Natur » Natural Landscapes » Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park

Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park

(Naturpark Stechlin-Ruppiner Land)

Size: 680 km2

  • More than 160 lakes, accounting for some 50 per cent of the land covered by clear-water oligotrophic lakes in Brandenburg and including Stechlin, the main clear-water lake in Northern Germany, reaching depths of 69 m
  • Two thirds woodland with large expanses of untouched beech forest
  • Many small raised bogs with rare animal and plant species
  • Excellent network of cycle paths, hiking trails and waterways

Welcome to the Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park! This corner of the earth has to this day remained true to the way it was described by Brandenburg author Theodor Fontane at the end of the 19th century. It is the heart of what is today the Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park. The Nature Park covers an area of 680 square kilometres boasting Lake Stechlin as its signature landmark – the last large oligotrophic clear-water lake in Northern Germany – with a surface area of 425 ha and a depth of 68 m. The depths of Lake Stechlin are home to the Fontane cisco, a distinct species of fish found only in these lakes. Over 160 lakes and the channels joining them, countless little marshes and old deciduous forests, mainly beech groves, characterise the landscape of this Nature Park. The beech tree is not even found in five per cent of its original locations in Germany any more – here in the Nature Park that figure is still 25 per cent. The beautiful old beech trees near the clear-water lakes make the ideal refuge for the goldeneye. It breeds in hollows originally made by woodpeckers in old beeches and it lives in and by the water. The old and dead wood in these forests is home to such rare species of beetle as the stag, great capricorn and hermit but also to a total of seven(!) types of woodpecker. Rare species of animals and birds can also be spotted in the Nature Park, such as the otter, Elbe beaver, European pond turtle, agile frog, osprey, crane, kingfisher and stock dove.

Contact

Naturparkverwaltung Stechlin - Ruppiner Land
Friedensplatz 9
16775 Stechlin / OT Menz

Tel. 033082 4070
Fax 033082 40715
E-Mail: np-stechlin-ruppiner-Land @ lua.brandenburg.de
www.grossschutzgebiete.brandenburg.de

Photographs of Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park