The Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park () was established in 1980 and covers an area of just under 2,000 km² in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland.
The authority responsible for the nature park is the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park Society (Verein Naturpark Saar-Hunsrück) with its headquarters in Hermeskeil.Constitution of the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park Society In Hermeskeil the society runs an "experience museum" and one of six information centres.
Towns and villages In the Saarland, the nature park lies wholly within the town boroughs and local municipalities of Perl, Mettlach, Losheim am See, Merzig, Weiskirchen, Wadern, Beckingen, Rehlingen-Siersburg, Wallerfangen, Nonnweiler, Tholey, Nohfelden, Oberthal, Namborn, St. Wendel and Freisen. It also lies partly on the territories of Lebach, in its municipalities of Dörsdorf and Steinbach, the municipality of Schmelz, in its parishes of Dorf, Limbach and Michelbach and within the municipality of Eppelborn, in the parish of Dirmingen.
In Rhineland-Palatinate the nature park lies on parts of the territories of the following boroughs and collective municipalities: Saarburg, Konz, Ruwer, Kell am See, Hermeskeil (Trier-Saarburg), Thalfang, Bernkastel-Kues (Bernkastel-Wittlich), Kirchberg/Hunsrück (Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis), Herrstein-Rhaunen, Birkenfeld and Baumholder (Birkenfeld) and parts of the free municipality of Morbach (Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich) and the large county town of Idar-Oberstein (Birkenfeld).
Core zones There are seven core zones in the Rhineland –Palatinate part of the park, which are specially protected: Mannebach Valley Saar Valley-Leukbach Valley Osburger Hochwald Western part of the Schwarzwälder Hochwald Eastern part of the Schwarzwälder Hochwald-Idar Forest Neuhof-Abentheuer Southeastern Hochwald Kirschweiler/Buhlenberg
Rivers and streams Moselle Saar Ruwer Prims Nied Nahe Dhron Idarbach Bostalsee Losheimer Stausee Primstalsperre Schwollbach Traunbach
Mountains and hills The mountains and hills in the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park include the following – sorted by height in metres (m) above sea level (Normalnull or NN; unless otherwise stated these are referenced from state map service): Erbeskopf (816.32 m), Schwarzwälder Hochwald An den zwei Steinen (766.2 m), Idar Forest Kahlheid (766.0 m), Idar Forest Sandkopf (756.8 m), Schwarzwälder Hochwald Steingerüttelkopf (756.6 m), Idarwald Ruppelstein (755.2 m), Schwarzwälder Hochwald Idarkopf (745.7 m), Idar Forest Usarkopf (725.0 m), Idar Forest Rösterkopf (708.1 m), Osburger Hochwald Friedrichskopf (707.4 m), Schwarzwälder Hochwald
Saar-Hunsrück-Steig One of the nature park's projects is the 218-kilometre-long "premier" long-distance path, the Saar-Hunsrück-SteigHomepage Saar-Hunsrück-Steig, retrieved 24 January 2014 from Perl on the border with Luxembourg via Mettlach, Weiskirchen and the Roman city of Trier to the Prims Reservoir, continuing via the Erbeskopf, the circular rampart of Otzenhausen, to the Wildenburger Kopf and finally to Idar-Oberstein.
See also List of nature parks in Germany
Literature Hans-Martin Braun and Carsten Braun: Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park - Stille Schönheit. Tecklenborg Verlag, Steinfurt, 2002,
External links
Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park, Hermeskeil Literature about the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park in the Saarländische Bibliographie
References Article entitled Wie hoch is der Erbeskopf nun wirklich? dated 17 January 2008 at lvermgeo.rlp.de (retrieved 31 January 2013)