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The Allgäu moors

The Allgäu region is home to one of the most valuable moor landscapes in Central Europe. Nowhere in the entire Alpine region is the transition between the moors in the Alpine foothills and in the higher altitudes of the Alps as well preserved as here. This network of bogs across different altitudes is important to secure the biodiversity of the bog landscapes, especially under changing climatic conditions.

The moors of the Allgäu owe their formation primarily to the glaciers that shaped the landscape and to the climate, which with up to 1,500 mm of precipitation and an average annual temperature of 6-7° C offers very good conditions for the development of moors. Some bog and litter meadow areas are still extensive and relatively close to nature; here the chances are good to permanently secure this internationally important natural heritage. In addition to the open, naturally tree-free raised bogs, bog forests loosely covered with Spirken are typical for the Allgäu. These so-called Spirkenfilze are concentrated on the northern edge of the Alps in the Allgäu; distribution centers are Wirlinger Wald, Kempter Wald and Sulzschneider Forst.

The Allgäu moors are a natural heritage of nationwide importance. Due to their small-scale geological and climatic diversity, a mosaic of different moor types, plants and animals can be found here. From species-rich litter and wet meadows to remote, untouched transitional and raised bog cores, the bog landscape stretches through the eastern and upper Allgäu, from the valley to the mountainous areas. Numerous endangered species, including species of arctic-northern distribution with ice-age relicts in the narrower sense such as peat sedge (Carex heleonastes), blueberry willow (Salix myrtilloides) or shrub birch (Betula humilis) can be found here.. 

An exceptional area in the Allgäu moors is the Kempter Wald. With its approximately 1,000 hectares of moorland forest, it represents the largest, closed Spirken moorland forest occurrence in the Federal Republic. Another special feature can be found, for example, in the area of the Bannwaldsee. There, the Allmend pasture - a traditional form of communal, agricultural land use that is rarely found elsewhere - still exists.
 
Link to the Allgäu Moor Alliance: 
https://www.moorallianz.de/