Renaturation of springs

The capture of springs, which are no longer in use, have been dismanteled. One example is the spring at the Schafsteiner Hof on the Wasserkuppe, which had been used as a water supply for the neighbouring farmstead in former time. At the Ochsenborn on the Auersberg near Hilders, a tubbing casing made in concrete by a local homeland club was removed in 2008 by the Forestry Office Hofbieber. Consequently, staff of the Naturpark Hessische Rhön and a local building company removed the remaining piping with a small excavator. Half a year later, a semi-natural stream spring had developed, which is by now again inhabited by a spring specific array of animal species. An information panel next to the spring explains the renaturation measurement and points out the value of the small-scale spring biotope.

In the end of 2013, the next step in the renaturation of the spring brook was undertaken. Directly below the Ochsenborn, the stream crossed under a forest road in a culvert consisting of a six meter long pipe. The pipe was substituted by a U-profile open at the bottom, to restitute the passability along the culvert, to allow movement of the spring and spring brook fauna.

The survey presented here is also used for the renaturation of springs in the Bavarian and Thuringia part of the Rhön. There are realization projects of the BUND Kreisgruppe Bad Kissingen, the LBV Bayern and the Landschaftspflegeverbandes „Biosphärenreservat Thüringische Rhön“ e.V.