Bavarian Forest National Park / Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald

The Bavarian Forest National Park extends along the Bavarian-Czech border between Bayerisch Eisenstein in the Regen district and Mauth in the Freyung-Grafenau district. On October 7, 1970, the large reserve was opened as the first national park in Germany. Together with the neighboring Šumava National Park in the Czech Republic, it forms the largest contiguous forest reserve in Central Europe. The motto “Let nature be nature” applies to more than 24,000 hectares in the Bavarian Forest.
According to this philosophy, the forests with their moors, mountain streams and peaks are allowed to develop into boundless forest wilderness according to their very own laws. This is how yesterday's economic forest becomes tomorrow's primeval forest. The result is a unique biodiversity. Rare animals such as lynx, otters, capercaillie or owl find a home again. There are also 15 species of beetles, which are considered to be relics of the jungle and only occur in extremely natural forests. The particularly strong biodiversity is based, among other things, on the high proportion of dead wood, which is both the food base and habitat for hundreds of insects, fungi and birds. Natural processes of growth and decay in the forest ecosystem are permitted in the national park,
The areas in which there is no longer any human intervention are called nature zones. In the Bavarian Forest National Park, over 72 percent of the area already belongs to the nature zones. This proportion is to be increased to 75 percent by 2027.