The place

The Black Forest rose as the Upper Rhine Graben opened beside it, lifting old granite and gneiss, with red sandstone capping the northern hills. The Feldberg, at 1,493 m, is the highest summit. Steep valleys cut west toward the Rhine, while the eastern side slopes gently toward the Danube, which has its source here. Glaciers left small cirque lakes such as the Mummelsee and Wildsee. Dense stands of spruce and fir make the hills look dark from a distance, which gave the forest its name. On the high ridges there are open heaths and bogs called Grinden. The climate is cool and wet, with much snow in winter and fog in the valleys.

Illustrated landscape plate: Black Forest, Europe

History

Romans knew the area as a hard, wooded barrier, and it was settled densely only in the Middle Ages, when monasteries such as St. Blasien and St. Peter organised clearing and farming. Later came mining for silver, glassworks, charcoal burning and, from the 18th century, clockmaking, including the cuckoo clock. Huge rafts of fir logs were floated down the Rhine to the Netherlands for shipbuilding, and by the early 19th century much of the forest had been cut. Foresters replanted large areas with fast-growing Norway spruce. Tourism grew with the railways and spa towns such as Baden-Baden. After a long political dispute, the state parliament voted for a national park in 2013, and it opened in 2014.

Why it matters for the living world

The national park covers about 10,000 hectares in two parts on the northern ridges, where forest is left to develop on its own across most of the area. Dead wood, windthrow from storms such as Lothar in 1999 and bark beetle outbreaks create new habitat for fungi, beetles, woodpeckers and owls. The capercaillie, a large forest grouse, still lives in the high forests but has declined sharply. The Grinden heaths and raised bogs hold rare plants and insects and store carbon in peat. Lynx and wolves have returned from neighbouring regions. The forests also protect drinking water for towns on both sides of the range and supply timber for the regional economy.

People of the place

The Black Forest has a long tradition of family farms with large wooden houses whose deep roofs shelter people, animals and hay under one structure. Farmers combine pasture, forestry and small crafts, and much of the forest is owned by municipalities, the state and private families. Woodworking, clockmaking, tourism, spas and health care are important today. Local identity is strong, with Alemannic dialects, costume traditions such as the Bollenhut hat and carnival customs. The national park brought tension with some residents and the timber industry, who worried about lost wood and bark beetles spreading to neighbouring forests. The park now works with communities on buffer zones and pest control.

What it faces

Hotter, drier summers are stressing the spruce plantations planted in the 19th and 20th centuries, and bark beetles have killed many trees, especially after storms and droughts. Foresters are shifting toward mixed forests with silver fir, beech and other species more able to cope with climate change. The capercaillie suffers from habitat change, disturbance by visitors and predators, and is the focus of a state action plan. Wind farms on the ridges, roads and growing tourism, including winter sports that depend on snow, create conflicts over land use. Air pollution damaged forests in the 1980s, and soil acidification remains a legacy in places.

Sources

Written for Regenerative Voices from the sources above. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.