenlicht, bad Lauterberg was the birthplace of the Polar explorer Alfred Ritscher
11.
Bad Harzburg
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Bad Harzburg is a town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa. Bad Harzburg is situated at the foot of the Harz mountain range on the edge of the Harz National Park. To the east of the borough is the boundary between the states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the former Inner German Border, the small Radau river, a tributary to the Oker, has its source in the Harz mountains and flows through the town. Nearby are the towns of Goslar to the west, Vienenburg to the north, Braunlage to the south and Ilsenburg and Osterwieck in the east. According to legend, about 780 AD the Emperor Charlemagne, after the conquest of the area in the course of the Saxon Wars, had a built on the Burgberg a hill overlooking the town. It may have stood on the site of a sacred grove dedicated to a Saxon god named Krodo, whose statue Charlemagne had overthrown. King Conrad I of Germany is believed to have established a college of canons here in 916, king Henry III had it transferred to his Kaiserpfalz in Goslar in 1039. Henry managed to escape from the castle, which after the Peace of Gerstungen was badly damaged by its attackers, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had it rebuilt after he had defeated his rival, the Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1180. Henrys son Otto IV, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1209, archaeological findings of a first, later abandoned, settlement beneath the castle called Schulenrode date back to the 10th century. Another locality nearby named Hartesborch was first mentioned in a 1314 deed by the Benedictine abbey of Ilsenburg, the present-day town itself, then called Neustadt, was first documented in 1338. About 1569, Duke Julius of Brunswick promoted the development of a water well to extract salt. The well was called Juliushall and since 1852 the brine has been used for saline baths as well as other medical purposes, in 1892 the townspeople changed the towns name from Neustadt to Harzburg. It was given the title Bad, received privileges in 1894 and has since become an important spa town. The election results for the Nazi Party in the Bad Harzburg district had been below-average so far, during World War II, military hospitals were established in several hotels. The town surrendered without a fight to the 83rd US Infantry Division on 11 April 1945, after the war, Bad Harzburg with the lands of Brunswick belonged to the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany and from 1949 was part of West Germany. Before reunification, its station was the eastern terminus of a major railway route just west of the Inner German border. The Harzburg castle was slighted in 1650 by order of Duke Augustus the Younger
12.
Ilsenburg
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Ilsenburg is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. It received town privileges in 1959, owing to its surrounding of forests and mountains as well as its position on the edge of the Harz National Park, Ilsenburg is a popular tourist resort. The old castle, Schloss Ilsenburg, lying on a crag above the town, was originally an imperial stronghold. In 995 Emperor Otto III resided in Elysynaburg, which Henry II bestowed in 1003 upon the Bishop of Halberstadt, the school attached to it enjoyed a great reputation towards the end of the 11th century. The abbey was devastated during the German Peasants War in 1525. After the Reformation the castle passed to the counts of Wernigerode, around this rock cluster numerous legends. At the Ilsenburg train station rail transport is available to Vienenburg and Hanover as well as to Halle and Berlin by Regional-Express trains of the Deutsche Bahn and trains of Veolia. Bad Harzburg, Germany This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
13.
Picea abies
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Picea abies, the Norway spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce and it is very closely related to the Siberian spruce, which replaces it east of the Ural Mountains, and with which it hybridises freely. The Norway spruce is widely planted for its wood, and is the used as the main Christmas tree in several cities around the world. It was the first gymnosperm to have its genome sequenced, Norway spruce is a large, fast-growing evergreen coniferous tree growing 35–55 m tall and with a trunk diameter of 1 to 1.5 m. It can grow fast when young, up to 1 m per year for the first 25 years under good conditions, the shoots are orange-brown and glabrous. The leaves are needle-like with blunt tips, 12–24 mm long, quadrangular in cross-section, the seed cones are 9–17 cm long, and have bluntly to sharply triangular-pointed scale tips. They are green or reddish, maturing brown 5–7 months after pollination, the seeds are black, 4–5 mm long, with a pale brown 15-millimetre wing. The tallest measured Norway spruce,62,26 m tall, grows near Ribnica na Pohorju, the northern limit is in the arctic, just north of 70° N in Norway. Its eastern limit in Russia is hard to define, due to extensive hybridisation and intergradation with the Siberian spruce, however, trees showing some Siberian spruce characters extend as far west as much of northern Finland, with a few records in northeast Norway. The hybrid is known as Picea × fennica, and can be distinguished by a tendency towards having hairy shoots, Norway spruce cone scales are used as food by the caterpillars of the tortrix moth Cydia illutana, whereas Cydia duplicana feeds on the bark around injuries or canker. The Norway spruce is one of the most widely planted spruces and it is used as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. It is also planted for use as a Christmas tree. Every Christmas, the Norwegian capital city, Oslo, provides the cities of London, Edinburgh and Washington D. C. with a Norway spruce and this is mainly a sign of gratitude for the aid these countries gave during the Second World War. In North America, Norway spruce is widely planted, specifically in the northeastern, Pacific Coast and it is naturalised in some parts of North America. There are naturalised populations occurring from Connecticut to Michigan, and it is probable that they occur elsewhere, Norway spruces are more tolerant of hot, humid weather than many conifers which do not thrive except in cool-summer areas and they will grow up to USDA Growing Zone 8. The Norway spruce tolerates acidic soils well, but does not do well on dry or deficient soils, from 1928 until the 1960s it was planted on surface mine spoils in Indiana. The Norway spruce is used in forestry for timber and paper production, the tree is the source of spruce beer, which was once used to prevent and even cure scurvy. This high vitamin C content can be consumed as a tea from the tips or even eaten straight from the tree when light green
14.
Fagus sylvatica
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Fagus sylvatica, the European beech or common beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Fagus sylvatica is a tree, capable of reaching heights of up to 50 m tall and 3 m trunk diameter, though more typically 25–35 m tall. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 4 m tall and it has a typical lifespan of 150–200 years, though sometimes up to 300 years. In cultivated forest stands trees are harvested at 80–120 years of age. 30 years are needed to attain full maturity, like most trees, its form depends on the location, in forest areas, F. sylvatica grows to over 30 m, with branches being high up on the trunk. In open locations, it will become shorter and more massive. The leaves are alternate, simple, and entire or with a crenate margin, 5–10 cm long and 3–7 cm broad. When crenate, there is one point at each vein tip, the buds are long and slender, 15–30 mm long and 2–3 mm thick, but thicker where the buds include flower buds. The leaves of beech are often not abscissed in the autumn and this particularly occurs when trees are saplings or when plants are clipped as a hedge, but it also often continues to occur on the lower branches when the tree is mature. Small quantities of seeds may be produced around 10 years of age, F. sylvatica male flowers are borne in the small catkins which are a hallmark of the Fagales order. Flower and seed production is abundant in years following a hot, sunny and dry summer. In the Balkans, it shows some hybridisation with oriental beech, in the southern part of its range around the Mediterranean, it grows only in mountain forests, at 600–1,800 m altitude. Although often regarded as native in southern England, recent evidence suggests that F, the beech is classified as a native in the south of England and as a non-native in the north where it is often removed from native woods. Localised pollen records have recorded in the North of England from the Iron Age by Sir Harry Godwin. It is often planted in Britain, similarly, the nature of Norwegian beech populations is subject to debate. If native, they would represent the range of the species. However, molecular analyses support the hypothesis that these populations represent intentional introduction from Denmark before. However, the beech in Vestfold and at Seim north of Bergen in Norway is now spreading naturally, though not demanding of its soil type, the European beech has several significant requirements, a humid atmosphere and well-drained soil
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Bog
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A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg and they are frequently covered in ericaceous shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink, Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. In some cases, the water is derived entirely from precipitation, water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. In general, the low fertility and cool climate results in relatively slow plant growth, large areas of landscape can be covered many metres deep in peat. Bogs have distinctive assemblages of animal, fungal and plant species, Bogs are widely distributed in cold, temperate climes, mostly in boreal ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere. The worlds largest wetland is the bogs of the Western Siberian Lowlands in Russia. Large peat bogs also occur in North America, particularly the Hudson Bay Lowland and they are less common in the Southern Hemisphere, with the largest being the Magellanic moorland, comprising some 44,000 square kilometres. Sphagnum bogs were widespread in northern Europe but have often been cleared and drained for agriculture, a 2014 expedition leaving from Itanga village, Republic of the Congo discovered a peat bog as big as England which stretches into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. There are many highly specialised animals, fungi and plants associated with bog habitat, most are capable of tolerating the combination of low nutrient levels and waterlogging. Sphagnum moss is generally abundant, along with ericaceous shrubs, the shrubs are often evergreen, which is understood to assist in conservation of nutrients. In drier locations, evergreen trees can occur, in case the bog blends into the surrounding expanses of boreal evergreen forest. Sedges are one of the more common herbaceous species, carnivorous plants such as sundews and pitcher plants have adapted to the low-nutrient conditions by using invertebrates as a nutrient source. Orchids have adapted to these conditions through the use of fungi to extract nutrients. Some shrubs such as Myrica gale have root nodules in which nitrogen fixation occurs, Bogs are recognized as a significant/specific habitat type by a number of governmental and conservation agencies. They can provide habitat for mammals, such as caribou, moose, the United Kingdom in its Biodiversity Action Plan establishes bog habitats as a priority for conservation. Russia has a reserve system in the West Siberian Lowland
16.
Granite
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Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be white, pink, or gray in color. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is a rock with at least 20% quartz. The term granitic means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks, petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite, Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history, and more recently as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3–6 •1019 Pa·s. The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C, it is reduced in the presence of water. Granite has poor primary permeability, but strong secondary permeability, true granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite, when a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite, pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite, two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age, it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs, granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as small, less than 100 km² stock masses
17.
Natura 2000
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Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated respectively under the Habitats Directive, the network includes both terrestrial and marine sites. In May 1992, the governments of the European Communities adopted legislation designed to protect the most seriously threatened habitats, the Habitats Directive complements the Birds Directive adopted earlier in 1979 and together they make up the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. The Birds Directive requires the establishment of Special Protection Areas for birds, together, SPAs and SACs form the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. Natura 2000 is also a key contribution to the Program of Work of Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity, as prerequisite for becoming EU Member, accession states have to submit proposals for Natura 2000 sites meeting the same criteria as EU Member States. Some new member states have large areas which qualify to be protected under the directives, the Natura 2000 sites are selected by Member States and the European Commission following strictly scientific criteria according to the two directives mentioned above. The Habitats Directive divides the EU territory into nine biogeographic regions each with its own ecological coherence, each Natura 2000 site has a unique identification form called Standard Data Form. This form is used as a reference when assessing the management of the species. The Natura 2000 Viewer is a tool to explore the network, Natura 2000 protects around 18 percent of land in the EU countries, and is considered almost complete in the EU terrestrial environment. The process of designation has not always smooth as the infringement procedures against Member States show. While designation of sites may be complete, the management and enforcement of protection on sites is less advanced. Natura 2000 faced criticism from developers, farmers and politicians who fear that the conservation of habitats,251,564 km squared had been designated as Natura 2000 in the marine environment in 2013. The network in areas is not considered complete and acknowledged by the Commission as a “key challenge for EU biodiversity policy in the coming years”. Natura 2000 sites can vary considerably in character and they are not strictly protected in terms of how they are allowed to be used by people. Many sites are farmed, forested and some are even in urban areas, the European Commission developed guidelines on the relation between Natura 2000 and wild areas which are thought to make up around 13% of the network. This was in response to a report by Members of the European Parliament in 2009 which called for protection of Europes wilderness. The Natura 2000 network is not well known among European citizens, as part of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the European Commission committed to raise awareness about the network and biodiversity in general with the public. In order to raise awareness about the Natura 2000 network,21 May has been designated “Natura 2000 Day” and this precedes “International Day for Biological Diversity” on 22 May
18.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
19.
Inner German border
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The inner German border was the border between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1990. Not including the similar and physically separate Berlin Wall, the border was 1,393 kilometres long and it was formally established on 1 July 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet occupation zones of former Nazi Germany. It was patrolled by 50,000 armed East German guards who faced tens of thousands of West German, British and US guards, in the hinterlands behind the border were more than a million North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and Warsaw Pact troops. The border was a manifestation of Winston Churchills metaphorical Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet. It marked the boundary between two ideological systems – capitalism and communism and it caused widespread economic and social disruption on both sides, East Germans living in the region suffered especially draconian restrictions. The better-known Berlin Wall was a separate, less elaborate. On 9 November 1989, the East German government announced the opening of the Berlin Wall, over the following days, millions of East Germans poured into the West to visit. Little remains of the inner German borders fortifications and its route has been declared part of a European Green Belt linking national parks and nature reserves along the course of the old Iron Curtain from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea. Museums and memorials along the old border commemorate the division and reunification of Germany and, in some places, the inner German border originated from the Second World War Allies plans to divide a defeated Germany into occupation zones. The boundaries between these zones were drawn along the boundaries of 19th-century German states and provinces that had largely disappeared with the unification of Germany in 1871. Three zones were agreed on, each covering roughly a third of Germanys territories, a British zone in the north-west, an American zone in the south, france was later given a zone in the far west of Germany, carved out of the British and American zones. The division of Germany was put into effect on 1 July 1945, the redeployment of Western troops prompted many Germans to flee to the West to escape the Soviet takeover of the remainder of the Soviet zone. The wartime Allies initially worked together under the auspices of the Allied Control Council for Germany, cooperation between the Western Allies and the Soviets ultimately broke down because of disagreements over Germanys political and economic future. In May 1949, the three occupation zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany with a freely elected government. The Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic, under communist rule, from the outset, West Germany and the Allies rejected East Germanys legitimacy. The creation of East Germany was deemed a communist/Soviet fait accompli, West Germany regarded German citizenship and rights as applying equally to East and West German citizens. East Germans thus had an incentive to move to the West. In the early days of the occupation, the Allies controlled traffic between the zones to manage the flow of refugees and prevent the escape of former Nazi officials and intelligence officers
20.
Goslar (district)
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Goslar is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Göttingen, Northeim, Hildesheim and Wolfenbüttel, the city of Salzgitter, the history of the district is linked with the city of Goslar. The district of Goslar was established in the 19th century by the Prussian government, the city of Goslar did not belong to the district until 1972, when it was eventually incorporated into the district. The region comprises the part of the Harz mountains. The Harz National Park is part of this district, the highest peak is the Wurmberg near Braunlage, also being the highest elevation of Lower Saxony. Above the small town of Altenau there is the source of the Oker river, the eagle is the heraldic animal of the city of Goslar, while the lion symbolises the municipality of Schladen. Schladen is not part of the district, but the lords of Schladen ruled over parts of the district in the early Middle Ages. Road Several federal highways cross the district of Goslar. These include the B4, B6, B 6n, B82, B241, B242, the district roads are, Rail The territory of the present rural district was joined to the railway network via the Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway as early as 1840. In 1856 the Brunswick–Kreiensen railway via Seesen was built and, in 1866, in 1875 the Hildesheim–Goslar railway and the former Halberstadt–Vienenburg railway formed part of the link from Hanover via the North Harz to Halle. Later the lines from Seesen to Herzberg, Seesen to Goslar and Goslar to Bad Harzburg were added, the railway line via Clausthal-Zellerfeld to Altenau and the railway branches to Braunlage and St. Andreasberg have since been dismantled. Even the Derneburg–Seesen branch line is out of service, the former route from Halberstadt via Wasserleben, Vienenburg and Grauhof to Langelsheim served East-West through trains until 1945 but has also since disappeared. Scheduled buses Following the widespread closure of railways in the Harz the schedule bus services have gained great importance, media related to Landkreis Goslar at Wikimedia Commons Official website
21.
Dipper
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Dippers are members of the genus Cinclus in the bird family Cinclidae, named for their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater, dippers are small, chunky, stout, short-tailed, short-winged, strong-legged birds. The different species are dark brown, or brown and white in colour, apart from the rufous-throated dipper. Sizes range from 14–22 cm in length and 40–90 g in weight and their short wings give them a distinctive whirring flight. They have a characteristic bobbing motion when perched beside the water, while under water, they are covered by a thin, silvery film of air, due to small bubbles being trapped on the surface of the plumage. Dippers are found in freshwater habitats in the highlands of the Americas, Europe. In Africa they are found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. They inhabit the banks of fast-moving upland rivers with cold, clear waters, though, outside the season, they may visit lake shores. Unlike many water birds, dippers are generally similar in form to many terrestrial birds and their wings are relatively short but strongly muscled, enabling them to be used as flippers underwater. To reduce their buoyancy in water, the bones are solid instead of hollow and they have dense plumage with a large preen gland for waterproofing their feathers. Relatively long legs and sharp claws enable them to hold on to rocks in swift water and their eyes have well-developed focus muscles that can change the curvature of the lens to enhance underwater vision. They have nasal flaps to prevent water entering their nostrils, one small population wintering at a hot spring in Suntar-Khayata Mountains of Siberia feeds underwater when air temperatures drop below −55 °C. Dippers forage for small prey in and along the margins of fast-flowing freshwater streams. They perch on rocks and feed at the edge of the water and they then search underwater for prey between and beneath stones and debris, they can also swim with their wings. The two South American species swim and dive less often than the three northern ones and their prey consists primarily of invertebrates such as the nymphs or larvae of mayflies, blackflies, stoneflies and caddisflies, as well as small fish and fish eggs. Molluscs and crustaceans are consumed, especially in winter when insect larvae are less available. Linear breeding territories are established by pairs of dippers along suitable rivers, consequently, the length of a territory may vary from about 300 metres or 1,000 feet to over 2,500 metres or 8,200 feet. Dipper nests are large, round, domed structures made of moss, with an internal cup of grass and rootlets
22.
Black stork
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The black stork is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread, but uncommon, species that breeds in the parts of Europe, across temperate Asia. This is a shy and wary species, unlike the related white stork. It is seen in pairs or small flocks—in marshy areas, rivers or inland waters, the black stork feeds on amphibians and insects. The stork family contains several genera in three groups, the open-billed and wood storks, the giant storks, and the typical storks. The typical storks include the stork and six other extant species. Within the genus Ciconia, the black storks closest relatives are the other European species, the stork and its former subspecies. The black stork was found to be basal in analysis of cytochrome b DNA by Beth Slikas in 1997. Fossil remains have been recovered from Miocene beds Rusinga and Maboko Islands in Kenya, the black stork was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Ardea nigra. It was moved to the new genus Ciconia by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson two years later, both the genus and the specific names are Latin, Ciconia is stork and nigra is black. The word stork is derived from the Old English word storc, thought to be related to the Old High German storah, meaning stork, and the Old English stearc, meaning stiff. Slightly smaller than the white stork, the stork is a large bird,95 to 100 cm in length with a 145–155 cm wingspan. They can stand as tall as 102 cm, like all storks, it has long legs, a long neck, and a long, straight, pointed beak. The plumage is all black with a green sheen, except for the white lower breast, belly, axillaries. The breast feathers are long and shaggy forming a ruff which is used in courtship displays. The bare skin around its eyes is red, as are its red bill, the sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. The juvenile resembles the adult in plumage pattern, but the corresponding to the adult black feathers are browner. The scapulars, wing and upper tail coverts have pale tips, the legs, bill, and bare skin around the eyes are greyish green
23.
Peregrine falcon
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The peregrine falcon, also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a back, barred white underparts. As is typical of bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, the peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV programme, the highest measured speed of a falcon is 389 km/h. The peregrines breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics and this makes it the worlds most widespread raptor and one of the most widely found bird species. Both the English and scientific names of this species mean wandering falcon, the two species divergence is relatively recent, during the time of the last ice age, therefore the genetic differential between them is relatively small. It has been determined that they are only approximately 0. 6–0. 8% genetically differentiated, while its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles, or even insects. Reaching sexual maturity at one year, it mates for life and nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, the peregrine falcon became an endangered species in many areas because of the widespread use of certain pesticides, especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the early 1970s, populations have recovered, supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild. The peregrine falcon is a well respected falconry bird due to its hunting ability, high trainability, versatility. It is effective on most game species from small to large. The peregrine falcon has a length of 34 to 58 cm. Males weigh 330 to 1,000 g and the larger females weigh 700 to 1,500 g. In most subspecies, males less than 700 g and females weigh more than 800 g. The standard linear measurements of peregrines are, the wing chord measures 26.5 to 39 cm, the tail measures 13 to 19 cm and the tarsus measures 4.5 to 5.6 cm. The back and the long pointed wings of the adult are usually black to slate grey with indistinct darker barring. The white to rusty underparts are barred with thin bands of dark brown or black. The tail, coloured like the back but with thin clean bars, is long, narrow, and rounded at the end with a black tip and a white band at the very end
24.
European wildcat
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The European wildcat is a wildcat subspecies that inhabits forests of Western, Southern Central and Eastern Europe up to the Caucasus Mountains. It is absent in Scandinavia and has been extirpated in England, in France, European wildcats are predominantly nocturnal, but are also active in the daytime when undisturbed by human activities. The European wildcat is much bigger and stouter than the cat, has longer fur. It has a fur and a dark dorsal band. Males average a weight of 5 kg up to 8 kg and their weight fluctuates seasonally up to 2.5 kg. Large males in Spain reach 65 cm in length, with a 34.5 cm long tail, and weigh up to 7.5 kg. They also have a less diffuse stripe pattern, proportionally larger teeth, and feed more often on rabbits than the north of the Douro-Ebro. Since European wildcats and domestic cats interbreed, it is difficult to distinguish European wildcats, European wildcats live primarily in broad-leaved and mixed forests. They avoid intensively cultivated areas and settlements, the northernmost population lives in northern and eastern Scotland. There are two disconnected populations in France, the one in the Ardennes in the countrys north-east extends to Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium. The other in southern France may be connected via the Pyrenees to populations in Spain, in Germany, the Rhine is a major barrier between the population in Eifel and Hunsrück mountains west of the river and populations east of the river, where a six-lane highway hampers dispersal. The population in the Polish Carpathian Mountains extends to northern Slovakia, in Switzerland, wildcats are present in the Jura Mountains. Three fragmented populations in Italy comprise one in the central and southern part. The Sicilian population is the only Mediterranean insular population that has not been introduced, in European Pleistocene deposits, remains of small cats are not common, and indicate a close relationship to the European wildcat. In most European countries, European wildcats have become rare, although legally protected, they are still shot by people mistaking them for feral cats. In the Scottish Highlands, where approximately 400 were thought to remain in the wild in 2004, the greatest population of wildcats lives in Spain and Portugal but is threatened by interbreeding with feral cats and loss of habitat. In the 1990s, the easternmost population in Ukraine, Moldova, only small numbers occur in protected areas. In 2012, conservationists reported to have discovered an unknown population of Scottish wildcats in the Cairngorms National Park
25.
Eurasian lynx
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The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized cat native to Siberia, Central, East, and Southern Asia, North, Central and Eastern Europe. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it is widely distributed, Eurasian lynx have been re-introduced to several forested mountainous areas in Central and Southeastern Europe, these re-introduced subpopulations are small, less than 200 animals. The tail measures 11 to 24.5 cm in length, males usually weigh from 18 to 30 kg and females weigh 8 to 21 kg. Male lynxes from Siberia, where the species reaches the largest body size and it has powerful, relatively long legs, with large webbed and furred paws that act like snowshoes. It also possesses a short bobbed tail with a tip, black tufts of hair on its ears. During the summer, the Eurasian lynx has a short, reddish or brown coat. In winter, however, this is replaced by a thicker coat of silky fur that varies from silver-grey to greyish brown. The underparts of the animal, including the neck and chin, are white at all times of the year, the fur is almost always marked with black spots, although the number and pattern of these are highly variable. Some animals also possess dark stripes on the forehead and back. Although spots tend to be numerous in animals from southern populations. Eurasian lynx make a range of vocalizations, but are generally silent outside of the breeding season and they have been observed to mew, hiss, growl, and purr, and, like domestic cats, will chatter at prey that is just out of reach. Mating calls are louder, consisting of deep growls in the male. Eurasian lynx are secretive, and because the sounds make are very quiet and seldom heard. Remnants of prey or tracks on snow are usually observed long before the animal is seen, Lynx prey largely on small to fairly large sized mammals and birds. Although taking on larger prey presents a risk to the animal, the Eurasian lynx thus prefers fairly large ungulate prey, especially during winter when small prey is less abundant. They are the only Lynx species in which ungulates provide a portion of their diet in relation to lagomorphs or rodents. Where common, roe deer appear to be the prey species for the lynx. Even where roe deer are quite uncommon, the deer are still quantitatively the favored species, though in summer smaller prey
26.
Western capercaillie
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The western capercaillie, also known as the wood grouse, heather cock, or just capercaillie /ˌkæpərˈkeɪli/, is the largest member of the grouse family. The largest known specimen, recorded in captivity, had a weight of 7.2 kg, the species shows extreme sexual dimorphism, with the male twice the size of the female. Found across Eurasia, this ground-living forest bird is renowned for its mating display, the worldwide population is categorised as Least concern by the IUCN. The species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current binomial name and its closest relative is the black-billed capercaillie, Tetrao parvirostris, which breeds in the larch taiga forests of eastern Russia and parts of northern Mongolia and China. Variation in females is much less, Western capercaillies are known to hybridise occasionally with black grouse and the closely related black-billed capercaillie. Male and female western capercaillie can easily be differentiated by their size, the cock is much bigger than the hen. It is one of the most sexually dimorphic in size of living species, only exceeded by the larger types of bustards. Cocks typically range from 74 to 85 cm in length with wingspan of 90 to 125 cm, the largest wild cocks can attain a length of 100 cm and weight of 6.7 kg. The largest specimen recorded in captivity had a weight of 7.2 kg, the weight of 75 wild cocks was found to range from 3.6 to 5.05 kg. The body feathers are grey to dark brown, while the breast feathers are dark metallic green. The belly and undertail coverts vary from black to white depending on race, the hen is much smaller, weighing about half as much as the cock. The capercaillie hens body from beak to tail is approximately 54–64 cm long, feathers on the upper parts are brown with black and silver barring, on the underside they are more light and buffish yellow. Both sexes have a spot on the wing bow. They have feathered legs, especially in the season, for protection against cold. Their toe rows of small, elongated horn tacks provide an effect that led to the German family name Rauhfußhühner. These so-called courting tacks make a track in the snow. The sexes can be distinguished easily by the size of their footprints. There is a red spot of naked skin above each eye
27.
Upper Harz
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The Upper Harz refers to the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this region may be defined differently depending on the context. Orographically, it comprises the Harz catchment areas of the Söse, Innerste and Grane, Oker and Abzucht mountain streams, much of the Upper Harz area is up to 700 metres above sea level. In a wider sense, it comprises the adjacent High Harz range in the east. The region is centred on the structure of the region around the municipality of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. From the Clausthal Kulmfaltenzone, it extends to the western and northern rim of the Harz and is bordered in the southeast by the Acker-Bruchberg ridge beyond the Söse valley. The Upper Harz was, for centuries, dominated by the hugely profitable silver mining industry and is distinguished by its own dialect. The mining area of Sankt Andreasberg occupies a place in this regard. The mines, more than anything else, have left an impression on the region and left their traces in the towns. Clausthal-Zellerfeld was known as Capital of the Upper Harz in the heyday of the mining industry and it was also the administrative seat of the former Samtgemeinde of Oberharz. Another division into Upper and Lower Harz is based on the function of the Harz as a natural watershed, on this basis by taking the Brocken as the mid-point, the Upper Harz includes everything to the west of it, the Lower Harz everything lying to the east. All that drains from the western mountains belongs to the catchment area of the Weser, all that drains from those in the east and this definition extends the montane Upper Harz eastwards roughly to the state border with Saxony-Anhalt, so that e. g. The High Harz refers to the sparsely populated region around the Brocken, Bruchberg, Wurmberg, Torfhaus and Acker. The High Harz therefore includes most of the Harz National Park, one feature of the Upper Harz is, or was, the Upper Harz dialect. The Upper Harz dialect is restricted to only a few places, the best known are Altenau, Sankt Andreasberg, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lautenthal and Hahnenklee. Today the dialect is heard in everyday life in the Upper Harz. It is mainly members of the generations that still speak it. For example, there are articles published in the Upper Harz dialect in the local section of the Goslarsche Zeitung
28.
Normalnull
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Normalnull or Normal-Null is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany. Elevations using this system were to be marked Meter über Normal-Null. Normalnull has been replaced by Normalhöhennull, in 1878 reference heights were taken from the Amsterdam Ordnance Datum and transferred to the New Berlin Observatory in order to define the Normalhöhenpunkt 1879. Normalnull has been defined as a level going through an imaginary point 37,00 m below Normalhöhenpunkt 1879, when the New Berlin Observatory was demolished in 1912 the reference point was moved east to the village of Hoppegarten
29.
Bode (river)
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The Bode is a river in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, a left tributary of the Saale. It rises in the Harz mountains and drains them in a northerly direction, after 169 kilometres it discharges into the Saale at Nienburg. The gorge is the section of the Bode valley between Treseburg and Thale. According to tradition, there was once a giant called Bodo who came from Thuringia to pursue Brunhilde, the beautiful daughter. Brunhilde fled on a stallion, but they suddenly came to a deep ravine. With one bold leap she reached the rocks on the far side, the hoofprint of her horse can still be seen today as the so-called Rosstrappe. Meanwhile, Bodo was turned into a dog, as her horse leapt the gorge, however, the princess lost her golden crown, which was now guarded by the dog Bodo in the valley of the river. The river was given the name Bode after the giant Bodo who was now under a spell, other tributaries of the Bode include the Rappbode and the Luppbode. The Rappbode is impounded near Wendefurth by the Rappbode Dam, at the northern end of this reservoir, the Rappbode joins the Bode, which is impounded here by the Wendefurth Dam. Other tributaries of the Bode are the Goldbach, the Holtemme, the waterfalls in the Harz are not high. The Upper Bode Falls on the Warme Bode are really a fast-flowing stream with small steps about 1 metre in height, likewise the Lower Bode Falls on the Warme Bode is simply ledge of similar height. The Bodekessel in the Bode Gorge is a step in a large hollow. The fourth waterfall is in the Kästental, the Bode winds its way between Treseburg and Thale through a 10-kilometre long, narrow valley, the Bode Gorge. Today, the valley is a nature reserve, the Bode Gorge and its villages are the primary setting for Theodor Fontane’s novel, Cécile. The river then crosses the Harz Foreland in a curving and, in places, diked and canalised, important Bode tributaries are the Selke and the Holtemme. Other towns on the Bode river are Quedlinburg, Wegeleben, Gröningen, Oschersleben, Hadmersleben, Egeln, the Bode gorge north of Thale is now a protected area. In a hydrological sense every source stream of the Bode has a catchment area in the Harz. The Mandelholz Dam impounds the water of the Kalte Bode, the total catchment area of the Bode is about 3,000 square kilometres
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Oder (Harz)
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The Oder is a 56 km long river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a tributary of the Rhume. Its source is in the Harz mountains, near Sankt Andreasberg and it flows southwest through Bad Lauterberg, Pöhlde and Hattorf am Harz. The Oder flows into the Rhume in Katlenburg-Lindau, the Oder rises in the district of Goslar in the heart of the Harz Mountains. Its source is located in the part of the Brockenfeld about 1.3 km north of the Achtermannshöhe. The rivers source is called the Odersprung or Oder Leap, on the Brockenfeld, which is close to the Odersprung, the rivers Abbe, Große Bode, Ecker and Kalte Bode also have their respective origins. On its perimeter is the ancient Dreieckiger Pfahl boundary stone, after the Oder has passed under the B4 federal highway in Oderbrück in an east-west direction, it is impounded for the first time west of the village in the Oderteich, where it bends to the south. A few kilometres downstream, the river is impounded for the second time not far southwest of Oder Valley Sawmill by the barrage of the Oder Dam. Thereafter the river flows through Bad Lauterberg and leaves the Harz, in Bad Lauterberg the Oder swings west, running through Pöhlde and Hattorf am Harz, passing north of the Rotenberg, and reaching Wulften. In Hattorf it collects the Sieber river coming from the northeast, between Scharzfeld and Katlenburg the Oder flows through the nature reserve of Oderaue. Oderbrück Oderhaus Bad Lauterberg Scharzfeld Pöhlde Hattorf am Harz Wulften am Harz Katlenburg-Lindau Sperrlutter Lutter Sieber
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Ilse (Oker)
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The Ilse is a river that rises at about 900 metres above sea level on the northern slopes of the Brocken. During its first few kilometres it flows as a brook, almost invisible to the observer. Known here as the Verdeckte Ilse it gurgles its way under blocks of granite that hide the bed from above. Its total length is around 40 kilometres, local folklore personifies the river as the beautiful Princess Ilse, who has her home in the rocks of the Ilsestein. The Ilse is mentioned in works such as the Harzreise by Heinrich Heine
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Oker
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The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a tributary of the River Aller,105 kilometres in length. The rivers name was recorded around 830 as Obacra and, later, the origin of the name is derived from the roots ov- and -akara meaning “upper” and “onward rushing” as distinct from its tributary, the Ecker, whose name means only “onward rushing”. The Oker rises at about 910 metres in the Harz National Park in an area on the Bruchberg in the Harz mountains of central Germany. This early section is known as the Große Oker and it is impounded below Altenau by the Oker Dam, from the dam wall to the former village of Oker, which is today part of the borough of Goslar, the Oker is on certain occasions suitable for canoeing. This section, often called the Oker Valley, includes the Romkerhall Waterfall, here the Romke stream drops about 64 metres in height over a waterfall laid out in 1863 into the Oker. Downstream in the rivers fast-flowing waters, the Verlobungsinsel is to be found, left and right of the Oker in this area are many crags that are popular with climbers. In the Goslar vicinity of Oker the river is polluted with heavy metals from the slag heaps as well as groundwater. From the village of Oker the River Oker flows away in a direction to Vienenburg. After these two confluences the river continues southeast past the Harly Forest, after which it bends north to flow through Schladen, in south Brunswick the Oker is dammed by the Eisenbüttel Weir. In the Bürgerpark shortly before Brunswicks old town the Oker divides into the western and eastern bypass channels which circumnavigate the historic city centre at a higher level. These channels were laid in the 16th century as the moats of the towns defences. The actual course of the Oker through the centre of the town was covered and, today, the water level in the city area is controlled by the St. Peters Gate Weir in the western and the Wends Weir in the eastern ditch. It then flows down to its mouth into the River Aller, north of Schladen the royal palace of Werla was established on the banks about 20 metres above the river bed. Since the Expo 2000 bridges over the Oker in Brunswick and its area were artistically designed. Heavy metal pollution of the Oker Description of white water canoe section between Kraftwerk and Nachstaubecken with many photos Oste class fleet service ship
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Oderteich
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The Oderteich is an historic reservoir about seven kilometres northeast of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz in central Germany. It was built by miners from St. Andreasberg in the years 1715 to 1722 and, moreover, for 170 years, from the time it was completed to the end of the 19th century, the Oderteich had the largest dam in Germany. The dam lies at a height of 725 m above NN by the B242 federal highway, about a kilometre west of its intersection with the B4. The Oderteich was built in order to be able to deliver a supply of water to the water wheels of the St. Andreasberg mine via the Rehberg Ditch. Its capacity of 1.7 million cubic metres was, far and away, today the water of the Oderteich still drives several hydropower stations within its own valley, at the Samson Pit and in the Sperrlutter valley. The dam also serves to prevent the flooding that happened each year in spring before the dam was built. In 1703 the new Rehberg Ditch was completed, diverting water from the river Oder and this was initially a great improvement in the supply of water power for the mines there, but the Oder could still not deliver enough water during a period of extended drought. So the call for a water reservoir quickly became shrill, a glance at the Upper Harz ponds near Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Hahnenklee suggested a solution. At that time there must have been 50 to 60 small reservoirs in operation. Their design, however, could not simply be copied, because there was nowhere in the vicinity of the Oderteich to cut grass sods like those used to seal the dams of the Upper Harz reservoirs. In doing so it was realised that the sand resulting from the weathering of granite, so-called granitgrus, if it was thoroughly tramped down and this proposal was duly taken up, but Caspar Dannenberger, the father of the Oderteich dams, did not survive to see it completed. He died on 23 April 1713, the construction phase actually started in early 1715. Initially a core trench was excavated into which the dam was embedded, the building material for this was excavated from the land earmarked for the future reservoir. Granite blocks needed for the up- and downstream sides of the dam were cut from small quarries, the mining of material for the dam enabled the future reservoir capacity to be further enlarged. This spillway had to be higher and higher as the dam grew in size. Shortly after work on the dam had started there were discussions about raising it higher than originally planned. In 1717 it was agreed to increase its height from the initial seven Lachter to nine Lachter and this resulted in an increase in the dam volume of around 55 percent and a doubling of the reservoir capacity to 1.67 million cubic metres. Because the structure was so convincing, however, subsequent requests, the three chief miners and excavation engineers were rewarded in 1724 with bonuses ranging from 12 to 100 Talers
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Mining
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Mining is extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner, ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Mining of stones and metal has been a human activity since pre-historic times, Mining operations usually create a negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines, levels of metals recycling are generally low. Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are stepped up, some rare metals may become unavailable for use in a variety of consumer products, due to the low recycling rates, some landfills now contain higher concentrations of metal than mines themselves. Since the beginning of civilization, people have used stone, ceramics and, later and these were used to make early tools and weapons, for example, high quality flint found in northern France, southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools. Flint mines have been found in areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included the greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District. The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Lion Cave in Swaziland, at this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre. Mines of an age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi, at first, Egyptians used the bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery. Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were found at Wadi Hammamat, Tura, Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula. Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties, the gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by the Greek author Diodorus Siculus, who mentions fire-setting as one used to break down the hard rock holding the gold. One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known maps, the miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust
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Sankt Andreasberg
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Sankt Andreasberg is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Braunlage and it is situated in the Harz, approximately 7 km west of Braunlage proper, and 20 km east of Osterode am Harz. Sankt Andreasberg was founded in the 1480s and it was first mentioned in a letter from the Count Heinrich zu Stolberg to Dietrich von Witzlebenon on 3 November 1487. The establishment of the village took place around the market, the first silver mines are assumed to be the St. Andrews Cross Mine at the foot of the Beerberg and the St. Andrews Mine by the market. In 1521, St. Andreasberg received the right to mine from Counts Heinrich and it was proclaimed in Mansfelder Land and in the mining areas of Saxony and miners were invited to dig for silver and other metals. The area around Sankt Andreasberg is especially rich in habitats worthy of protection in within the Harz National Park, in the national park north-northwest of Sankt Andreasberg are the Dreibrodesteine, three outsize blocks of granite that have been formed by spheroidal weathering. According to legend they originated as the three loaves of bread of a woman who would not help a starving miner. With the words Meine drei Brote sollen lieber zu Steinen werden she spurned the miner, whereupon the loaves grew into giant stones, the granite blocks were considered a warning against heartlessness. At the Dreibrodesteine is checkpoint no.154 in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking system, other natural monuments are a group of chestnuts on the market square and the diabase deposit in the village of Silberhütte. The boundary between the platform made of greywacke hornfels and the underlying fine-grained Brocken granite runs by the Hohe Klippen. The population of Sankt Andreasberg is mostly Protestant, as a result of their elevation, Sankt Andreasberg and Sonnenberg still have fairly guaranteed snow. Sankt Andreasberg is an Alpine Ski Centre of the Harz, with three T-bar lifts on the Sonnenberg as well as two double chair lifts and three T-bars at the Matthias Schmidt Mountain Centre, in the Teichtal there is the first snowtubing track in the Harz. The cross-country skiing trail network around Sankt Andreasberg has 40 km of tracks and is linked from the Sonnenberg to Oderbrück/Torfhaus, on Matthias Schmidt Mountain a Sommerrodelbahn is open during the summer. Nordic Walking, hiking, mountain biking and trekking are popular activities in the peaceful surroundings of the Sankt Andreasberg mountain town. In the spa park there is a course and climbing park. The southern part of the Oderteich reservoir in the Harz National Park is open to swimmers in the summer, coming from Torfhaus and Oderteich, the Brocken bypass section of the nearly 100 km long Harzer Hexenstieg hiking trail passes through the town and heads for Braunlage and Thale. Mountain rescue services are provided by the local Harz Mountain Rescue Club, several Sankt Andreasberg sports clubs enjoy a long tradition. These include the Sankt Andreasberg Shooting Club and the Sankt Andreasberg Gymnastics, following the success of the 1st Winterfest in 1896 the Upper Harz Ski Club was founded on the Brocken, it is now called the St. Andreasberg Ski Club 1896
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Oder Dam
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The Oder Dam is a dam in the Harz mountains of Germany. It lies above Bad Lauterberg in the district of Osterode am Harz in Lower Saxony, the dam went into service in 1934 after taking 3 years to build. The owner and operator of the Oder Dam is the Harzwasserwerke, the reservoir serves the following purposes, Flood protection Low water regulation Power generation These functions sometimes create conflicting demands. For flood protection, the reservoir should be as empty as possible, for low water regulation, accordingly, there are for the water economy an operating plan that is dependent on the time of year and the expected water quantities. E. g. snow meltwaters at the end of winter, the actual barrage is an embankment dam made of rubble with a central concrete core and a grout curtain of clay. The concrete wall has joints that follow the shape of the whole dam, the design is very similar in many respects to the Söse Dam built shortly beforehand. The reservoir of the dam originally acted as the reservoir of the pumped-storage power station. Immediately below the dam is the reservoir with a 7.5 m high earth dam that acted as a stilling basin. The power station is located at the foot of the dam. It has 2 turbines with an output of 5.04 MW. The pumped-storage facility has not been used since the 1990s as it was no longer economical, the power station now operates simply as a storage power station with a Francis turbine. The lake is open to such as angling, sailing and surfing. There is also a restaurant and a campsite. List of dams in the Harz List of reservoirs and dams in Germany Pumped-storage hydroelectricity Oderteich Peter Franke, Wolfgang Frey, systemdruck, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-926520-00-0 Oder Dam at en. structurae. de Harzwasserwerke. de with link to the current dam data. Sights in the Harz, The Oder Dam The Oder Dam in the Harz
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Ecker Dam
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The Ecker Dam is a gravity dam in the Harz mountain range near Bad Harzburg, Germany. Constructed between 1939 and 1943, it is operated by the Harzwasserwerke company. The dams reservoir impounds the waters of the Ecker river and mainly serves for drinking water supply, the dam is used for the supply of drinking water, flood protection, and raising water levels during times of low rainfall. With an average discharge of 16 million m³ per year, it provides drinking water to the cities of Brunswick, Wolfenbüttel, a pipe system leads to a central water tower near Liebenburg, where the waters of the nearby Grane Dam are also collected. Electricity generation is provided through a small hydropower plant, operated by two turbines with an installed capacity of 2 x 300 kW and an annual generation of 1,400,000 kWh. The Ecker Dam was the third reservoir built in the Harz mountains, after the construction of the Söse Dam in 1928–1931. It was laid out in the Ecker catchment area at the foot of the Brocken massif, characterised by extended upland bogs and heavy precipitation of up to 1,700 mm a year. The reservoir uses a section of the valley which, below a prominent trough end, was dug out in the shape of a basin by an ice age glacier. Construction started in 1939, mainly to meet the demand for drinking water in the Brunswick greater area. For the first time in Germany, coarse-grained concrete with an aggregate of up to 300 mm grain size was used to build the gravity structure, works continued throughout World War II, when the Nazi authorities also deployed foreign workers and POWs to complete the facilities. After the war and the division into East and West Germany from 1949, the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic had walls and barbed wire mounted on the dam crest and only about two-thirds of the facilities were accessible from the west. Access rights to operate the facilities were settled by agreements in the late 1970s. Though not accessible by car, the Ecker Dam and the trail around its reservoir are popular destinations for daytrippers. The dam wall is checkpoint no.1 in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking trail network
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Silberteich
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The Silberteich is a man-made pond and lies on the upper reaches of the Brunnenbach stream between Braunlage and Sankt Andreasberg in the Harz Mountains of Germany. Originally it was called the Andreasberger Teich or Brunnenbacher Teich, where Teich means pond and its present name was chosen quite recently to underline its attraction as a tourist destination. The pond was created in 1755 in order to supply the surrounding ore mines with water power, the Braunlage Blue Glass Factory, on the site of the present-day Waldmühle, also received its energy from the reservoir. The pond is about 300 m long with a dam about 8 m high. Material for the construction of the dam came from a quarry on the west bank immediately next to the embankment, the Sankt Andreasberg trail, which used to be the shortest route between Braunlage and Sankt Andreasberg, runs along the dam crest. In 1760 after heavy snowfalls in the Harz there was a thaw in February. During the night of 4/5 February the still new dam could no longer back the water. It broke and floodwaters poured into the Brunnenbach valley, the waters built up in front of the Brunnenbach Mill, forming a barrier of trees and branches they had brought down with them. The swollen waters looked for a new way out and tore through the mill, following its rebuilding, the Silberteich was also known until about 1900 as the Neue Teich. Today the pond is part of a nature reserve, a path runs along the waters edge on the eastern shore. Otherwise paths have been some distance away in order to create a quiet zone for flora
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Brocken
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Although its elevation of 1,141 metres is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m. The peak above the line tends to have a snow cover from September to May. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C and it is the easternmost mountain in northern Germany, travelling east in a straight line, the next prominent elevation would be in the Ural Mountains in Russia. The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has connected with witches and devils. The Brocken spectre is a phenomenon on this misty mountain. Today the Brocken is part of the Harz National Park and hosts a historic garden of about 1,600 alpine mountain plants. A narrow gauge railway, the Brocken Railway, takes visitors to the railway station at the top on 1,125 m. FM-radio and television broadcasting make major use of the Brocken, the old television tower, the Sender Brocken, is now used as hotel and restaurant. It also has a deck, open to tourists. The Brocken rises over the Harz National Park in the district of Harz, the state boundary with Lower Saxony runs past the Brocken some 2 km to the west. At the southeastern foot of the Brocken lies the spa resort of Schierke, somewhat to the north below the summit of the Brocken is a reservoir, the Brockenteich, constructed in 1744. On or near the mountain are the areas of the rivers Bode, Ecker, Ilse. The rounded summit of the Brocken is treeless, but vegetated with dwarf shrubs, the highest point on the Brocken reaches an elevation of 1,141.1 m above sea level. Its subpeaks include the Heinrichshöhe, Königsberg and Kleiner Brocken, before 1989 the height of the Brocken was recorded in almost all the relevant maps and books as 1,142 m above NN. A survey of the summit at the beginning of the 1990s based on the current reference system, however, a bench mark of 1142 m was recorded on the summit stone. This height on the upper plate refers to the line on the lower plate, from a geological point of view the Brocken and its surrounding terrain, the Brocken massif, consists mainly of granite, an igneous rock. The granitic plutons of the Harz - the Brocken, Ramberg and Oker plutons - emerged towards the end of the Harz mountain-building phase of the Upper Carboniferous, about 300 million years ago. First, alkaline magma intruded into the sediments, crystallized out and formed gabbro and diorite massifs
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Bruchberg
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At 927 m above sea level, the Bruchberg in the Upper Harz is the second highest mountain in Lower Saxony and the third highest in the Harz mountains in North Germany. It lies between Altenau and Torfhaus in the middle of the Harz National Park, the Bruchberg is more like a plateau and has no real summit. This plateau is covered with trees, but on the sunny southern slopes the trees have largely died as a result of bark beetle infestation. Following this insect destruction, a new natural forest, rich in its variety of species, is now growing in the heart of the Harz National Park. The Wolfswarte, at 918 m above NN, is considered as the summit. It is a hilltop made of weathered Acker-Bruchberg quartzite. The Wolfswarte rises east of the town of Altenau and, in good visibility. The bald summit of the Wolfswarte is easily visible from other peaks in the area, notably the Glockenberg in Altenau, to the southwest the heights of the Bruchberg are continued by the Acker Ridge with its mountain hut, the Hanskühnenburg. From Altenau the Wolfswarte Way runs past Okerstein in a straight line up to the Wolfswarte. This track is linked by several tracks to the Steile Wand road from Altenau to Torfhaus. From Torfhaus there is a longer, but more direct route to the Wolfswarte which is about 4 km long and this is also not very suitable for bicycles. Since 2007 the Wolfswarte has been a checkpoint on the Harz Walking Route, the checkpoint is not on the summit, but about 200 metres down the hill to the southwest on the Wolfswarte Weg. List of mountains and hills in Lower Saxony List of mountains in the Harz
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Wilhelm Achtermann
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Wilhelm Theodor Achtermann was a German sculptor. Born in Münster, he worked on a farm before becoming a cabinetmaker. His carving was so clever and graceful that it attracted attention, and procured him the good will of some art patrons, there he studied under the direction of Christian Daniel Rauch, Tieck, and Johann Gottfried Schadow, then the foremost sculptors of Germany. Achtermann, however, being of a religious character, was drawn irresistibly to Rome. The first prominent product of his Roman studies was a Pietà which was secured for the Cathedral of Münster, in 1858 the same cathedral acquired a group of seven life-size figures representing the descent from the Cross which is regarded as one of its chief art treasures. His last great work, finished when the artist had passed his year, was a Gothic altar triptych representing scenes from the life of Jesus. This was set up in the cathedral at Prague in the year 1873, media related to Wilhelm Achtermann at Wikimedia Commons
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East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
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German reunification
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The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October. Following German reunification, Berlin was once designated as the capital of united Germany. The East German regime started to falter in May 1989, when the removal of Hungarys border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain and it caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary. The united Germany is the continuation of the Federal Republic. For political and diplomatic reasons, West German politicians carefully avoided the term reunification during the run-up to what Germans frequently refer to as die Wende, after 1990, the term die Wende became more common. The term generally refers to the events led up to the actual reunification, in its usual context. When referring to the events surrounding unification, however, it carries the connotation of the time. However, anti-communist activists from Eastern Germany rejected the term Wende as it was introduced by SEDs Secretary General Egon Krenz, the capital city of Berlin was divided into four occupied sectors of control, under the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Germans lived under such imposed divisions throughout the ensuing Cold War, into the 1980s, the Soviet Union experienced a period of economic and political stagnation, and they correspondingly decreased intervention in Eastern Bloc politics. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Brandenburg Gate challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall that had separated Berlin. The wall had stood as an icon for the political and economic division between East and West, a division that Churchill had referred to as the Iron Curtain. In early 1989, under a new era of Soviet policies of glasnost, perestroika and taken to more progressive levels by Gorbachev. Further inspired by images of brave defiance, a wave of revolutions swept throughout the Eastern Bloc that year. In May 1989, Hungary removed their border fence and thousands of East Germans escaped to the West, however, events rapidly came to a head in early 1990. First, in March, the Party of Democratic Socialism—the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany—was heavily defeated in East Germanys first free elections. A grand coalition was formed under Lothar de Maizière, leader of the East German wing of Kohls Christian Democratic Union, on a platform of speedy reunification, second, East Germanys economy and infrastructure underwent a swift and near-total collapse. While East Germany had long been reckoned as having the most robust economy in the Soviet bloc, the East German mark had been practically worthless outside East Germany for some time before the events of 1989–90 further magnified the problem. Discussions immediately began for a merger of the German economies
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Schierke
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Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode. Situated within the Harz mountain range in the valley of the Bode River, at the rim of the Harz National Park, it is mainly a tourist resort, especially for hiking and all kinds of winter sport. The winter sport and climatic spa of Schierke lies in the High Harz mountains, southeast of their highest summit and it is situated in the Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park and borders on the Harz National Park in the north. Situated 600 to 650 m above sea level in the valley of the Cold Bode, the parish of Schierke has an area of 40.1 km² and a population of 713. Today Schierke again is a place to start or finish a walk to the Brocken massif via the Goetheweg or the Glashüttenweg. It has bus service and access to the Brocken Railway, whose station is located about 100 metres above the village, a popular attraction in the area is the Brocken Coaster, a local summer rodelbahn. Schierke is also not far from downhill skiing destinations such as the slope of the Wurmberg mountain, another winter activity in the area involves hiring or obtaining a sled and riding it down the bob bahn – a local tobogganing track. The average air temperature in Schierke is 5.3 °C, the field name of Schierke was first mentioned in the records in 1590 as Schiriken (the German word schier means, in the Harz area, an utterly, unspoilt wood. Hitherto there had been a sawmill in 1506, below the site of the subsequent village, in Elend, a first church at the site was consecrated in 1691. On 20 June 1898 Schierke was connected to Wernigerode by the Brocken Railway line, today run by the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways, thereupon, Schierke became a popular tourist destination and numerous hotels and villas arose. In 1914 and again in 1934 it was the site of the German Skeleton Championships, Schierke became a municipality in its own right in 1924. After World War II, however, due to its next to the inner German border. Visits required an extra permission by East German authorities between 1952 and 1989, several hotels were converted into public holiday resorts of the Free German Trade Union Federation and of the Stasi ministry. Barracks for the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic stood on the site of the present training centre for engineering and metallurgy. The 7th Border Company of the 20th Border Regiment guarded the stretch of border from the Brocken plateau via former Goetheweg station, each troop was stationed for a week at a time in the present-day station building on the peak of the Brocken. After German reunification, tourism again prospered and amny villas were restored, on 13 January 2009 Mayor Hans-Jochen Ermisch, and his counterpart from Wernigerode, Peter Gaffert, signed the treaty incorporating Schierke into Wernigerode. This merger came into effect on 1 July 2009, since then, the Wernigerode town council has made comprehensive efforts to develop Schierke as a resort town
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Bark beetle
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The unrelated sawyer beetles and some other wood-boring beetle taxa are sometimes called bark beetles, too. A bark beetle is one of about 220 genera with 6,000 species of beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae, traditionally, this was considered a distinct family Scolytidae, but is now understood to be very specialized members of the true weevil family. The mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae, southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis, a similarly aggressive species in Europe is the spruce ips Ips typographus. A tiny bark beetle, the coffee borer, Hypothenemus hampei is a major pest on coffee plantations around the world. Bark beetles reproduce in the bark of trees. Many species, such as the pine beetle attack and kill live trees. Most, however, live in dead, weakened, or dying hosts, Bark beetles play an important role in forest ecology, for example by creating complex early successional forest. Infestations can have significant economic impact, in undisturbed forests, bark beetles serve the purpose of hastening the recycling and decomposition of dead and dying wood and renewing the forest. A few species are aggressive and can develop large populations that invade, Bark beetles of the family Scolytidae feed and breed between the bark and the wood of various tree species, including spruces. More than 20 species feed on weakened, dying, or dead spruce, fir, most restrict breeding area to one part of the tree, twig, branch, stem, or root collar. Some breed in trees of one species, others in trees of many species. Bark beetles often attack trees that are weakened by disease, drought, smog, overcrowding, conspecific beetles. Under outbreak conditions, the number of beetles can overwhelm the trees defences with resulting impacts on the lumber industry, water quality, fish and wildlife. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, native bark beetles can cause high levels of mortality in California. Massive outbreaks of mountain pine beetles in western North America after about 2005 have killed millions of acres of forest from New Mexico to British Columbia. The outbreaks could be a consequence of global warming, the winters in the region allow various species to expand their ranges. Most studies of wildfire after beetle outbreaks have found no effect of beetle-caused tree mortality on wildfire size or severity, some bark beetles form a symbiotic relationship with certain Ophiostomatales fungi, and are named ambrosia beetles after these ambrosia fungi. The ambrosia beetles feed on fungal gardens and are one of only three groups known to farm fungi
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Man and the Biosphere Programme
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As of March 2016,669 biosphere reserves in 120 countries, including 16 transboundary sites, have been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems, each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Biosphere reserves are nominated by governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Their status is internationally recognized. The buffer zone surrounds or adjoins the core areas, and is used for activities compatible with sound ecological practices that can reinforce scientific research, monitoring, training and education. The transition area is the part of the reserve where the greatest activity is allowed, fostering economic, participating countries establish MAB National Committees that ensure maximum national participation in the international programme, defining and implementing each country’s activities. MAB currently operates through 158 National Committees established among the 195 Members States, the agenda of the MAB Programme is defined by its main governing body, the International Coordinating Council. The MAB Council consists of 34 member states elected by UNESCO’s General Conference, the council elects a chair and five vice-chairpersons from each of UNESCO’s geopolitical regions, one of which functions as a rapporteur. Its staff members draw on expertise in many and varied disciplines, the programme can grant seed funding to assist countries in developing projects and/or to secure appropriate partnership contributions. The latest World Congress of Biosphere Reserves took place in Lima, Peru and this will be the 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves and it shall develop a new vision for the decade 2016–2025. The World Network of Biosphere Reserves is supported by different regional, sub-regional or thematic networks and these are as follows, The African Biosphere Reserves Network was created in 1996 and comprises 33 African countries. The ArabMAB Network was officially launched in 1997 and represents 18 Arab countries, the East Asian Biosphere Reserve Network was launched in 1994. Today, it consists of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, euroMAB is the network of biosphere reserves in Europe and North America. Created in 1987, it is the largest MAB Regional Network with 53 countries, the Ibero-American MAB Network was created in 1992. It comprises 22 countries from Latin American and the Caribbean, Spain, the Pacific Man and the Biosphere Network was created in 2006 and comprises the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. The South and Central Asia MAB Network was created in 2002 and comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Southeast Asian Biosphere Reserve Network was created in 1998. Today, it comprises Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, the East Atlantic Biosphere Reserve Network was created in 1994. It comprises the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Madeira and Azores, Mauritania, Morocco, Sao Tomé and Principe, the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves was established in 2012 and comprises 22 countries. Agenda 21 Searchable list of UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves Frequently Asked Questions on Biosphere Reserve A-Z of Areas of Biodiverity Importance, Biosphere Reserves
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Nature park
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A nature park or natural park is a landscape protected by means of long-term planning, use and agriculture. These valuable landscapes are preserved in their present state and promoted for tourism purposes, in most countries nature parks are subject to legally regulated protection, which is part of their conservation laws. Nor is it the same as a reserve which may fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of legal protection afforded. However some nature parks have later turned into national parks. The first international nature park in Europe, the present-day Pieniny National Park was founded jointly by Poland, european Nature Parks, Cross-border plans and projects are carried out under the Europarc umbrella. They are host to nearly 20 million visitors annually, the designation of nature park is awarded by the respective state governments. To achieve this award, the 4 pillars of a nature park have to be met, conservation, recreation, education, in 1995 all the Austrian nature parks agreed to be represented by the Association of Austrian Nature Parks or VNÖ. Currently there are parks in the following states, In Belgium. In Flanders, their name is Regionale Landschappen and in Wallonia, there are 17 Regionale Landschappen in Flanders and 9 Natural Parks in Wallonia. Fédération des Parcs naturels de Wallonie Regionale Landschappen In Croatia there is a total of eight national parks and they can be established by any State Environment Protection body. The Nature park is one of the options for area-based nature conservation provided for under the Federal Nature Conservation Act, on 6 June 1956 in the former capital city of Bonn at the annual meeting of the Nature Reserve Association. Five percent of the area of the old Federal Republic of Germany was to be spared from major damage as a result. The definition of the category of park is laid down in federal law. Details, especially regard to the identification, investigation or recognition as a nature park vary in each state depending on the provisions of local conservation law. The underlying idea is a protection through usage, so the acceptance and participation of the population in the protection of the cultural landscape and nature is very important. In doing so the conservation and the needs of recreation users should be linked so that both sides benefit, sustainable tourism with respect for the value of nature and landscape is paramount. Basically all actions, interventions and projects that would be contrary to the purpose of conservation are prohibited, Nature parks are to be considered in zoning and must be represented and considered in local development plans. This is called an acquisition memorandum and they are binding and cannot be waived because of a higher common good
