The Peene Valley (german: Peenetal) is a

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

West Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Weste ...

in the German state of

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 pop ...

. It covers the area on either side of the river

Peene The Peene () is a river in Germany. Geography The Westpeene, with the Ostpeene as its longer tributary, and the Kleine Peene/Teterower Peene (with a ''Peene '' without specification (or ''Nordpeene'') as its smaller and shorter affluent) flo ...

in the districts of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and

Vorpommern-Greifswald Vorpommern-Greifswald is a district in the east of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and Vorpommern-Rügen, the Baltic Sea, Poland (West Pomeranian Voivode ...

as the river makes its way from Lake Kummerow past the towns of

Dargun Dargun is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated km west of Demmin. It is famous for Dargun Palace, a former Cistercian abbey. History From 1815 to 1918 Dargun was part o ...

Demmin Demmin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin. Geography Demmin lies on the West Pomeranian plain at the confluence of the rivers ...

Loitz Loitz () is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the no ...

, Jarmen,

Gützkow Gützkow () is a town in the District of Vorpommern-Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated some 15 km south of Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universi ...

and

Anklam Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the wester ...

to its

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on t ...

on the

Peenestrom The Peenestrom is a river in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is 20 kilometres long and is the westernmost connection of the Szczecin Lagoon (together with the Świna and the Dziwna) with the Baltic Sea. It is therefore also one of the ...

. The landscape of the Peene Valley has been little impacted by industry and other human activities and has a large variety of animal and plant species. It is therefore a nature area of statewide importance and much of the region is subject to nature and landscape conservation measures. It has a core zone of about 20,000

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s and a total area of about 45,000 hectares and is thus the largest contiguous

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 wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

region of Europe. Thanks to its wilderness and intact nature, the river

and its valley is often referred to as "the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

of the North".Peene – Amazonas des Nordens
(Living at Home)

References

Literature

* Mike Stegemann, Frank Hennicke: ''Errichtung und Sicherung schutzwürdiger Teile von Natur und Landschaft mit gesamtstaatlich repräsentativer Bedeutung. Projekt: Peenetal/ Peene-Haff-Moor, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.'' In: ''Natur und Landschaft.'' Issue 7/8, 1991. Bundesamt für Naturschutz, p. 287–294, . * Barbara Havenstein, Frank Hennicke, Mike Stegemann, Jens Kulbe (Autoren), Zweckverband „Peenetal-Landschaft“ Anklam (Herausgeber): ''Natur- und Wanderführer Peenetal.'' Hoffmann-Druck GmbH, Wolgast 1998. * Erich Hoyer: ''Naturführer Insel Usedom. Mit Haffküste, Ueckermünder Heide und unterem Peenetal.'' Verlag Erich Hoyer, Galenbeck 2001, . * Frieder Jelen: ''Ein Nationalpark im Peenetal. Wird eine Vision Wirklichkeit?'' In: ''Nationalpark. Wildnis - Mensch - Landschaft.'' 1/2006. Verein der Freunde des Ersten Deutschen Nationalparks Bayerischer Wald e.V, p. 4–7.

External links

Peene Valley landscape major nature conservation project

Information by the Federal Nature Conservation Office
Förderverein „Naturschutz im Peenetal“
Official website of the preservation society {{Authority control Regions of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Bird reserves in Germany Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (district) Nature parks in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania MPeeneValley