Zoning

The IUCN guidelines foresee the possibility of zoning in category II national parks. After appropriate transitional periods at least three quarters of the surface should be managed in accordance with the primary purpose of protection.

In the annex “Walderhaltungs- und Waldpflegemaβnahmen” the zones are defined and described in more detail. At the same time the measures allowed in the individual zones are also described.

Natural zone

Natural processes have priority
- Essentially no human interventions foreseen
- 55,86% of the total area

Development zone

Sub-divided into three sub-areas (2a, 2b, 2c)
- Step by step, forests should be left to develop naturally
- 20,39% of the total surface area

Marginal / buffer areas

Long term effective forest protection measures for the protection of neighbouring forests
- 22,07% of the total surface area

Recreation zone

Secures the function of visitor facilities
- Transport safety
- 1,68% of the total surface area

Forest Management

According to the Federal Nature Conservation Law national parks are as a matter of principle areas to be protected uniformly. According to the Regulation on the Bavarian Forest National Park of 12.09.1997 (NP-VO) the purpose of the Bavarian Forest National Park is primarily,

- To conserve a characteristic central European, mostly forested low mountain landscape, particularly with its natural and semi-natural forest ecosystems,
- To ensure that natural environmental forces and the undisturbed dynamic of ecosystems can function,
- To lead the hitherto commercially forested areas over the long term to a natural state not influenced by people.

In accordance with these requirements forest management measures are limited in time and space. They have no economic purpose and are directed exclusively at the aims of the national park. In the area of the national park the management regulations of the Bavarian Forest Law no longer apply.

Aims - Concept

Closely linked to its environs, the Bavarian Forest National Park is not an isolated unit. So, when supporting the natural development of the forest in the national park it must be ensured that there are no negative effects on neighbouring areas. The National Park Regulation therefore determines areas in which certain measures may be allowed or necessary. Furthermore, the transitional rules for the extension area of the national park (Falkenstein-Rachel Area) foresee certain management measures.

These management measures are set out in the national park plan, in the annex “Walderhaltungs- und Waldpflegemaßnahmen” (Forest conservation and forest stewardship measures).

In detail these are:

• Detailed measures for forest conservation and forest stewardship
• The exact demarcation of the border area for the protection of neighbouring forests
• Measures for forest conservation and renewal in the high areas of the forest
• Measures for preventing the spread of the bark beetle to the forests of the high areas between Falkenstein and Rachel
• Measures that support the development of natural forest composition sensitive to the location.

Game Management

As a result of its shape (approximately 40km long and only 6km wide) and its altitude (approximately a third of the territory lies more than 1000 metres above sea level) the Bavarian Forest National Park does not constitute a complete, year round habitat for the hoofed game species that currently live there. For a large percentage of these animals the majority of the territory of the national park where there is no human influence would just be a summer habitat. In the winter – with snow depths of up to three metres on the ridges – the hoofed game would migrate to lower altitudes or in to the climatically more favourable neighbouring areas and spend the winter there.

As a result of human activities (settlements, transport links, agriculture, recreation) the habitats have however also changed radically in these areas. Roe deer and wild boar are not quite as dependent on sufficiently large and undisturbed wintering grounds in the neighbouring areas and can cope alright with the changed circumstances. For red deer on the other hand the wintering grounds in the neighbouring areas are not undisturbed or large enough – not least because of the delineation of the red deer area that is set out in law or the limited tolerance of many forest owners because of potential damage that game can cause.

The number of species and the distribution of individual species have changed drastically in the course of the previous centuries as a result of human activity. So some of the game species originally to be found in the Bavarian Forest (elk, for example) have become extinct, whilst others such as roe deer, red deer and wild boar favoured. In the neighbouring areas of the national park there are examples of non-native species (fallow deer, sika deer, and mouflon).

The range of species among large carnivores has been changed even more dramatically than among large herbivores. Bear, wolf and lynx became extinct around the beginning and middle of the 19th century, so that the game species had no natural predators for some 150 years. Just a few years ago the lynx migrated in again from the Czech Republic and contributes in a limited way to the natural regulation of game numbers. However there is currently no sufficient regulation of roe deer, red deer or wild boar by predators.

Aims - Concept

Corresponding to the aims and objectives of the national park, to guarantee the functioning of natural environmental forces and the undisturbed dynamics of the ecosystems, game numbers should, as a matter of principle, not be regulated by human measures („Let nature be nature“).

However interventions can become necessary, if particular national park aims or the property rights of neighbouring private landowners (especially in the enclaves) are endangered. If this becomes the case, necessary management or regulatory measures should be shifted outside the national park or at least to the border area, be limited only to what is absolutely necessary and be carried out without disturbance, be appropriate to the species and adapted to natural processes.

Only the hoofed game species of roe deer, red deer and wild boar are regulated at present. Any necessary interventions are carried out by national park administration personnel, primarily by professional hunters. The deployment of visiting hunters is not allowed. The main methods of regulation are by individual hunters and in the case of red deer shooting in winter enclosures and for wild boar the use of daggers. Regulation is carried out in the framework of the legal hunting season in the period from 1st September to 31st January each year and only outside of the core areas and the nature zones.

Measures to prevent damage from browsing animals (individual measures, fences) are not carried out in the national park. Electric fences are used only to protect the enclaves from damage by wild boar.

Through this seasonal and spatial bundling of measures large areas in the national park – in the Rachel-Lusen area more than 10,000 hectares, in the Falkenstein-Rachel area approximately 7,000 hectares – are kept free of hunting. The animals can use this area as habitat undisturbed in the half year around the summer and their natural behaviour patterns can develop.