The Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park
at www.naturefund.de. Accessed on 27 June 2012. (''Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft'') is

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

's largest national park, situated at the coast of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

. It consists of several peninsulas, islands and lagoon shore areas in the

, belonging to the district of

Vorpommern-Rügen Vorpommern-Rügen is a district in the north of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Baltic Sea and the districts Vorpommern-Greifswald, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and Rostock. The district seat is ...

. The national park includes: * the

Darß The Darß or Darss is the middle part of the peninsula of Fischland-Darß-Zingst on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The peninsula's name is of Slavic origin. There is a large forest in the ...

peninsula * the western coast of the island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

* the island of

Hiddensee Hiddensee () is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, on the German coast. The island has about 1,000 inhabitants. It was a holiday destination for East German tourists during German Democratic ...

* the island of

Ummanz The island of Ummanz lies in the Baltic Sea, off the west coast of the island of Rügen, and belongs, like the latter, to the county of Vorpommern-Rügen in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Ummanz is around 20 square kilom ...

* several tiny islets between the above places * the multiple lagoons in between the land masses The national park is characterised by very shallow water housing a unique coastal fauna. All portions of the national park are famous for being a resting place for tens of thousands of cranes and

geese A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the she ...

. Its area is 805 km².

Composition

Approximately half the area of the park is open Baltic Sea; more than another quarter covers parts of the lagoons in the

Darss-Zingst Bodden Chain The Darss-Zingst Bodden ChainMüller, Felix et al. (2010). ''Long-Term Ecological Research: Between Theory and Application'', ''Coastal Lagoons - Darss-Zingst Bodden Chain'', Sect. 12.3.3, Springer, Heidelberg, London, New York, p. 173. (german: ...

including the

West Rügen Bodden The West Rügen Bodden (german: Westrügener Bodden or ''Rügenschen Außenboddenkette'') are a string of lagoons and embayments, known as ''bodden'', in Western Pomerania on the Baltic Sea coast. They lie in the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area Natio ...

. Thus it protects these shallow water areas (in the Baltic Sea, the National Park boundary is based on the ten-metre depth contour) with their rich flora and fauna. The differing salt content of the

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...

water habitats of the Baltic and the ''

bodden Bodden are briny bodies of water often forming lagoons, along the southwestern shores of the Baltic Sea, primarily in Germany's state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. These lagoons can be found especially around the island of Rügen, Usedom an ...

'' (shallow lagoons) contribute significantly to the local diversity of nature. For example, the

Baltic Herring Atlantic herring (''Clupea harengus'') is a herring in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can ...

visits the shallow bays regularly to spawn here. The territory of the national park includes parts of the

and the peninsula of

Zingst Zingst ( Polabian ''Sgoni'') is the easternmost portion of the three-part Fischland-Darß-Zingst Peninsula, located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, between the cities of Rostock and Stralsund on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. T ...

as well as most of the island of

. In addition, a narrow strip of land on the island of

, next to the ''bodden'' lies within the national park. Pine and beech woods, such as the

Darß Forest The Darß Forest (pronounced "Darss", german: Darßwald) is a wooded region on the western coast of the peninsula of Darß on Germany's Baltic coast. There are no settlements in the forest. Villages on the outskirts are Ahrenshoop and Born in ...

, cover much of the land. In treeless areas there are bogs, resulting from

coastal flooding Coastal flooding normally occurs when dry and low-lying land is submerged by seawater. The range of a coastal flooding is a result of the elevation of floodwater that penetrates the inland which is controlled by the topography of the coastal land ...

References

Sources

* * * Frank Gnoth-Austen, Rudolf Specht: ''Jasmund, Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft.'' Vehling, Werl 1995, (Deutsche Nationalparke, Vol. 2). * Norbert Rosing, Sarah Fuchs, Klaus Nigge: ''Deutsche Nationalparks.'' Tecklenborg, Steinfurt 1997, .

External links

Official website of the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park
* * National parks of Germany Protected areas of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Protected areas established in 1990 Fischland-Darß-Zingst Lagoons of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 1990 establishments in East Germany Tourist attractions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania {{Europe-protected-area-stub