The permanent protection of nature and landscape can be achieved, for example, by designating certain parts of nature and landscape as a protected area (e.g. nature reserve) or protected object (e.g. natural monument, protected landscape feature) according to precisely defined protected area categories.

Parts of nature and landscape are protected by declaration, usually in a statutory order. The declaration determines the object of protection, the purpose of protection, the requirements and prohibitions necessary to achieve the purpose of protection and, where necessary, the maintenance, development and restoration measures. An administrative procedure is carried out to establish protection, in which associations and affected users/property owners must be consulted.

Categories of protected areas in Gera

NATURA 2000 - Gebiete

A total of four NATURA 2000-sites of Community importance have been designated in the Gera urban area.

FFH and bird sanctuary "Zeitzer Forst"
FFH area "Brahmeaue"
FFH area "Hainberg-Weinberg"
FFH area "Gorges near Gera and Bad Köstritz with Roschütz Forest"

The basis for their notification was the occurrence of several near-natural deciduous forest communities and three so-called "priority" animal species, for whose continued existence protected areas must be designated.

In the "Zeitz Forest", these are the near-natural deciduous forest communities rich in old and dead wood and the priority animal species crested newt and black-blue meadow blue, a butterfly species.

The decisive factor for the FFH area "Schluchten bei Gera und Bad Köstritz mit Roschützer Wald" is the extensive ravine and mixed slope forests in the direction of the Elster floodplain.

The "Brahmeaue" is about protecting a near-natural watercourse with submerged or floating aquatic vegetation, including the remnants of alder, ash and softwood riparian forests that still exist alongside the stream. As particularly old, hollow and mulm-containing softwoods such as willow and poplar are the essential habitat for the wood-dwelling beetle species hermit, we also find this priority species in this FFH area.

The best-known and most popular FFH area for Gera's citizens and guests is the one in the city forest. It is called "Hainberg-Weinberg" and is part of the "Geraer Stadtwald" landscape conservation area. Due to its forest habitat types, which are particularly worthy of protection, and the animal species associated with them, it is of supra-regional importance together with the strictly protected bat species pug bat, Bechstein's bat and greater mouse-eared bat. The old forests, which are rich in structure and deadwood, must be secured in their conservation status or increased through forest conversion.

Nature reserves

Nature conservation areas are legally binding areas designated in accordance with § 23 BNatSchG in which special protection of nature and the landscape as a whole or in individual parts is required. Alongside national parks, they are among the most strictly protected areas in Germany. This category of protected area has existed since 1920.
There are three nature reserves in the city of Gera:

• Rödel" nature reserve
• Zeitzer Forst" nature reserve
• Nature reserve "Lasur and Eichberg"

Protected landscape areas

The aim of landscape conservation areas is to protect landscapes from both a natural, ecological and cultural-social point of view. The aim is to preserve the landscape in its existing peculiarity and uniqueness.

We have a total of three landscape conservation areas in Gera:

• Landscape conservation area "Hausberg"
• Zaufensgraben" landscape conservation area
• Geraer Stadtwald" landscape conservation area

Protected landscape elements

Protection may extend to the entire stock of avenues, single-sided rows of trees, trees, hedges or other landscape features in the area of a federal state or parts of a federal state.

The removal of the protected landscape feature and all actions that could lead to the destruction, damage or alteration of the protected landscape feature are prohibited in accordance with more detailed provisions.

In Gera, we have designated a single protected landscape feature by decree dated 18.11.2009, the "Orchideenwäldchen in Bieblach".

The object of the protected area is an orchid occurrence of the orchid species "Bleiches Waldvögelein", which is important for the city of Gera. The purpose of protection is, among other things, to preserve and maintain the population of the pale woodland bird according to nature conservation criteria and to promote its spread as well as to protect the orchid area from lasting changes and to minimize anthropogenic influences.

The category "protected landscape stock" also applies to all trees that are placed under special protection by the tree protection statutes of the city of Gera. The protection here applies to all trees with a trunk circumference > 30 cm in the area covered by the statute, i.e. in the so-called built-up inner area. This special form of protection by municipal statute is expressly provided for in   § 17 para. 4 Thuringian Nature Conservation Act.

Natural monuments

Individual structures such as landscape-defining trees, rocks or caves as well as areas up to five hectares in size that are worthy of protection, such as small bodies of water, moors or heaths, can be designated as natural monuments. The protection status of natural monuments is comparable to that of a nature reserve: Natural monuments may not be altered. 

The law distinguishes between objects, i.e. individual natural monuments such as historically significant trees, boulders, etc. and areal natural monuments, e.g. significant geotopes. Area natural monuments are small areas that bear witness to the history of the earth and landscape, are of scientific or local history significance or are characterized by particular beauty or their value for education. Under the category of natural monuments, 18 old trees in the urban area are protected in accordance with Section 28 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. They are protected due to their age, their impact on the townscape, their trunk circumference or their characteristic growth form. Prohibited actions also include the significant alteration of the habitus (growth form) and the lasting disturbance of the natural monument or its surroundings. If the prohibitions are violated, this can be punished with a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

Local recreation and hiking trails

There are approx. 150 km of marked hiking trails in the city area.
These are marked in accordance with the guidelines of the Thuringia State Association of German Mountain and Hiking Clubs and are classified as follows:

• 2 main hiking trails, marking color: blue ("Thüringenweg", "Weiße Elsterweg")
• 3 regional hiking trails, marking color: red
• 18 local hiking trails, marking colors: Green and yellow
• including three nature trails, markings: Green diagonal line ("West", "South" and "Ernsee")

There are also a large number of field and forest paths that are not marked or only marked on one side. The city of Gera currently has 16 shelters and 4 feeding troughs as seating areas.

Biotope mapping

Specially protected habitats in the area of the city of Gera

Our cultural landscape has many natural and man-made unique features. They are not only of great importance for the recreation and attractiveness of a landscape, but also form the basis for the continued existence of endangered animal and plant species. Species protection is realized in the long term primarily through the protection of habitats (biotope protection). The conservation and networking of natural habitats such as orchards, dry grasslands, natural forest habitats and water biotopes are therefore a particular concern of the nature conservation administration. For this reason, the legislator has stipulated that a blanket protection applies to certain habitat types regardless of ownership and without the need to issue an additional ordinance in individual cases. Specially protected biotopes are recorded, shown in an area register and then published. A biotope is categorized as specially protected if it meets the specific characteristics defined in the Thuringian biotope type mapping. The specially protected biotopes were named § 18 biotopes according to their "protection paragraph" (today § 30 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act and additionally § 18 of the Thuringian Nature and Landscape Act).

Many of these specially protected habitats have emerged from extensive agricultural and forestry land use or remained on sites that did not allow profitable cultivation (e.g. ravine forests, springs and rock heads) Other habitats have emerged as a result of mining use, e.g. water-filled excavation pits, stone walls and quarries.

Between 1998 and 2002, a total of 1138 specially protected biotopes were mapped and made public on the territory of the city of Gera. In 2005, the biotope register was updated with the result that currently only 924 habitats are still listed as particularly worthy of protection. They are listed in the landscape plan of the city of Gera and are included in the city's land use plan for information purposes. The decline is an expression of constant change in the landscape, e.g. due to fluctuating water levels, changes in land use or abandonment, as is the case with orchard meadows. If landowners or users want to know whether there are any specially protected biotopes on their own parcel of land, they can enquire at the lower nature conservation authority of the city administration during normal office hours.

Explanations of the protected habitats

Orchard meadow
Orchard meadows are stands with at least ten high-stemmed fruit trees, whereby the use of grassland and the state of care and vitality of the trees are irrelevant for the biotope protection status.

Near-natural watercourses
Near-natural watercourses are unobstructed or only slightly obstructed linear watercourses, some of which only need to carry water temporarily.

Standing water
Are of natural or artificial origin and have natural plant and animal communities typical of the location (from 10 m² water surface). They can also temporarily fall dry.

Ravine forests
Ravine forests are near-natural, species-rich forests with steep shady slopes, narrow bottoms and vegetation typical of the location. They are not economically important forests.

Hollow ways
Protected are all hollow ways that are at least 1 m deep into the ground surface and whose slope inclination is more than 30 % at the steepest point. The entire steep slopes and the unused upper edges of the slopes are protected.

Dry forests
Protected are all dry forests of 500 m² or more for which one or more characteristics (steepness, south or south-west exposure, shallowness, rock debris) apply. The tree population is usually dense, gnarled and translucent.

Wet meadows
Are non-intensively used wet meadows free of woody plants (larger than 100 m²) in which the moist soil conditions are characterized by 50 % of the plant cover.

Open rock formations
Rock formations are unwooded or only loosely wooded, larger rock heads with little vegetation, - crests protruding 2 m or more from the ground (including the foot of the slope) as a result of natural formation.

Reedbeds
The reedbeds are protected as medium to tall plant stands on wet or less wet sites, in or near bodies of water with an area of 150 m² or more.

Quarries
This biotope type includes all abandoned mining sites, such as clay, gravel, stone and sand pits and their extraction walls, including the surrounding vegetation.

Landscape conservation, contract nature conservation, biotope protection

Landscape conservation is based on private or cooperative initiatives by land owners/users. In addition, it is essentially based on two pillars.

1. contract nature conservation with funds from two funding programs of the state of Thuringia: Culture and landscape conservation program KULAP and Nature and landscape conservation program NALAP

2. services provided by the city of Gera for the preservation and development of the cultural landscape and specially protected habitats

The lower nature conservation authority carries out landscape conservation projects on its own initiative with budgetary funds from the authority and with the help of the second labor market. In this context, maintenance work on trees and shrubs planted as biotope associations is developed and maintained. This focus also includes the sensible utilization of prunings on the edges of fields and roads, which increase the biotope effect in the form of deadwood hedges at the edges and enrich the landscape as habitat networking structures. Biotopes of this type are retreats and habitats for a number of endangered animal and plant species. This also applies to fungi, lichens and mosses, which find their habitat in natural wood. If the deadwood hedges are organized and systematically established, they are also an attractive landscape element and perch for birds of prey, which can hardly find comparable hunting opportunities in the cleared agricultural landscape. In addition, deadwood hedges save time and money and close a recycling loop.

Another focus of our work is the maintenance mowing of orchards and other grassland biotopes. This involves the long-term preservation of particularly valuable natural habitats that have fallen out of economic use. Quarries and other second-hand habitats must also be maintained or cleared at regular intervals in order to preserve the natural biocoenosis in these biotopes.