Nature conservation project “Senne”

The Senne covers 350 sq km and is situated on the edge of the Teutoburg Wald between Bielefeld, Paderborn and Detmold. Originated from mighty sands of the Saale Ice Age about 200,000 years ago, the Senne is today a unique natural area with heaths and rough grasslands, moors and clear brooks, meadows and forests. The Augustdorfer Dünenfeld, one of the oldest inland dune fields in northwestern Germany, is an example of the Senne.

Here and in the nearby Wistinghauser Senne, the forest is grazed with bark and Exmoor ponies in order to bring more light and thus more warmth to the forest floor by biting and kicking. This is primarily intended to promote species that were frequently found in the area in the historical heath landscape, became increasingly rare with the decline of these habitats since the middle of the 19th century, and are now severely endangered.

Old heathland, cultivated with heather snacks, and meadows on which the dairymen graze horses, complete the picture of an idyllic, seemingly transfigured landscape in the middle of the transmission of modern times.

The attractive area in and around the Augustdorfer Dünenfeld is a paradise for nature connoisseurs and lovers and at the same time a sensitive natural area in which visitors can clearly visualise the careful handling of the landscape worthy of protection, e.g. on the GPS-Erlebnispfad or the nature trail “Augusdorfer Dünenfeld”

Zweckverband Naturpark Teutoburger Wald/Eggegebirge
Grotenburg 52
32760 Detmold
Tel.: +49 5231 62 7961
Naturschutzgroßprojekt “Senne”