Nature parks in Germany

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 39. Chapters: Nature parks in Bavaria, Nature parks in Lower Saxony, Nature parks in North Rhine-Westphalia, Nature parks in Rhineland-Palatinate, List of nature parks in Germany, Steinwald, Drömling, Südheide Nature Park, Arnsberg Forest Nature Park, Steigerwald Nature Park, High Fläming Nature Park, Wildeshausen Geest, Holstein Switzerland, Elm-Lappwald Nature Park, Aukrug Nature Park, Palatinate Forest Nature Park, Usedom Island Nature Park, Upper Danube Nature Park, Weser Uplands-Schaumburg-Hamelin Nature Park, Lüneburg Heath Nature Park, Augsburg-Western Woods Nature Park, Elbhöhen-Wendland Nature Park, Münden Nature Park, Solling-Vogler Nature Park, Harburg Hills, Hohes Venn - Eifel Nature Park, Fichtelgebirge Nature Park, Steinhuder Meer Nature Park, TERRA.vita Nature Park, Lauenburg Lakes Nature Park, Dümmer Nature Park, Barnim Nature Park, Rhineland Nature Park, Harz - Brunswick Land - Eastphalia National Geopark, Thuringian Forest Nature Park, Bavarian Rhön Nature Park, Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park, Rhine-Taunus Nature Park, Holstein Switzerland Nature Park, Märkische Schweiz Nature Park, Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, Lower Lusatian Ridge Nature Park, Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park, Schlaube Valley Nature Park, Uckermark Lakes Nature Park, Westhavelland Nature Park, Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park. Excerpt: Ninety eight official nature parks (German: ) have been established in Germany under section 22, paragraph 4 of that country's Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG). They comprise about 25 percent of the total land area of Germany and are brought together under the Association of German Nature Parks. Parks that overlap into neighbouring countries are led by Europarc. The oldest is Lüneburg Heath Nature Park, whose core area was established in 1921 as a nature reserve; by 2007 it had expanded to more than four times its original area. The largest nature reserve in Germany, with 3,750 square kilometres (1,450 sq mi) is the Nature Park of the Central and Northern Black Forest and the smallest is Siebengebirge with an area of 48 square kilometres (19 sq mi). The 14 national parks of Germany, under paragraph 24 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, are not listed here. See List of national parks of Germany. The Steinwald is a mountain range up to in southern Germany and, at the same time, a nature park (Steinwald Nature Park) founded in 1970 with an area of 246 square kilometres (95 sq mi) in the province of Upper Palatinate, in North Bavaria. The Steinwald lies south of the Upper Franconian county town of Marktredwitz and north of Erbendorf in the district of Tirschenreuth. The Steinwald is separated from the Fichtelgebirge to the northwest by the Waldershof trough (Waldershofer Senke) and from the Upper Palatine Forest to the southeast by the Waldnaab-Wondreb-trough. The mountains and hills in the range and in the Steinwald Nature Park include the following - in order of height in metres (m) above sea level (NN): Like the Fichtelgebirge, the Steinwald consists mainly of granite. In the south and east it is surrounded by a basalt landscape of Kuppen - gentle, rounded summits - (Kemnather Land, Nördlicher Steinwald), whose most striking elevations are the Parkstein near Weiden, the Rauhe Kulm near Kemnath, the Schlossberg near Waldeck, the Armesberg, the Teic