Dreiborn Plateau

The Dreiborn Plateau (German: Dreiborner Hochfläche) is an area of woods and open terrain, some 33 square kilometres in area, in the Eifel National Park. It corresponds to the area of the Vogelsang Military Training Area which was handed back on 31 December 2005 and had been out-of-bounds to the public since 1 September 1946. Since 2006 parts of the area have been opened up to the public who may use certain routes through it.

The Dreiborn Plateau is bordered in the west by the Obersee and Einruhr, the river and village of Erkensruhr, in the south by the L 207 state road through Dreiborn and Herhahn, in the east by the terrain around the former Nazi fort of Ordensburg Vogelsang with the valleys of the Neffgesbach and Morsbach, in the north by the Urft valley and the Urftsee lake, which separates the Dreiborn Plateau from the ridge of the Kermeter to the north.

The plateau is bisected in an east to west direction by the B 266 federal road along the Sauerbach stream, on which is located the so-called Heilsteinquelle ("Healing Stone Spring"), rediscovered in 1863 and probably used as early as Roman times. The B 266 divides the plateau into northern and southern halves. A rise at 517 metres (so-called Drei-Täler-Blick or "Three Valleys View"), Kellenberg and the ghost village of Wollseifen are accessible on paths in the northern half; the hills of Klusenberg, Gierberg and Müsauelsberg, at 577 metres the highest point, lie in the southern section.

Thick beech, oak and spruce woods surround the streams and reservoirs at a height of about 350 metres, that border the Dreiborn Plateau. These woods climb steeply from the valley sides to the high plateau 500 metres above the valley floor. The woods were not managed for almost 60 years, whilst the terrain was used as a military training area, and, as a result, large tracts have reached a natural state similar to that of ancient forests in which old and dead trees have not been cut or cleared. The preservation of this natural forest as a habitat for, in some cases rare, species of animal like the European wildcat, and the establishment of specially protected zones around breeding colonies of cormorant, grey heron and black stork are aims that the National Park authority has set itself.

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Wikipedia