A glacially shaped moorland landscape in Upper Swabia, protecting one of southwest Germany's largest connected wetland areas.
Pfrunger Ried, Rinkenburg
Pfrunger Ried – Rinkenburg is a designated landscape protection area (Landschaftsschutzgebiet) in the municipality of Wilhelmsdorf in the Ravensburg district of Baden-Württemberg, in southern Germany. Established on 23 October 1967, the area covers roughly 762 hectares and lies north of the center of Wilhelmsdorf, spanning portions of the Esenhausen, Pfrungen, and Wilhelmsdorf cadastral districts.
Its central feature is the Pfrunger-Burgweiler Ried, recognized as the second-largest connected moorland area in southwest Germany, which sits inside a former glacial tongue basin carved during the ice ages. Around this wet depression rises the Rinkenburg, a prominent Tertiary molasse hill that forms the dry, elevated counterpart to the surrounding peatlands. Together, the mires and the molasse hill define a distinctive upper Swabian landscape of kettle-like depressions and melting-water-built terrain.
The protected area overlaps with multiple other conservation designations, including a designated forest reserve, nature protection areas, a Habitats Directive (FFH) site, and a bird protection area, reflecting its role within a much broader network of wetland and species conservation in the region.
