One of the largest lowland raised bog landscapes in southern Germany, protected within the European Natura 2000 network.
Donaumoos
Donaumoos is a protected landscape in eastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, forming part of the European Natura 2000 network as a designated Fauna-Flora-Habitat (FFH) area. Spanning roughly 916 hectares across 14 sub-areas in the Alb-Donau-Kreis and Landkreis Heidenheim, it represents one of the largest lowland raised bog (Niedermoor) regions in southern Germany.
The landscape is shaped by a combination of peat-forming wetlands and traditionally managed agricultural grassland, creating a mosaic of wet meadows, mires, ditches, and small water bodies. This interplay between remaining mire ecosystems and surrounding farmland gives the area both its ecological value and its distinctive cultural-natural character, reflecting centuries of interaction between human land use and water-rich terrain on the Donau-Iller-Lech plateau.
Ecologically, Donaumoos is significant for its calc-rich lowland mires, wet tall herb vegetation, species-rich mesophile meadows, and fragments of alluvial forest, as well as for protected species such as the Eurasian beaver, the northern crested newt, and rare molluscs and mosses. Its position within the broader Donauried bird protection area links it to a wider wetland system extending into neighboring Bavaria.
