Why Schönower Heide stands out
Schönower Heide is best known for its open inland dune and sand heath landscape, a rare lowland habitat type in Brandenburg that was unintentionally preserved through a century of military use. Large stands of common heather, known in German as Besenheide, dominate the central part of the reserve, together with pioneer plant communities typical of acidic, nutrient-poor sandy soils. The reserve is also recognised for its ongoing wild animal grazing project, in which fallow deer, red deer and European mouflon are kept within a fenced area to maintain open heathland conditions. Combined with its designation as a European Fauna-Flora-Habitat, this combination of dry heath, dune, bog and species-rich grassland makes the Schönower Heide a notable case study of habitat restoration on former military training land, easily accessible from the Berlin metropolitan region.
Schönower Heide history and protected-area timeline
The original mixed deciduous forests of the Schönower Heide were exploited from the Middle Ages onward for firewood, timber and woodland grazing. The nutrient-poor glacial sands of the Wandlitz-Ladeburg outwash plain, combined with this sustained removal of nutrients, gradually impoverished the soils. The result was a transition toward moss and lichen-dominated vegetation, which already carried many features of the open heath that defines the reserve today.
Major population losses during the Thirty Years' War briefly reduced the pressure on the woodlands, but a 1757 division of the area between the royal authorities of Mühlenbeck and the town of Bernau reflected increasing efforts to formalise land use and curb unregulated extraction of wood and litter. From the nineteenth century onward, systematic reforestation shifted large parts of the surrounding Bernau-Schönwalde-Wandlitz region into extensive pine forest.
The defining turn came in the early twentieth century. Around 1900, the city of Berlin purchased land near the settlement of Birkbusch, later renamed Hobrechtsfelde, to establish a city estate and sewage farms, bringing significant portions of the heath into Berlin's ownership. A forest area damaged by caterpillar defoliation was first used as a military training ground by imperial guards, then by the Reichswehr, and from 1946 until 1991 by Soviet forces stationed near Bernau. Tank and infantry activity cleared roughly 125 hectares of woodland, while fires from live ammunition repeatedly burned back vegetation during summer months and maintained the open character of the heath.
Following German reunification, the Schönower Heide was transferred to the State of Berlin and placed under the Berliner Forsten. High levels of unexploded munitions made large parts inaccessible for ordinary use. In 2000 the area was designated a nature reserve and an EU Fauna-Flora-Habitat site. Subsequent restoration work included sheep grazing, removal of former military buildings and tracks, large-scale mowing and a controlled winter burn in 2004. Visitor access was gradually opened from 2004 with a new entrance, parking areas and circular walking trails, and in 2009, fallow deer, red deer and mouflon were introduced into a fenced 140-hectare enclosure as a permanent grazing project to keep the heath open.
Schönower Heide landscape and geographic character
The Schönower Heide sits on the sandy outwash plain left by the glaciers of the Weichselian ice age, a geological setting that gives the reserve its defining scenery. The land surface is gently undulating, with low inland dunes, broad sandy flats and shallow depressions that hold small wetland areas. Because the soils are poor and dry, they support only thin pioneer plant communities and low scrub, producing expansive open vistas rather than closed forest.
In the southern part of the reserve, a clearly visible inland dune illustrates the area's glacial inheritance, while central sections are dominated by wide stands of common heather interspersed with silvergrass swards and other sandy grassland species. In the northeast, a former wet depression now carries tall herb and grass communities, and to the west, immediately along the L 30 country road, the 26-hectare Rohrbruch wetland forms a striking contrast to the dry heath. This wetland lies in the headwaters of the Lietzengraben and is characterised by alder, sedge and tall herb vegetation.
Overall, the landscape reads as a mosaic in which dry and wet habitats are unusually close together, with open foreground views interrupted by small clumps of birch, Scots pine, aspen and juniper. The flat topography and the absence of major elevations mean that the reserve's visual scale is defined by openness rather than relief.
Schönower Heide ecosystems, habitats, and plant life
The nature of the Schönower Heide reflects the interaction between geology, history and active management. The central Calluna heath is the ecological heart of the reserve and supports the typical species of Berlin-Brandenburg sand heathlands, including common heather itself, juniper, silvergrass, mouse-ear hawkweed, biting stonecrop and the sand immortelle. A vegetation survey in 2008 recorded around 200 plant species, with around 40 lichen species adding to the conservation value of the open sandy surfaces.
Around the dry heath, sandy dry grasslands form what ecologists call pioneer vegetation on acidic, nutrient-poor substrates. These grasslands pass at their edges into small pockets of taller vegetation dominated by aspen, birch and Scots pine, reflecting the dynamic tension between open heath woodland and incipient forest. The wetland margins, particularly the Rohrbruch, contribute a markedly different ecological character, with alder carr, sedge communities and tall herb fringes that have their own distinctive species mix.
Taken together, these habitats create a compact but ecologically diverse reserve in which dry heath, dune grassland, wet meadow, scrub and early forest all occur within walking distance. The current management strategy, including sheep grazing, controlled burning and large ungulate grazing, is designed to keep the open habitats dominant and to favour natural successional processes wherever possible.
Schönower Heide wildlife and species highlights
The wildlife of the Schönower Heide is shaped by the warmth of its open sandy surfaces and by the proximity of dry heath, dune and wetland elements within a single protected area. Heat-loving invertebrates are particularly well represented, including sand lizards, butterflies, tiger beetles, darter dragonflies, wild bees and various grasshopper species. Around 200 plant species and a rich lichen flora provide the resource base for this invertebrate community.
The birdlife is the reserve's most prominent faunal asset. A 2001 breeding bird survey recorded 61 species, including a significant share of threatened habitat specialists. Species of conservation concern documented in the reserve include whinchat, woodlark, Eurasian hoopoe, European stonechat, Eurasian woodcock, European nightjar, great grey shrike and tawny pipit. More common breeding birds include willow warbler, tree pipit, yellowhammer, skylark, chaffinch and common blackbird. The removal of old rubble and building remains in the early years of the reserve had a measurable negative effect on whinchat pairs in particular, illustrating how sensitive some species are to small changes in habitat structure.
Since 2009, fallow deer, red deer and European mouflon have lived in a 140-hectare fenced area within the reserve, with populations expected to rise gradually toward around 140 animals. Their grazing pressure is intended to suppress shrub and tree regrowth, including the heather itself through mouflon browsing. From 2012, Konik ponies joined the grazing regime in the southeastern woodlands of the reserve, complementing earlier cattle grazing in the Bucher Forst and former sewage farm areas around Hobrechtsfelde, with the combined effect of maintaining a varied mosaic of open and lightly wooded habitats rather than closed forest.
Schönower Heide conservation status and protection priorities
The conservation significance of the Schönower Heide lies in its role as a refuge for several Annex I habitat types of the European Habitats Directive, notably dry heaths with common heather and broom, Inland dunes with open Corynephorus and Agrostis grasslands, and various wetland and bog margin communities. Its designation as a European Fauna-Flora-Habitat site under Directive 92/43/EWG places it within the Natura 2000 network and underlines its role in maintaining habitat connectivity in the Barnim region.
National conservation status comes from its designation as a Naturschutzgebiet in December 2000 and its IUCN Category V classification as a protected landscape. The stated conservation goal is to maintain and develop the heath and its associated plant communities, including sedge swamp, alder carr, white moss-pine and willow-buckthorn communities, along with the characteristic dry heath and dry grassland habitats. A second explicit goal is to secure the populations of threatened animal species for which the reserve provides feeding and breeding habitat, particularly groups such as birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, wild bees, grasshoppers, dragonflies, beetles and spiders.
Active management distinguishes the reserve from a purely passive protection site. The Berliner Forsten combine traditional measures such as sheep grazing, mowing and controlled burning with a more recent wild ungulate grazing project, supported scientifically by the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. Their research addresses both the effectiveness of wild grazing in preventing shrub encroachment and its consequences for other species, including potential effects on heather nectar availability for pollinating insects. Residual munitions contamination continues to shape practical management, and large zones of the reserve remain closed to visitors for safety reasons.
Schönower Heide cultural meaning and human context
The Schönower Heide is closely tied to the cultural landscape of the Barnim region north of Berlin and to the historical entanglement of this area with the administration of the Prussian capital and its hinterland. The heath lies near the village of Schönow, which has been part of Bernau bei Berlin since 2003, and near Hobrechtsfelde, a settlement renamed in 1908 after the Berlin city planner James Hobrecht. The acquisition of large estates by the city of Berlin around 1900, for use as city farms and sewage farms, marked a turning point in tying the local landscape economically to the growth of the metropolis.
The reserve also carries a distinctive twentieth-century military memory. Its open character was, in large part, shaped by the successive presence of imperial German, Reichswehr and Soviet forces, with the latter using parts of the heath as a training area from 1946 to 1991. The traces of this period, including cleared forest, building foundations and, today, residual munitions contamination, are part of the site's identity and are referenced in local publications such as the Hobrechtsfelde anniversary volume and Otto Koch's 1934 community history of Schönow.
A more contemporary cultural layer comes from the Interessenverein Schönower Heide, founded in 2006, which organises guided tours, environmental education activities and practical conservation workdays, including a children's group known as the Heidekinder. This volunteer involvement reflects the heath's place in the local identity of the Barnim communities and links conservation, public education and regional heritage in a single ongoing effort.
Top sights and standout views in Schönower Heide
Among the standout features of the Schönower Heide are its extensive Calluna sand heath, its inland dune landforms and its unusually intact combination of dry heath, sandy dry grassland and wetland habitats within a compact reserve. The visitor infrastructure is modest but well designed, with an observation tower that opens up wide views over the heath, two circular trails of roughly 1.5 and 5 kilometres and information panels explaining both the natural history and the wild grazing project.
The 2009 wild animal grazing initiative, which keeps fallow deer, red deer and European mouflon inside a fenced 140-hectare area, is a distinctive feature that differentiates the reserve from many smaller Brandenburg heaths and offers visitors a realistic chance to observe game in a near-natural setting. Combined with the site's status as a European Fauna-Flora-Habitat, its origin as former military training land and its proximity to Berlin, the Schönower Heide represents a tightly layered example of sand heathland restoration in a lowland setting, easily accessible from the wider Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region.
Best time to visit Schönower Heide
The Schönower Heide is most visually striking in late summer and early autumn, when the common heather is in full bloom and turns the central parts of the reserve into broad bands of purple, against which the pale inland dune sand and scattered pines stand out sharply. This is also the season when most of the heath's characteristic insects, including butterflies, dragonflies and wild bees, are most active and visible along the trails.
Spring and early summer bring their own appeal, with migrant breeding birds such as woodlark, whinchat and Eurasian hoopoe present in the area, and the wetland sections around the Rohrpfuhl and Lietzengraben at their lushest. Winter visits are possible for the most determined walkers, but visitors should be aware that significant parts of the reserve remain closed year-round because of residual munitions contamination, regardless of season.
