Sudgelande Landscape Design_use areas

Nature protection areas
3.2 ha within the Nature-Park have been designated as Nature Protection Areas.  These areas are primarily grassland ecosystems that have emerged in the highly altered anthropogenic soils of the railyard.  Within this unique ecological setting, several rare and endangered plant and insect species have been established.  The design and use regimes for these areas are  designed to protect these rare and relatively delicate ecosystems.  Users are required to stay on the walkways which sit elevated 50cm over the abandoned railroad beds.

As the post industrial landscape evolves through successional stages, the area within the site characterized by woodland ecosystems has tended to expand rapidly.  The maintenance and use regimes for the the remaining grassland areas have been designed to maintain the early successional open grassland ecosystem.

 

 

(Source:Grun Berlin: Park und Garten, "Nature Park Schoneberger Sudgelande," http://www.gruen-berlin.de/suedEN/index.php, Accessed 1/10/08)

(Source [left and right]: Odious, "Landschaftsgestaltung: Naturepark Schoneberger Sudgelande: 1998-2000," http://www.gruppe-odious.de/landschaft_sued.html. Accessed 1/10/08)

Landscape protection areas
The remaining 12.9 ha in the Nature-Park are defined as Landscape conservation areas.  The landscape conservation areas are primarily composed of heartier woodland ecosystems and are intended to tolerate a wider range of recreational uses. Pathways throughout these areas follow the old railroad beds, but users may roam about the areas as they choose.

Between 1981 and 1991 the proportion of the site characterized by woodland ecosystems doubled from 37% to 70% of the total land area.  These areas typically have a lower species diversity and richness than areas in earlier successional stages.  There are two relatively distinct woodland ecosystem: Robinia dominated forests and Betula dominated forests. (Kowarik, 289)

Betula_
Betula pendula or Silver Birch is native to Germany.  The Betula dominated woodland ecosystem is an early successional woodland type likely to evolve towards the oak-pine forest community that characterized the ancient forests of the region

Robinia_
Robinia pseudoacacia or Black Locust is an early successional tree species native to North America.  Robinia can tolerate and actually help to build the health of altered soils like those at the Sudgelande.  Robinia dominated ecosystems are unlikely to evolve towards the ancient forest type because of the species nitrogen fixing metabolism and its clonal reproduction. 

The presence of and interrelation between the two woodland ecosystem types present at the Sudgelande Natur-Park is emblematic of the unique character of such post-industrial urban wildlands.  Such ecosystems often have more in common with another ‘metropolitan’ forests halfway around the world than they do with a peri-urban or rural woodland in the same region.

Robinia pseudoacacia _ Black Locust, native to North America, is the other dominant woodland species present at the Sudgelande.

(Source: Robinie.dk, http://www.robinie.dk/pseudoacacia.php, Accessed 1/10/08)

 

Emergent Betula pendula (Silver Birch) woodlands develop amidst the rail infrastructure on the site.

(Source [Photos, Left to Right]: Panoramio, Gleis-2, jojo-4u, Accessed 1/10/08; Panoramio, Gleis-k, jojo-4u, Accessed 1/10/08; Panoramio, Gleis-B, jojo-4u, Accessed 1/10/08)

(Source: Naturkosmetik-Kosmetic aus dem Garten, http://www.lauftext.de/naturkosmetik/birke.htm, Accessed 1/10/08)

 

Sources and Further Information
Natur-Park Sudgelande: Linking Conservation and Recreation in an abandoned railyard in Berlin.  Ingo Kowarik, Andreas Langer. in Wild Urban Woodlands: New Perspectives on Urban Forestry. Kowarik, Ingo, and Stefan Korner, eds. Berlin: Springer, 2005. 

Page, Nancy and Richard E. Weaver Jr. Wild Plants In the City. New York. Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co., 1975.
E-Vue: Emergent Vegetation of the Urban Ecosystem. http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/loeb_library/information_systems/projects/E_vue/