Großer Ahornboden8 photos

The area is covered with numerous 300 to 600 year old and very gnarled maple trees. In 1966, 2,409 trees were counted. It is unclear why this extensive tree population could develop on the area used as grazing land for centuries. Cattle epidemics or the Thirty Years’ War may have meant that the valley floor was not grazed for a long time. Mountain maples are around 500 years old, many of the trees in the Große Ahornboden have therefore reached their natural age limit. As natural regeneration does not work due to changes in soil and water conditions, as well as the grazing cattle and deer, dead trees are replaced by new plantings.