The Harz National Park is one of the largest forest national parks in Germany. It was founded in 2006 through the merger of two individual national parks in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. With its 247.03 km² (approx. 158 km² in Lower Saxony and 89 km² in Saxony-Anhalt) it covers about ten percent of the total area of the Harz Mountains around the Brocken, from Herzberg in the south to Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg (Harz) in the north. The park is internationally recognized by the IUCN and is part of the European protected area system Natura 2000. About 97 percent of the area is covered by forests, mainly spruce and beech forests. In addition to the extensive forest areas, moors have an outstanding position because of their special characteristics. The landscape is also characterized by granite cliffs and mountain streams.
Today's cross-state Harz National Park was created on January 1, 2006 through the merger of the Harz National Park in Lower Saxony and the Hochharz National Park in Saxony-Anhalt.
The Hochharz National Park was established on October 1, 1990, two days before German reunification, based on a Council of Ministers resolution of the GDR government on the national park program. The park included the eastern Hochharz around the Brocken between Eckertalsperre, Hohnekamm and Schierke, later extended to Ilsenburg. The region is characterized by a little-touched flora and fauna, which can be attributed primarily to the so-called "Brockenurwald", which has not been used for forestry for centuries, and the location directly on the former German-German border. In the GDR era, the Brocken was accessible with an easy-to-obtain pass until 1961. From August 13, 1961, it became a restricted area, meaning that it was no longer used by tourists. Since the 1970s, forest problems such as bark beetles or fungal infestation have also appeared in the Harz Mountains. In the course of the spirit of optimism at the time of reunification, they were also the ones who gave the impetus for the establishment of the national park. On January 1, 1991, the national park administration in Wernigerode began its service under the direction of Hubertus Hlawatsch. Peter Gaffert acted as Hubertus Hlawatsch's successor from 1995 until the merger with the western Harz National Park (2006).
The Lower Saxony part of the park was launched on January 1, 1994 after four years of preparation. Founding director was Wolf-Eberhard Barth. Although there had been talk of a joint national park project for both countries since reunification, it took another twelve years to implement it.
The Harz National Park belongs to the European umbrella organization EUROPARC Federation, an association of national parks, biosphere reserves and nature parks. Among other things, he deals with information exchange, further training, public relations and lobbying. The German section EUROPARC Deutschland e. V. of this umbrella organization has also organized the association of many large protected areas in Germany.
In 2005, the national park was included in the European charter for sustainable tourism in protected areas.
(Wikipedia)