Oberes Starzeltal und Zollerberg Protected Landscape and Regional Geography Mapping

Parts of today's protected area, including the Zollerberg and its surroundings, were placed under landscape protection as early as 1957 by formal ordinance, predating the larger 1972 designation by fifteen years.

The current Oberes Starzeltal und Zollerberg landscape protection area was designated on 19 December 1972 by the Landratsamt Hechingen. Since that designation it has been reduced in size several times. The first reductions came as multiple smaller nature reserves were carved out within its boundaries, removing a total of around 313 hectares from the protected area. In 1999, additional planned building zones were excluded from the protection, further adjusting its extent. Today the area is administered by the Landratsamt Zollernalbkreis.

The protected area lies on the Swabian Alb, a karstic limestone plateau of the Middle Jurassic. The Starzel river has cut a characteristic valley into this plateau, producing the steep wooded slopes and narrow valley bottom that define the core of the protection area. The Starzel rises south of Hausen im Killertal and flows along the valley's length, shaping both the natural drainage and the settlement pattern of the region.

Above the valley, the Albhochfläche near Salmendingen opens into flatter, agriculturally used highland. Two named summits give the landscape vertical relief: the Kornbühl near Salmendingen and the Zollerberg near Zimmern, both visible landmarks from the surrounding area. The slopes between the valley and the plateau carry dry, semi-open vegetation shaped by long historical grazing pressure, where juniper heath and nutrient-poor dry grassland alternate with patches of woodland.

The interplay between forested valley slopes, open agricultural plateau, and extensively grazed hillside grassland produces a rich mosaic of habitats on a relatively small scale. Forest dominates much of the area, covering the steeper valley sides and parts of the higher ground, while the flatter Salmendingen plateau is shaped by arable fields and meadows.

The Middle Jurassic limestone geology supports a distinctive flora on the slopes, where thin, calcareous soils encourage juniper heath and species-rich dry grassland (Magerrasen). These slopes are also notable for their many springs, a consequence of the Middle Jurassic's characteristic water-bearing layers, which sustain wet features interwoven into an otherwise dry landscape mosaic.

Oberes Starzeltal und Zollerberg carries IUCN Category V status as a Protected Landscape, recognising both its natural and cultural value. It is a connective element within a wider conservation network on the southwestern Swabian Alb: several nature reserves lie entirely within its boundaries, and the protection area overlaps with FFH sites including Reichenbach und Killertal zwischen Hechingen und Burladingen, Gebiete um Albstadt, Gebiete zwischen Bisingen, Haigerloch und Rosenfeld, Salmendingen/Sonnenbühl, and Albvorland bei Mössingen und Reutlingen, as well as parts of the Südwestalb und Oberes Donautal bird protection area.

Its main conservation role is to maintain the traditional Swabian Alb cultural landscape: juniper heath, dry grassland, spring-fed slopes, and large connected forest tracts that support habitat continuity between more strictly protected reserves. Over time, carve-outs for nature reserves (totalling roughly 313 hectares) and the 1999 exclusion of planned building zones have reshaped, rather than weakened, its conservation role, concentrating protection on habitats where the landscape character remains intact.

The name "Zollerberg" reflects the area's deep ties to the Hohenzollern dynasty and the historic Zollern region, of which the iconic Hohenzollern castle hill lies nearby. The landscape itself carries strong human imprint: the steep Alb slopes were traditionally used as communal sheep pastures, and that long grazing history is directly responsible for the survival today of juniper heath and dry, species-rich grassland that would otherwise revert to forest.

Villages such as Killer, Starzeln, Hausen im Killertal, Salmendingen, Schlatt, Boll, Stetten, Wessingen, and Zimmern are woven into the protected area, framing how agricultural plateau land, valley settlements, and historic grazing commons together produce the distinctive Zollernalb cultural landscape.

Large protected landscape straddling the upper Starzel valley and the Zollerberg on the western Swabian Alb, with several named Alb summits rising out of forested slopes. The landscape preserves the classic Swabian Alb cultural-landscape gradient from forested valley, through juniper heath and dry grassland slopes, to an open agricultural plateau used for crops and hay meadows. Acting as a connective reserve, it embeds multiple nature reserves, FFH sites, and parts of the Südwestalb und Oberes Donautal bird protection area, making it more than the sum of its neighbours.

As a low-intensity cultural and natural landscape without a single highly seasonal attraction, the area is broadly accessible throughout the year. Spring and early summer bring fresh green growth on the valley slopes and active birdlife along the Starzel and on the adjacent plateau, while late spring and early summer are the most rewarding window for the dry grassland and juniper heath flowering. Autumn is well suited to experiencing the beech and mixed forest that dominates much of the area in full colour, whereas winter can highlight the open plateau near Salmendingen and the silhouettes of the Kornbühl and Zollerberg.