Methods for the restoration of meso-/xerophytic species-rich limestone grassland (Garchinger Heide)
Support priority:
Protecting valuable habitats: Procedures and methods for habitat restoration
Location:
Garchinger Heide, Kreise (districts) of Freising and Munich, Bavaria
Period:
03/1994 - 03/1998 (Main project)
03/1994 - 02/1999 (In-process scientific studies phase I)
07/1999 - 12/2002 (In-process scientific studies phase II)
Short description:
To the north of Munich, the 'Garchinger Heide' nature reserve has preserved one of the last vestiges of expansive grass-heathland vegetation (species rich limestone grassland) which once characterized the landscape. This is a nature reserve of international significance with rare, mainly continental and pre-alpine floristic and faunistic elements. For the restoration of the heathland vegetation and the associated animal populations, as part of the testing and development project, different management and development measures (such as the spreading of mowings, planting programmes and soil removal) were carried out on plots of land previously used for intensive arable farming and isolated from each other.
The plan was to determine what quality of grass heathland vegetation and fauna would re-establish on former arable land over what period of time. The isolated heathland areas were linked using a habitat networking approach, as a means of creating conditions for the interchange of organisms between the remaining high quality areas, and to encourage the colonization of the new habitats. Parallel phytosociological, faunistic and mycological studies by the Technical University (TU) Munich provide a wealth of foundation data for applied conservation, and evidence that promising trends are evolving.
Project executing agencies:
Heideflächenverein Münchener Norden e.V. (Heathland association Munich North) (Main project)
Untere Hauptstr. 3
85386 Eching, Germany
TU Munich (In-process scientific studies)
Chair of Vegetation Ecology
Am Hochanger 6
85350 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
Liaison within BfN:
Lothar Schröder, Unit 
FG II 1.2
Project funding agencies:
BfN, Bayerischer Naturschutzfonds (Bavarian conservation fund), Heideflächenverein (Heathland association)
Level of funding:
2.08 million €
Further information:
- PFADENHAUER, J.& KIEHL, K. (2003): Renaturierung von Kalkmagerrasen. Zehn Jahre "Sicherung und Entwicklung der Heiden im Norden von München" - ein E+E-Vorhaben des Bundesamtes für Naturschutz. - Angewandte Landschaftsökologie 55. 292 S.
Ordering instructions
- PFADENHAUER, J. et al. (2000): Sicherung und Entwicklung der Heiden im Norden von München (Safeguarding and development of the heaths north of Munich). - Angewandte Landschaftsökologie (Applied landscape ecology) 32: 311 pp. Ordering instructions
- MILLER, U. (1998): Renaturierung von Kalkmagerrasen: Demographische Differenzierung ausgewählter Kalkmagerrasen bei künstlicher Ansiedlung auf einer Ackerbrache (Restoration of limestone grassland: Demographic differentiation of selected limestone grasslands created artificially on fallow arable land). - Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich, 135 pp.
- SIEREN, E. (1998): Dokumentation, Bewertung und Beurteilung von Maßnahmen zur Renaturierung von Magerrasen anhand der Zusammensetzung und Dynamik von Laufkäferzönosen (Coleoptera: Carabidae) (Documentation, appraisal and evaluation of measures to restore nutrient-poor grassland with reference to the composition and dynamics of ground beetle biocoenoses). - Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich, 164 pp.
- WIESINGER, E. & PFADENHAUER, J. (1998): Konzept zur Schafbeweidung von Kalkmagerrasen in der nördlichen Münchener Schotterebene (Concept for sheep-pasturage of limestone nutrient-poor grassland on the northern Munich gravel plain). - Agrarökologie 29, Bern: Verlag Agrarökologie, 110 pp.
- WIESINGER, E. (1999): Naturschutzmaßnahmen in der Landwirtschaft - eine sozioökonomische Fallstudie aus der Münchener Ebene (Conservation measures in agriculture - a socio-economic case study from the Munich plain). Munich: Utz Wissenschaft, 165 pp.
