Halde Rheinbaben Nature Reserve

The Rheinbaben dump is located in Gladbeck between Ellinghorst and Bottrop-Boy south of the A2. Overburden from the Rheinbaben colliery was deposited on the heap. After the mine was closed in 1967, the site was largely left to its own devices. It has been designated as a nature reserve since 2001 and has walking paths.

The approximately 20 hectare heap, which rises approximately 20 meters above the surrounding level on the south side, is, together with the Ellinghorst heap north of the A2, part of the Gladbeck landscape plan No. 4. The aim is to preserve and further develop the near-natural habitats. The heap is also used for scientific observation; its unguided, spontaneous greening is compared with the planned recultivation of other heaps.

The site is bordered in the east by a railway line, in the south by the Zeche Rheinbaben industrial area and in the west by the Boye. The heap itself is covered with a sparse birch forest; in the steep and sometimes unstable areas on the edge of the hilltop and on embankments there are still semi-open grassy areas. Sycamore maples have settled in the northeast, hornbeams and red oaks have settled in the east, and there is also a recultivated forest of gray alders and red oaks. The forest areas also contain parts of dead wood. There are some wetlands due to bomb craters and occasional water-bearing ditches. The biotope is very rich in structure; the locations, which are extremely dry and warm in places and very acidic in others, provide space for specialists such as reptiles, butterflies and grasshoppers.

beautiful

The Rheinbaben mountain dump (approx. 7 p.m.) was only partially greened after it was poured. A light birch forest has developed by itself on most of the heap.