The WeltWald Harz (120 hectares) up to 2009 Arboretum Bad Grund, also known as Exotenwald and sometimes called the Arboretum des Forstamtes Grund or the Forstaboretum der Niedersächsischen Landesforstverwaltung, is an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

located along the B 242 federal highway near the

Hübichenstein The Hübichenstein is an unusual rock formation in the Harz mountains, 50 meters in height, located on highway B242 about one kilometer northwest of Bad Grund, Lower Saxony, Germany. In 1897 it was crowned with a monument to Wilhelm I, German Emp ...

, northwest of Bad Grund,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is open daily without charge. The arboretum was established in 1971 by the ''Niedersächsisches Forstamt Riefensbeek'' (Riefensbeek office of the Lower Saxon Forestry Commission), with first plantings in 1975. By 1987 a total of 84,890 trees and shrubs had been planted on 65 hectares, including

fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

(30 species),

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

(25),

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

(14),

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

(10), and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

(8). Today it contains about 600 species of woody plants from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, organized by geographic region, with a number of walking paths.

Conception

The aim of the Lower Saxon Forestry Commission is to study the suitability of the local climate and growing conditions for these non-native tree species. This should enable the habitat requirements of these species to be determined for future crop trials. In laying out the arboretum, especial care was taken to ensure that no unstable monocultural stands were created, instead entire woodland communities from the individual climatic regions with the complete range of tree and shrub species were planted. To form a clear picture of the development of the trees, they are included in a long-term monitoring and measurement scheme. Their height is determined every five years. Furthermore, various types of biotic and abiotic damage are identified as well as the plant-specific processes during the course of a year. In order to test their suitability as future commercial tree species, trees are constantly removed for timber from the various woodland communities.

Location

The arboretum belongs geologically to the

Upper Harz The Upper Harz (, ) is the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, the term Upper Harz cover ...

. The southern and western parts are in the

Clausthal Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is locat ...

Culm fault zone (''Kulmfaltzone'') consisting of

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

and

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

from the Carboniferous period. The northeastern part is in the territory of the

Corallian limestone The Corallian Group or Corallian Limestone is a geologic group in England. It is predominantly a coralliferous sedimentary rock, laid down in the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic. It is a hard variety of " coral rag". Building stones from this g ...

block of the Iberg complex. The soils that have developed from the geological source materials, are mainly base-poor, silty and loamy silicate-weathered soils. The water balance ranges from moderate to fairly fresh and the nutrient supply from moderate to fairly good. The arboretum lies in the transition zone from the

submontane Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograph ...

montane zone Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s, its elevation ranging from 305 to 448 metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. Its natural woodland communities would be

wood-rush ''Luzula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the rush family Juncaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species occurring throughout the world, especially in temperate regions, the Arctic, and higher elevation areas in the tropic ...

beech forests. The terrain aspect ranges from 0 to 30 degrees. The average temperature is 7.5 °C and the average annual precipitation is 1,070 mm. Of that, 308 mm falls during the main growing season.

Events

In addition to diverse woodland communities, the Bad Grund Arboretum offers visitors various special exhibitions. During Advent, foliage and Christmas trees from the region are sold here. Twice a year an international

Nordic Walking Nordic walking is a Finland, Finnish-origin total-body version of walking that can be done both by non-athletes as a health-promoting physical activity and by athletes as a sport. The activity is performed with specially designed walking poles sim ...

race takes place in the grounds of the Arboretum. The details of this are available from the Lower Saxon Forestry Commission Office (''Niedersächsische Forstamt'') at Riefensbeek. The office is also responsible for the organisation of guided tours, for example during the period of

Indian Summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or mor ...

in autumn or during the

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

flowering season in spring.

Hiking

There is also a checkpoint (no. 129) for the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. Hikers (or mountain bikers) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping their ...

hiking network in the arboretum.

References

Sources

* Heinke Ramisch, "Das Arboretum des Forstamtes Grund", ''Unser Harz'' 35 (9) : 163–167, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, 1987.

External links

Arboretum Bad Grund

BGCI entry

Arboretum map

Arboretum map
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