The Donauried () is a river landscape around the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

in western

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

between

Neu-Ulm Neu-Ulm (, ; Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the seat of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 Decembe ...

and

Donauwörth Donauwörth (; ) is a town and the capital of the Donau-Ries district in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is said to have been founded by two fishermen where the rivers Danube (Donau) and Wörnitz meet. The city is part of the scenic route called "R ...

Water meadow A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water ...

woods dominate the scene from

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

Lauingen Lauingen (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Lauinga'') is a Town#Germany, town in the Dillingen (district), district of Dillingen in Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the left bank of the Danube, 5 km west of Dillingen, Bavaria, Dillingen, and 37& ...

. In addition, the man-made reservoirs near Faimingen, the Swabian Donaumoos between

and

Gundelfingen Gundelfingen im Breisgau (Low Alemannic: ''Gundelfinge im Brisgau'') is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzw ...

as well as the Gundelfingen park landscape in this wetland region of the

are of international importance under to the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...

, the international treaty on wetlands. Birds, amphibians, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, crickets and butterflies have their habitats in the

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s. Several species of plant native to the Donauried are classified as endangered on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

and reserves like the Apfelwörth or Eastern Donauried Bird Reserve have been established to protect the variety of species. A particular success in recent years has been the recolonisation by the

white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to en ...

(

Offingen Offingen is a municipality in the Swabian administrative district Günzburg in Bavaria in Germany. As of 2023, Offingen a population of 4,429. Offingen lies in the Donauried between Ulm and Donauwörth on the Danube and Mindel. The Ulm–Augsb ...

, Höchstädt). The former boggy plain is relatively sparsely settled, but all the more intensively used by mankind. This started with the channelization of the river between 1806 and 1867 (the Danube correction or ''Donaukorrektur''). Its aim was the reclamation of grassland for agriculture. Dykes were later erected to prevent flooding. Between 1961 and 1984

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s were built to provide

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

. The Donauried contains valuable

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

deposits of the highest quality. Gravel extraction has resulted in about 700 flooded

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Gravel pit lakes are typically nutrient rich and ...

s in the region which, in summer, attract visiting bathers from other nearbouring regions. As a result of the rapid drainage of

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the solid terrestrial surface of the Earth * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical circ ...

and

surface water Surface water is water located on top of land, forming terrestrial (surrounding by land on all sides) waterbodies, and may also be referred to as ''blue water'', opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean. The vast majority of surfac ...

into the Danube and the river's cutting into the riverbed the groundwater level threatens to sink further. On the one hand this will enable the economic use of land. On the other hand, however, it threatens the natural landscape and the variety of species in the Donauried. The ''Landeswasserversorgung'', a long-distance water supplier in Baden-Württemberg, draws some of its

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

supply from the groundwater of the Donauried. File:Apfelwörth_Naturschutzgebiet.jpg, Over 70 endangered species of bird breed in the Apfelwörth Nature Reserve File:Donautal.jpg, The Donauried in winter near

Dillingen an der Donau Dillingen an der Donau (; officially Dillingen a.d.Donau; ) is a Town#Germany, town in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative center of the district of Dillingen (district), Dillingen. Besides the town of Dillingen ...

File:Seen_Donaureid.jpg, One of the many small gravel lakes in the Donauried File:Östl. Donauried.JPG, Information board at the Eastern Donauried Bird Reserve

External links

* *
Full ecological survey of the Donauried
{{Authority control Regions of Bavaria Swabia Mittelschwaben Neu-Ulm (district) Günzburg (district) Iller-Lech Plateau