Comment

Internet search on offers for recreation in Nature Parks in

Germany

Ju-Hyoung Lee & Renate Bürger-ArndtNature & Landscape conservation

Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology

Georg-August- University, Goettingen

Activities

Hiking (86 parks) and biking (84 parks) are designated in al

most all nature parks explicitly as a recreational and leisure

-time activity and thus keep the largest proportion, followed

by horse riding offered in 65 parks.

Swimming, canoeing, sailing and fishing are also available i

n many parks. These 4 kinds of outdoor sport, which are re

presented by numerous member associations, constitute th

e largest portion of the water sports in Germany (yearbook o

f the statistic federal office 2006).

Introduction and Method

Result

Environmental Education

Touring

Visitor guidanceRecreational offers for disabled people

Activities

To review current recreational offers, a complete search of the websites of all German Nature Parks took place in 2007. Qualitative data were collected and cat

egorized through content analysis. The range of offers in individual parks did not play any role. The information on the homepage of the central VDN (German N

ature Parks Association: http://www.naturparke.de/) can thus be updated.

Touring and recreational offers for disabled people

A total of 74 parks offer tours on their website. Only 17 parks do n

ot make such offer. Nature experience, cultural history and environ

mental education are thematically in the center of attention.

Hiking and biking are mainly offered as touring activities. In additio

n, there are often sporty offers as well as carriage and ship cruise

s. 22 Parks particularly emphasize family-suitable tour offers.

Recreational offers for disabled people are however still the excepti

on

Environmental Education

A broad and very good offer could be identified in en

vironmental education and there were many differen

t services and infrastructures.

The nature trails and nature educational trails (62 p

arks) are the most widespread offer, followed by vari

ous environmental education programs for children

(57 parks).

Theme Providing parks

Nature experience 49

Cultural history 43

Environmental education 28

Wellness and cure 24

Culinary food 15

City sightseeing 9

Suitable for the family 22

For disabled people 6

7

16

26

43

51

57

62

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Naturfreundehaus

Environmental research, nature observation

Touring

Environmental education programme

Guide

Programme for children

Nature experience trail, Nature trail

9

16

19

30

31

40

46

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Horse riding

Balloon riding

Ship cruise

Sport(Nordic walking,Golf, Ski, Canoe, etc)

Carriage cruise

Biking

Hiking

1

1

1

2

2

2

3

4

4

5

5

6

6

7

8

10

14

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Cooking, Herbs smell

Shuttle Service

For disabled children

For retarded human

Museum, City sightseeing

Special programme

Environmental education

Sport (biking, canoe, horse riding)

For deaf people

Pick up service/ Transport

Guide

For blind people

Tour

Nature experience trail

Accommodation, Restaurant, WC

Wheelchair-passable trails

Walking route for disabled people

6

7

10

14

18

19

23

29

31

34

65

84

86

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Hunting

Boßeln

Bowling

Tennis

Climbing

Inline skating

Paragliding

Golf

Nordic walking

MTB

Horse riding

Biking

Hiking

8

13

28

34

35

39

56

60

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Paddle

Diving

Surfing

Rowing

Sailing

Fisching

Canoeing

Swimming

1

7

10

17

25

37

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Ice sailing

Curling

Skating

Toboggan

Ski, snowboarding

Cross-Country

2

3

4

5

5

6

7

7

8

9

10

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

providing parks

Camping place

Dog banned

etc.

Consideration for other visitors

No fire, No smoking

Avoid Noise

No waste

Fauna protect

Flora protect

Traffic and parking

Entry into protected area