WaldKulTour - Prussian Forest

Many valuable cultural-historical testimonies and historical forms of forestry can be found in the forests of Südwestfalen. Some of them are visible, but their former significance is not always comprehensible. Others are only recognizable at second glance. For this reason, a concept was developed as a model for Südwestfalen in the Arnsberg Forest Nature Park pilot region to make it possible to experience the forest as a harmony between forestry, environmental education, monument protection, recreation and tourism at points of forest cultural-historical interest while emphasizing landscape and nature conservation.

When the Prussians took possession of the Duchy of Westfalen and thus also of the Arnsberg Forest in 1816, they found many forests in a degraded state. Centuries of overuse and exploitation had left their mark. In the following decades, the new government launched a reforestation program to improve the impoverished forest soils and counteract an impending timber shortage. Experimental plantations dating back more than 100 years still bear witness to the systematic rescue of the forests. You can see this at several stops along the way.