A meandering river valley and karst-influenced landscape in the Schwäbisch Hall district, protected under the EU Habitats Directive.
Jagst bei Kirchberg und Brettach
Jagst bei Kirchberg und Brettach is a designated European nature protection site in the Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The site centers on a long stretch of the meandering Jagst river downstream of Crailsheim, together with a lower valley section of the Brettach near Gerabronn. It was proposed by the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart in 2004 and formally designated by ordinance on 30 October 2018, entering into force on 11 January 2019, with the official site code DE-6825-341.
The protected area covers roughly 893 hectares spread across the municipal territories of Crailsheim, Ilshofen, Gerabronn, Kirchberg an der Jagst, Rot am See, and Satteldorf. It belongs to the Kocher-Jagst plains (Kocher-Jagst-Ebenen) and the Hohenloher und Haller Ebene natural regions, set within the broader Neckar- and Tauber-Gäuplatten main unit. The site's defining features are natural river sections, floodplain meadows, steep calcareous slopes, limestone scree, and fragmented beech and slope forests.
The area is notable for its combination of aquatic habitats, including floating water vegetation and muddy riverbanks with pioneer plant communities, alongside dry calcareous grasslands, base-rich pioneer rock communities, tufa springs, and species-rich deciduous woodland. Together these habitats support protected animal species such as the thick-shelled river mussel, stone crayfish, bullhead fish, crested newt, yellow-bellied toad, western barbastelle bat, greater mouse-eared bat, and Eurasian beaver.
